Bakery Dornemann Osterode

Since as early as 1740, Marientorstraße 3 in Osterode has been a great address when it comes to quality bread and fine pastries. Back then it was run by baker Schleppe, but in 1869 Heinrich Dornemann took over the business, laying the foundation for what is now a family tradition spanning more than 150 years at this location. Three “Wilhelminian” generations followed: Heinrich passed the baton to his nephew Wilhelm. Then came, from today’s point of view, Grandpa Wilhelm, followed by Father Wilhelm in 1972, before son Jörg Dornemann took over the business in 2004. Since then, at the age of 50, he has been the head baker in the fifth generation. And almost every morning starting at 2 a.m.! Four fellow bakers support him: three journeymen and one apprentice. Later in the day, confectioner Svetlana Tychshenko joins them, taking care of the daily range of cakes and tortes together with her boss. She’s from Kazakhstan and moved to Herzberg am Harz in 2017. At Jörg Dornemann’s bakery, she now demonstrates her confectioner’s skills every day. When we visit the small bakery, she and Jörg Dornemann are just spreading the glaze on a Snow White cake. Our mouths start watering: “Odschen charascho!” Very good, escapes us, and Svetlana laughs a little shyly in return: “Spassibo! Thank you very much!”

Among the specialities in the confectionery range are imaginative wedding cakes and also photo cakes. A display table in the café shows off dolls, figures, and other decorative elements for wedding cakes. Customers can choose ready-made cakes from a thick sample book or discuss their own ideas with the master baker. They can be covered with buttercream, cream, or fondant, or more recently, left “naked.” Jörg Dornemann says: “Naked cakes are becoming increasingly popular. Even with these uncovered cakes there’s plenty of creative freedom, allowing us to keep surprising our customers.” Jörg Dornemann promotes his photo cakes so actively online that he even chose www.foto-torte.de as the address for his company website. Online marketing is very important to this dedicated master craftsman. On Facebook, he posts several times a week about what sweet treats await visitors in and around Osterode at “Café Dornemann.” You can also find him and his photos on Instagram under the account “Brotschafter.”

All these delicacies are offered in the café, in the adjoining bakery shop, and outside at the stand in the pedestrian zone. During the summer months, customers in a hurry can buy whatever their hearts desire at a sales tent, and in winter at a romantic hut. “I never thought about building up a network of branches,” admits Jörg Dornemann. “It’s precisely this family-run character that people really appreciate. Our customers know that everything they buy here in the shop was kneaded and baked by Dornemann’s team just moments before.” And of course, the team also responds to customer wishes and trends, which make their way straight to the bakery. A willingness to experiment is, for Jörg Dornemann, an essential part of what defines craftsmanship. “If, for example, more and more customers ask for bread without flour,” says the master baker, “then I don’t look for a ready-made baking mix, but for suitable ingredients.”

 

In the case of Dornemann’s PowerBrocken, these included rolled oats, linseeds, sunflower seeds, psyllium and chia seeds. For his conventional breads and other baked goods, there are flours available such as wheat, rye, spelt, wholemeal wheat, wholemeal rye and semolina spelt. Around 95 per cent of these flours come from a mill in Langelsheim, which in turn sources its grain only from the region within a radius of 120 kilometres. The salt used comes from the Luisenhall saline in Göttingen, only 43 kilometres away – the last still-operating pan saltworks in Europe. Which brings the passionate baker to the next key element in understanding craftsmanship: regionality. This is also evident in his close cooperation with other Typisch Harz producers. The "Hexen-Stieg Breakfast", which, like three other dishes at Café Dornemann, has been awarded the Typisch Harz label, consists, in addition to his own baked goods, of sausage specialities from Eggers and Koithahn as well as a small bottle of Schierker Feuerstein. "I see our strengths in developing and marketing joint products more closely. I want to become even more regional!" Jörg Dornemann announces with shining eyes. He intends to make even greater use of the friendly ties he established years ago with many local farmers and a beekeeper for new ideas: "There’s still a lot to try out with regional raw materials!"

Yesterday was Jörg Dornemann’s day off. Perhaps a good opportunity to indulge in a hobby. But: "At home, I baked some tasty baguettes and surprised my wife Sandra with them when she finished work." Baking is both his profession and his calling. He never even thought about doing anything else. As a little boy, he spent a lot of time in the bakery, watching his grandfather Wilhelm with wide eyes. After finishing school, he began his apprenticeship in the family business and soon followed it up with master studies. He even used his basic military service to further develop his culinary skills through specialist training as a field cook. Maybe there is a hobby after all? "I go running regularly and do some strength training," reveals Jörg Dornemann, "but really only because I love eating cake!"
 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         by Thorsten Schmidt (2020)