You might not see Jack and Delores working every day at the new Le Plateau Bakery in Alstonville Plaza – but they are doing an important job.

Jack and Delores are actually the funky names given to the sourdough bread starters by the bakery’s owners, Nico and Erin Flessati.

Le Plateau Bakery opened last Friday and after a marathon weekend of trading, they sold out of stock.

Erin said they were inundated by a supportive community and had to shut the doors on Monday and Tuesday to have time to make more baked goods.

Quirky

Erin said naming your sourdough is something that all good bakers do – and having quirky names adds character to the business.

“Delores is our white Vienna loaf sourdough and we started it with a ferment of cranberries to get the natural yeast out of the natural fruit, not out of a packet,” Erin said.

“Jack is the sourdough starter made from pumpkin skins and seeds – it’s short for jack’o’lantern.”

Specialty

The sourdough is a speciality at the new bakery, along with Nico’s croissants. They also serve coffee.

“Nico’s croissants are so popular, we put them on the shelves at 5.30am and we sell out by 10am,” Erin said. “We have almond and panne chocolate croissants and a Danish cruffin.”

If you haven’t heard of a cruffin before, Erin said it is croissant dough turned into a doughnut and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

With a French pastry chef husband who loves baking, it’s not surprising that Erin eats a pastry a day.

Bakery dream

Nico used to work as a pastry chef at Brunswick Heads and Suffolk Park bakeries, but now the Alstonville bakery is the first business that Nico and Erin have opened for themselves.

“It’s been our dream since we met to own our own business,” Erin said.

“We’ve been saving our money and then bought the old Snowy’s bakery, opposite the chemist in Alstonville Plaza.”

After five weeks of refurbishments, it finally opened last Friday. The bakery is so busy that Erin is moving away from front of house work to manage the business - and they are taking on more staff.

“I live in Alstonville and grew up here,” Erin said. “I started my first job in a little café in the plaza 23 years ago. Then I moved away and came back to the area with my husband.

“It’s uncanny, I never thought I’d open my own business in the same shopping centre I started work in.”

Early starts

As a bakery family, it means a lot of early mornings for the couple .

“Nick leaves home at 11.30pm and starts work at 12am,” Erin aid. “My alarm goes off at 2.45am – there’s not a lot of sleep, but we do it for the dream.”

Le Plateau Bakery is open seven days a week, Monday to Friday from 5.30am to 5.30pm, Saturday until 4pm and Sunday until 3pm. You can find them on Facebook and Instagram.

Read more about local bakeries: Henry's Bakery closes its doors today - but not forever