For Pune resident Jay Panchpor (27), a passport has a dual meaning — one is a stamped palm-sized official documentation; the other is bread. He sees both as gateways into new worlds. Five years ago, the biomedical engineer had a very different plan charted out for life — one that did not involve an oven and a chef’s hat but instead a master’s degree from Georgia Tech University, Atlanta.
How did the latter segue into the former? Fate.
Today, Jay’s CrustWorthy Gourmet Breads — a venture that is unboxing the spectrum of bread from across cultures — belies its identity as a startup. It is also, Jay says, a commitment to culinary heritage. With a turnover of Rs 24 lakh, the business is set to infuse the baking space in India with gourmet breads that go beyond being flaky treats; they are also emblematic of history.
‘I came across a random bread recipe’
Most residents of Pune have had the same morning ritual for the last four years; they make a stop at a certain parking slot in the Navi Peth area of the city — the CrustWorthy Gourmet Breads address. They strongly believe that the recipe for a happy morning is a cup of tea and some flaky, buttered bread. The fact that they have not just the buns but a smorgasbord of options — sourdoughs, Korean cream cheese buns, bagels, babkas, pretzels — to choose from adds to the fun.
As Jay hustles to meet the requirements of the morning grind, he recalls the road that led him here, to The Better India. The lockdown played a big role. “While I had always been a foodie, I had never considered a career in this space. One day, during the lockdown, while browsing on my phone, I came across a bread recipe.” His inner critic laughed. “I had no experience of baking. I didn’t even know what yeast looked like.” On a whim, Jay decided to try out the recipe.
What’s the worst that could happen? The bread would be a disaster.
What’s the best that could happen? He’d have a cool snack.
Never assuming that he’d one day recall that afternoon as the moment his business was born, Jay baked the bread using a microwave oven — set to 190 degrees, actually suited for cakes, not bread — and a set of simple ingredients: flour, water, milk, eggs, butter, yeast, and salt. The challah (a special bread in Jewish cuisine) turned out “pretty good”; its success pushed him to widen his scope of baking. Soon, loaves piled high on the kitchen counter and the curious neighbours — “What are you making? Let us taste too” — became his first customers.
Eventually, CrustWorthy Gourmet Breads grew from a hobby idea to a startup. The challah continues to be one of their bestsellers and the Jewish communities in Pune relish it on Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year).
Meanwhile, in the backdrop of this successful lockdown idea was an attempt to secure admission to a university. Jay’s perfect CGPA of 9.2 and his projects across IIT Bombay and National Chemical Laboratory in Pune had landed him acceptance letters from “every university” he applied to. He zeroed in on Georgia Tech.
While the pandemic-induced lockdown in 2020 deferred his admission by a year — the baking had started around this time — the second wave of COVID-19 in 2021 did the same. The third time, in 2022, CrustWorthy Gourmet Breads had taken off so well that leaving seemed counterintuitive. Jay decided to stay back and continue baking.
Buy bread from around the world at this Pune bakery
The challah bread has a descriptive richness to it. Heralded in Jewish culture for its symbolism of truth, peace, and justice — the bread comprises three braided strands, each signifying one value — it is traditionally eaten on the Sabbath (a day of rest and worship observed in Judaism and Christianity).
For Jay, the bread holds significance as it was the very first one he baked. Ever. His reason for choosing it? “It looked attractive.” While his foray into the baking space was driven by impulse, a deep interest kept him at it. He came to realise that bread was more than just food. It was a cultural export. “I began understanding the religious and cultural significance of the different types of bread, their geopolitical impact, the choice of grains that went into a certain bread, why India focused on flatbreads while European bread was more of a sandwich style,” he shares.
With a brand new OTG (oven, toaster, grill) set up in his bedroom — “I was causing too much of a mess in the kitchen” — Jay set his sights on bread from around the globe. His most cherished anecdote is of how he made sourdough. The bread draws from the intersection of European cultures and is made by fermenting dough with wild yeast and bacteria. The process saw him fail more than 14 times before managing to perfect the recipe.
He reasons the complexity. “Sourdough bread is made using a sourdough starter rather than commercially available yeast (which is usually more predictable). I had to grow the culture myself and let fermentation occur naturally. This starter, when added to the bread, ferments it to a stage where the bread can be baked. But getting the temperature and timing right is difficult.”
Eventually, Jay succeeded.
Fun fact: The initial four-year-old starter is still going strong; as in the case of wine, the older the better.
Other popular bread retailed at CrustWorthy Gourmet Breads include kanelbullar (a traditional Swedish cinnamon bun made from a sweet, yeasted dough), focaccia (a type of Italian flatbread, known for its soft, airy texture and a flavourful, often herbed crust that is similar to pizza dough), cibata (an Italian white bread known for its airy crumb, and crispy, golden crust, resembling a ciabatta, which means ‘slipper’ in Italian), babka (a delicious, sweet, yeasted bread that originates from Eastern European Jewish communities, typically braided and filled with rich, gooey fillings like chocolate, cinnamon, or fruit), and of course, the ubiquitous sandwich bread.
What started with an initial investment of Rs 5,000 has now scaled into an impressive venture that currently retails 30 different kinds of breads from around the world, baked as per demand.
Through the years, it isn’t just Jay’s business acumen that has strengthened — his knowledge, too, is now more nuanced. “In India, everyone dips bread in chai. Most of my customers were doing the same with the sourdough bread.”
So, Jay came up with the idea of making ‘eating bread’ an experience. “We’ve launched some flavoured butter, like the basil garlic butter which resembles a pesto; an orange and rum butter, which is very similar to an orange marmalade, and a teriyaki butter (a sweet, tangy, salty and savoury blend). Each pairs well with a different kind of bread and customers are advised on the best combinations.”
With this experiential bread-eating approach, CrustWorthy Gourmet Breads is offering its customers a chance to experience new worlds. So, the next time you’re in Pune, simply stop by the CrustWorthy Gourmet Breads, and eat your way through the globe.
Edited by Khushi Arora; All images courtesy Jay Panchpor
