Nadine Ingram is the founder of one of Sydney's most successful bakeries, but there's one thing you'll never see in her kitchen
Nadine Ingram owns one of the most successful bakeries in Australia, but there's one common act you will never see in her kitchen.
Flour and Stone was founded in 2011 and quickly became a cultural phenomenon, with Ingram the woman steering the ship.
But Flour and Stone isn't a bakery known to jump on trends; rather, it's a bakery known for perfecting the basics. In an interview with 9honey Kitchen, Ingram revealed there are some baking trends she simply "can't cope" with.
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Nadine Ingram is the founder of Flour and Stone bakery and author of cookbook Love Crumbs. Instagram/kinokuniya_sydney
"We try and keep the offering really classic so anything where the integrity of those classics is compromised – like when people will combine a lamington and a doughnut, that sort of thing, I can't cope when that happens," she laughs.
But, while the wild combinations are something fans of the bakery are well aware they'll never see on the counter, there's a behind-the-scenes process that customers might be shocked to hear makes Ingram "just want to cry".
"I think the big one for me though, is torched meringue. It isn't cooked," she says.
Ingram explains that meringue needs to go into the oven to actually "cook", because the only thing that torching meringue does is "coagulate the egg white".
"I think when I see people putting a blow torch over the top of meringue, I just want to cry. But I think I'm in the minority," she adds.
But despite her somewhat controversial takes, there is no denying that Ingram has founded one of the biggest bakery sensations Sydney has ever seen.
Named after her daughters, Poppy and Ruby, Flour and Stone was born after Ingram and her first business, Cookie Couture, outgrew her home kitchen.
"I just started them at home and started supplying wholesale cafes or kind of started supplying cafes around Sydney," she explains.
The bakery is named after her two daughters, Poppy and Ruby. Instagram/nadineingram
"And then it outgrew my home, and we moved to a commercial premises in Marrickville."
When it came time to leave the Marrickville kitchen, a friend of Ingram's was closing her own bakery in Woolloomooloo, which almost acted as a sign to Ingram that it was time to open her own shop.
"It was all very serendipitous and it happened at a perfect time and it was just meant to be," she says.
So, Ingram moved to Woolloomooloo and opened Flour and Stone with no idea that it would soon gain a cult following, a fact that Ingram still struggles to accept.
"I hear that, and that's really lovely. But I think when I come in here every day the focus for me is creating a space for my team and for our community to come, and whilst I'm grateful for the people that do come, I don't think about it being a cult following," she explains.
"I just want, I just wanted to create a story here for people to belong to. So the fact that it's a cult following is very flattering."
Flour and Stone has developed a cult following over the years. Instagram/sophiaveg
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When most reach Flour and Stone's level of success, the focus turns to franchising the business, but Ingram says she has no intention of opening even a second store.
"I [always] knew I wanted to keep it small, and I just wanted one bakery," she says.
"I know we have the two spaces side by side now, but there was potentially an opportunity to expand across town to a factory in Marrickville, but the logistics of getting the product to and from, the store here in Woolloomooloo, but mainly the division of our team, and I just wanted everyone to stay together in the same spot."
She says that the decision to keep just the one store has "been the best move that we've ever made" explaining that having the two shopfronts side by side allows her to be more mindful of the businesses footprint.
Ingram has no intentions of ever expanding Flour and Stone. instagram/chloflow_pilates
"I just knew I wanted to keep it small," she adds.
"And no ambition to expand into multiple sites or anything like that, that doesn't appeal at all."
Nadine Ingram's latest book Love Crumbs is available now filled with 50 original, natural and romantic cakes that will become the heart of every celebration.
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