We met up one recent warm spring afternoon. Sporting a wide smile, Elissavet Koulouri, who has just launched a bread-baking and distribution venture following an impressive professional past in other fields, is evidently an extremely satisfied person. “This is the best period of my life,” she said. Having grown up on the island Corfu, she conveys her homeland’s charm with every move.

Koulouri studied in London and returned to the Ionian island to run a local EU representative office. A few months later, an offer from a major communications firm brought her to Athens, before she ended up with a managerial position at a big-time advertising company.  However, approximately a year ago, Koulouri felt that she had run her course in this field, without any further objectives to aim for.      

She traveled to London to follow a bread-making seminar at E5 Bakehouse. The trip was offered to her as a birthday present by her partner. Koulouri was captivated and felt that this was the first time real creativity was taking place before her very eyes. Upon returning from London, she began baking bread for her friends, all of whom encouraged her to further pursue this new interest. Koulouri took off for London again, then went to Paris, and also spent some time on the island of Sifnos, where she owns a holiday home, exploring her new fascination along the way. Last September, she decided to begin baking at an actual bakery, on a trial basis. Two old friends, the Kostis brothers, who run The Bakers chain, lent her a fully equipped space of theirs.

Koulouri began experimenting and swiftly realized that the secret behind quality bread-making is in the flour – “and the yeast”, she added while carrying on to passionately analyze that “magic moment when water and flour make something so basic, essential, primordial and vital.”

A new world suddenly opened up for Koulouri. She relies on three sources for organic flour supply – Trinity Farm in Farsala, located in the fertile planes of Thessalia, central Greece; the Kiziridis brothers in Kilkis, northern Greece; and Papageorgiou in Bourazani, northwest Greece. All the flours she uses are ground at stone mills so that the grains are not broken. Besides the flour, she uses honey from Sifnos, fleur de sel from Kythira, the island just off the southeastern tip of the Peloponnese, and olive oil from Trifylia, southwest Peloponnese.     

Koulouri started her baking endeavor making two types of bread, which, over time, increased to three, plus certain seasonal breads. Her product line is now comprised of Epirus-type village bread (horiatiko), 100 percent whole wheat rye bread with cumin, white bread with lavender and honey in spring and, in summer, either thyme or savory and olive oil. All her bread products are totally pure, made with just one flour type and natural yeast.

Offering her bread products to restaurants, groceries, even museum café-restaurants, Koulouri enjoys impressing recipients. About a month ago, she officially launched her venture as Betty’s Bakery. It is not exactly a bakery, as she still operates as a guest at the facilities provided by The Bakers. Koulouri distributes her products to selected points and also offers home deliveries. Each loaf of bread she bakes requires 36 hours to settle and that much more time in work.

Koulouri is glad that modern consumers are beginning to develop a genuine interest for authentic bread. A progressive thinker of many ideas and concerns, she supports Boroume, a non-profit organization that aims to limit food waste and fight malnutrition in Greece; heads to the Greek capital’s Filopappou hill area to give bread to individuals in need; organizes bicycle-courier home delivery of bread for special occasions and as presents; supports small producers; and hopes to soon employ people with urgent needs, assuming her Betty’s Bakery venture grows.

Orginally published in Kathimerini’s newspaper Gynaika magazine