2008 Copyright Fordabelli
ABOUT US PAGE
We are a motley bunch who all wear numerous hats, depending what is required of us
Marc Joubert
Owner of Fordabelli, Scratch Baker, Mr Fixit, GDB, Chief Bottle Washer .......... !
Born, Bread and Buttered in Pretoria, South Africa.
Schooled at Waterkloof Primary, Montague Hoerskool and Pretoria Boys High.
Married at a young age and produced (thanks to their mother, Sue) two wonderful sons, Brett and Darren, who are now resident in Australia.
Divorced also at a young age and remained single for a good couple of years.
Married Carol in 1999 - our kids are two Jack Russels, Dock & Lulu, and Cloddie, our tabby cat.
Started baking cakes from about the age of 8 and supplemented pocket money from 13 by baking rusks. Rusks remained as a hobby for the next 20 years. I only started dabbling with yeast products in my thirties, producing mainly pitta breads and Vetkoek. My Vetkoek breakfasts became well known amongst my friends (and their friends, their friend's friends ..... - invite list catered for only +/- 60 people and 100 plus people arrived !).
Between baking something and enjoying life, I had a stint working in a photographic shop - built light weight long span steel roof trusses - designed & developed prefabricated building systems and spent time in Mozambique, Angola, Malawi, Kenya, Israel, Abudhabi, Dubai and more, erecting such structures as churches, classrooms, clinics, barracks etc etc - building radio equipment shelters for Vodacom, MTN, Sentech, SAP and Telkom - Did my restaurant training at the Cattleman Restaurant in Durban and managed two of their Porterhouse Restaurants - supplied specialized foods and packaging to the restaurant / take away industry in Natal and Transkei - Had two courier businesses - Tried my hand at farming - Generally having a good time and finally settling down (?) to baking the standard government breads for the local rural community.
It was at this stage that I became aware of all the unpronounceable "stuff" that was used to produce these breads, our basic staple food, our "staff of life" - the flour-improvers, conditioners, preservatives, hydrogenated fats, enzymes - It was frightening to learn that we have been used as guinea pigs for decades with various bleaches and chemicals, many of which have been since been banned and are no longer introduced into the flour at the milling stage , but are replaced with some equally dubious cocktails of enzymes and chemicals which are now introduced into the bread by means of premixes which are used in the baking stage by the high production bakeries. The supermarket inhouse bakeries, as well as some "so-called" Craft or Artisan bakeries, tend to use premixes as well as frozen raw or par-baked products produced by these high-production facilities.
I now bake my speciality breads from SCRATCH - free of preservatives, premixes or chemicals - starting off using only the basics ie., flour, water, salt, sourdough starter or in some cases, bakers yeast, and let nature do her own thing !
Fordabelli has been operating in Malmesbury since 2006 and is now venturing into the true artisan bread baking environment - continued pressure of the ever increasing price of diesel has led me to look at alternatives for oven heating - gas is a lot cleaner and more efficient but supply can be erratic and price is also affected by the current crude oil prices - converting ovens to electricity was an option but the conversion itself is costly and the added dilema of load shedding and radical pending tarrif increases led me to persue the option of using "green" energy - wood !
I will now be converting one of my diesel fired ovens to wood with a biogas backup. Yup, I will now have to get up considerably earlier to get the fires going (at this rate, I might as well not bother going to sleep !! no, only kidding, will adapt my production accordingly) Should this option prove to be satisfactory, it is then my intention to build a LARGE wood fired oven from scratch. To put all of these wonderful ideas into practice, I will be relocating the bakery in its entirety to more suitable, rural premises
Carol Joubert
Unfortunately my WIFE, working partner, admin/marketing/HR lady is no longer active in the day to day running of Fordbelli - she is sorely missed.
Arthur Julius
Arthur is my Left Hand Man - assistant and pending baker.
Arthur has also had a varied career - Trained with one of the supermarket bakeries in Namibia under the strict instruction from the German baker. He moved on to the building industry after the bakery closed and eventually, missing the baking industry, he moved to the Cape where he had stints in various inhouse bakeries and eventually joined Fordabelli early 2007. He has adapted well to the scratch baking principle - you can see the pleasure on his face when a batch of bread comes out SUPERB !
Marc Joubert
Owner of Fordabelli, Scratch Baker, Mr Fixit, GDB, Chief Bottle Washer .......... !
Born, Bread and Buttered in Pretoria, South Africa.
Schooled at Waterkloof Primary, Montague Hoerskool and Pretoria Boys High.
Married at a young age and produced (thanks to their mother, Sue) two wonderful sons, Brett and Darren, who are now resident in Australia.
Divorced also at a young age and remained single for a good couple of years.
Married Carol in 1999 - our kids are two Jack Russels, Dock & Lulu, and Cloddie, our tabby cat.
Started baking cakes from about the age of 8 and supplemented pocket money from 13 by baking rusks. Rusks remained as a hobby for the next 20 years. I only started dabbling with yeast products in my thirties, producing mainly pitta breads and Vetkoek. My Vetkoek breakfasts became well known amongst my friends (and their friends, their friend's friends ..... - invite list catered for only +/- 60 people and 100 plus people arrived !).
Between baking something and enjoying life, I had a stint working in a photographic shop - built light weight long span steel roof trusses - designed & developed prefabricated building systems and spent time in Mozambique, Angola, Malawi, Kenya, Israel, Abudhabi, Dubai and more, erecting such structures as churches, classrooms, clinics, barracks etc etc - building radio equipment shelters for Vodacom, MTN, Sentech, SAP and Telkom - Did my restaurant training at the Cattleman Restaurant in Durban and managed two of their Porterhouse Restaurants - supplied specialized foods and packaging to the restaurant / take away industry in Natal and Transkei - Had two courier businesses - Tried my hand at farming - Generally having a good time and finally settling down (?) to baking the standard government breads for the local rural community.
It was at this stage that I became aware of all the unpronounceable "stuff" that was used to produce these breads, our basic staple food, our "staff of life" - the flour-improvers, conditioners, preservatives, hydrogenated fats, enzymes - It was frightening to learn that we have been used as guinea pigs for decades with various bleaches and chemicals, many of which have been since been banned and are no longer introduced into the flour at the milling stage , but are replaced with some equally dubious cocktails of enzymes and chemicals which are now introduced into the bread by means of premixes which are used in the baking stage by the high production bakeries. The supermarket inhouse bakeries, as well as some "so-called" Craft or Artisan bakeries, tend to use premixes as well as frozen raw or par-baked products produced by these high-production facilities.
I now bake my speciality breads from SCRATCH - free of preservatives, premixes or chemicals - starting off using only the basics ie., flour, water, salt, sourdough starter or in some cases, bakers yeast, and let nature do her own thing !
Fordabelli has been operating in Malmesbury since 2006 and is now venturing into the true artisan bread baking environment - continued pressure of the ever increasing price of diesel has led me to look at alternatives for oven heating - gas is a lot cleaner and more efficient but supply can be erratic and price is also affected by the current crude oil prices - converting ovens to electricity was an option but the conversion itself is costly and the added dilema of load shedding and radical pending tarrif increases led me to persue the option of using "green" energy - wood !
I will now be converting one of my diesel fired ovens to wood with a biogas backup. Yup, I will now have to get up considerably earlier to get the fires going (at this rate, I might as well not bother going to sleep !! no, only kidding, will adapt my production accordingly) Should this option prove to be satisfactory, it is then my intention to build a LARGE wood fired oven from scratch. To put all of these wonderful ideas into practice, I will be relocating the bakery in its entirety to more suitable, rural premises
Carol Joubert
Unfortunately my WIFE, working partner, admin/marketing/HR lady is no longer active in the day to day running of Fordbelli - she is sorely missed.
Arthur Julius
Arthur is my Left Hand Man - assistant and pending baker.
Arthur has also had a varied career - Trained with one of the supermarket bakeries in Namibia under the strict instruction from the German baker. He moved on to the building industry after the bakery closed and eventually, missing the baking industry, he moved to the Cape where he had stints in various inhouse bakeries and eventually joined Fordabelli early 2007. He has adapted well to the scratch baking principle - you can see the pleasure on his face when a batch of bread comes out SUPERB !
Website last updated 04 April '08