EN 
DE 
By Kay Haufe & Juliane Just
Dresden. It comes across very modern. From the packaging looks a young woman with a bun and lipstick. Around her are nettles, butterflies and a bird. "The biting gardener" is written underneath. The Dresden master baker Andreas Wippler presents it as a small sensation. Because: it's a toast.
"Toast bread is rarely available from artisan bakers. But in retail, it was one of the best-selling breads in Germany last year," says Wippler. It scores points with customers for its taste, but also for its long shelf life. For the master baker it was clear: "I wanted to make such an extraordinary bread."
In the course of his award as a bread sommelier - only eight bakers in Saxony are allowed to call themselves that so far - Andreas Wippler occupied himself with local herbs. After a few experiments, he came across the stinging nettle. It took many attempts to bring the medicinal plant as skillfully as possible into the bread without it becoming too bitter. It took up to 40 recipes until the perfect bread was made. Wippler also consulted the Technical University of Dresden and alternative practitioners.
"Weed" to get a new reputation in Wippler bread
With the new toast called "biting gardener," the newly minted bread sommelier wants to clear up the reputation of the local weed. "There's a real opportunity for the bakery trade in our 'weeds," he says. The spelt toast bread features dried nettles on the one hand, and a nettle broth is added to the dough on the other. For the project, the Lohse nursery in Pirna planted three fields of nettles for the Dresden baker.
From now on, the 500-gram bread is available pre-packed in the five Wippler stores in Dresden. Cost: 4.90 euros. It has a high vitamin C and protein content. The healing effect of the nettle is also scientifically proven. The bread contains a total of 1.4 percent nettle leaves. The "biting gardener's bread" is baked into the fall and then again from spring onwards, when the first nettles can be harvested.
But in the end, what counts for the master baker is that the customers like it, too. He let the customers taste and rate the last three recipes. The peanut-like smell of spelt goes perfectly with the mild spiciness of nettle, he says. "You're supposed to feel like you're eating in a freshly mowed meadow," Wippler says with a grin.
Expansion: Master baker Wippler plans new bakery
Especially on weekends, there is hardly any free space to be found in the Pillnitz bakery. Master baker Andreas Wippler and his wife Doreen have therefore been thinking about what they could change since 2018. "At first we wanted to expand the café, but the experience of the Corona period was that we should concentrate our strength mainly in the production of our products, which you can ultimately eat anywhere," says Andreas Wippler.
So the family has focused on a new bakery and has already acquired a neighboring plot of their listed three-sided farm from the Free State for this purpose. "The plan is to build anew on the site of the former tractor barn of our chamber estate. This will allow us to move the bakery out of our current building, where there will then be more space for guests and the presentation of our products."
The new bakery, which is to be at least twice as large as the current one with 400 square meters, can then also accommodate new ovens and cooling systems for which there is no space now. Andreas Wippler could then also purchase new technologies such as an egg separator. So far, one employee takes care of the eggs. "Using fresh ones is very important to us. With the machine, the employee would then be available for other work, which is very important in view of the lack of skilled workers."
New bakery in Dresden-Pillnitz brings better working hours
In general, the new bakery should change and improve the work. "Then we would also have more baking space, and we wouldn't have to start work for the next day before midnight, but only 2 or 3 o'clock at night. That would be more attractive for employees. And that's what we have to pay special attention to in order to keep them."
At the moment, it is not yet possible to estimate how much the new building will cost. The Wippler family and their architect presented initial plans for the bakery to the design commission on Friday. "The members found our idea basically good, but wanted the design to be even more responsive to the character of the old Kammergut. We took away positively that there is no veto against our plans, but that work must be done on them," says Andreas Wippler. From today's perspective, it will probably be another two to four years before the new bakery is built.
