Gumnut Baking

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Organic Sourdough home baked using best Australian ingredients đŸŒŸ
Townsville local
Licensed Home MicrobakeryđŸ‘©â€đŸł
Slow rise, real taste‱Small-batch loaves‱Sourdough classes‱Local markets
To order or book a class âŹ‡ïž
www.gumnutbaking.com.au

I’ve been asked a lot lately about organic flour. I touched on this in my previous post — the pesticides, the glyphosate...
17/06/2026

I’ve been asked a lot lately about organic flour. I touched on this in my previous post — the pesticides, the glyphosate, why conventional flour is more complicated than it looks. But I want to come back to it from a purely baking perspective, because organic flour doesn’t just matter for what it doesn’t contain. It actually bakes differently.
Organic grain supports a more active and diverse microbial culture in your starter — because it hasn’t been treated with residue that interferes with wild yeast activity. The fermentation is more reliable, more consistent, and the flavour that develops is genuinely more complex.
The bran content plays a role too. Wholegrain and stoneground organic flours retain more of the bran layer, which is where a lot of the natural wild yeast lives. Your starter feeds on it.
It also absorbs water differently — if you’ve ever switched to organic and found your dough stiffer than expected, that’s why. It’s thirstier. Just adjust accordingly.
Swipe through for the full breakdown. đŸŒŸ

One of the most common messages I get is “I think my starter is dead” — and nine times out of ten, it’s not.That dark li...
15/06/2026

One of the most common messages I get is “I think my starter is dead” — and nine times out of ten, it’s not.
That dark liquid sitting on top is called h***h. It’s just alcohol that builds up when your starter is hungry. Pour it off or stir it back in, feed it, and it will come back to life. Colour anywhere from grey to dark brown is normal. A sharp or boozy smell is normal. It’s just telling you it needs attention.
The only time to actually throw it out is if you see fuzzy mould — pink, orange or green. That’s the real sign it’s gone. Everything else is just a hungry starter.
Swipe through the full guide for everything you need to keep yours healthy. đŸŒŸ

I want to talk about something that doesn’t get discussed enough in the bread world.Flour looks simple. It’s just wheat,...
14/06/2026

I want to talk about something that doesn’t get discussed enough in the bread world.
Flour looks simple. It’s just wheat, right? But conventional wheat farming doesn’t work that way — and as a baker who cares about what goes into my bread, I think you should know what’s actually in your loaf.
Glyphosate has been part of Australian farming since the late 1980s. It’s used throughout the growing season, and in some cases sprayed directly onto the crop right before harvest to dry it out faster. That means it can end up inside the grain itself. Not on the surface. Inside the flour you’re baking with.
And it’s not just glyphosate. Studies show conventional flour carries four times the pesticide residues of organic flour — herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, growth regulators, used across the whole growing season. Wholegrain conventional flour carries the highest load of all.
This is why it matters for sourdough. Sourdough is alive. It depends on wild yeast and bacteria to ferment, rise, develop flavour. Glyphosate was designed to disrupt biological activity in living organisms. Those two things don’t belong together.
Australia does test grain for residues. But passing the test just means levels are within the legal limit. Not that they’re absent. And those limits? They’re set for each chemical individually. Nobody is testing what happens when you consume all of them together, day after day, year after year. The limits also get revised — sometimes upward, when industry pushes back. That tells you something about who they’re designed to protect.
Organic certification is the only real guarantee. That’s why every loaf at Gumnut Baking starts with organic flour. Not as a label. Because real bread deserves real ingredients.
Swipe through. đŸŒŸ

Not long to go! See you in a few hours.. I’ll be at the usual spot with fresh sourdough, honey cake, fermented cabbage, ...
13/06/2026

Not long to go! See you in a few hours.. I’ll be at the usual spot with fresh sourdough, honey cake, fermented cabbage, active starter, eco kitchen stuff and more ! 🍞đŸ§ș🍰

Cotters Market

12/06/2026

I would score all day if i could đŸ”Ș😉

One of the first things I tell people in class is — put the kneading out of your head completely. It doesn’t apply here....
11/06/2026

One of the first things I tell people in class is — put the kneading out of your head completely. It doesn’t apply here.
Sourdough builds its gluten structure through time and fermentation, not force. What you do instead is stretch and fold — a gentle technique done a few times over the first couple of hours. You stretch the dough out, fold it back over itself, then leave it alone to rest. That rest time is just as important as the fold itself.
Done right, the dough develops real strength and elasticity — the kind that holds gas during the final rise and gives you that open, irregular crumb when you cut into it.
Four sets is usually enough. You’ll know it’s working when the dough starts to feel alive in your hands — smooth, stretchy, holding its shape.
Swipe through for the full explanation. đŸŒŸ

Not every bake day looks like a photoshoot. Most of the time it looks like this — flour everywhere, whisk still sticky f...
10/06/2026

Not every bake day looks like a photoshoot. Most of the time it looks like this — flour everywhere, whisk still sticky from the last batch, starter doing its thing in the background.
The mess doesn’t last long though. Sourdough dough dries faster than superglue, so you either clean as you go or spend the next hour chiselling your bench. I’ve learned my lesson. đŸ«Ł
Anyway, it is small but mighty and real kitchen and what’s where the real bread comes from. đŸŒŸ

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West End
Townsville, QLD
4810

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