Running a Gluten Free Bakery in Europe with Paula Onink

Do you have to follow a gluten-free diet? Today  I'm going to be talking to Paula Onink, from the Netherlands. This is really exciting for me because I don't often get to interview people from Europe! Paula is one of my students as well as someone I consider a friend and she owns Gebaksjuwelier, a gluten-free bakery in Culemborg, Netherlands.

On the show today, Paula talks to us about her experience so far, with her real-life bakery. (She also runs a webshop lately.) Paula sells bread, pastries, bread mixes, and all sorts of other interesting and exciting things. And she has employees too, including someone with special needs, which I think is wonderful, as that's something close to my heart! Listen in to find out more!

Paula has been running her bakery for five years now. I'm particularly interested in talking to her today because she herself is not someone who needs to have gluten-free food. And people usually start out in specialty baking (like gluten-free, dairy free) because they themselves need it. Paula started out working with people who are mentally challenged and she came to realize that she actually wanted to bake more than she wanted to work with people. And this is where it all began. Listen in today, to hear all about Paula and her fabulous bakery.

Show Highlights:

• Some history of Paula's bakery- and where it all started for her.
• Finding out that in order to survive in the pastry business you have to specialize.
• Things fell into place when Paula started learning about gluten.
• What motivated Paula to start gluten-free baking.
• The challenges of sharing a kitchen with her husband in the beginning.
• Choosing the best location for a gluten-free bakery.
• Paula employs someone with Downs Syndrome to help her in her shop.
• Paula's baker has a mild form of autism.
• Gluten free bread is Paula's best-seller and she now sells gluten-free bread mix too.
• Paula is now even selling gluten-free pecan pie in the bakery.
• How Paula comes up with gluten-free recipes.
• The taste of gluten-free flour needs to be disguised.
• Paula's products taste the same- or even better than normal!

Resources:

Paula’s Website (it’s in Dutch)

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