An idea that has spanned five years in the making including a complete relocation from Germany to Mount Eliza, couple Anita Seferian and Hendrik Roessmann finally actualised their bakery dream opening Butterken Bakery in November 2022.
The pair first met in South America while travelling and lived together in Germany for over seven years, Anita a Mornington Peninsula native working in business and marketing and Hedrink who was born and grew up in Germany, studied biochemistry but fell hard and fast for hospitality while working at different restaurants throughout his student life.
Also Read: The Best Bakeries on the Mornington Peninsula
“When we decided we were going to open something of our own it was either going to be in Berlin or here, we wanted our work to be valued and wanted to create a great lifestyle and that’s why we chose the Mornington Peninsula,”
says co-owner Anita.
Situated on the main strip of Mount Eliza Way, the small shop front modestly shelters the hive of baked treasures that reside within, the entrance features several bar tables to park up at and inside you are met with the coffee machine and a long display cabinet full of the speciality German-style baked goods and bread that’ve propelled Butterken to a neighbourhood favourite.
The name Butterken is a local colloquialism to the German region where Hendrik’s family hails from, “if you were to make yourself a Butterkeen (pronounced “boo-ter-kin”) you’ve just made a really quick sandwich like a bread and ham,” Anita explains.
Inside from left to right the savoury options include several perfectly coloured and crusted sourdough rolls which range from simple combinations like mustard, pickle and ham to a classic egg sandwich to whole hand-sized pretzels, intricately woven and baked to an enchanting deep rich brown which come plain as well as sliced and filled with cream cheese and chives and even sugared.
Pastries also grace the space, with ‘Die Puddingbrezel’ pretzel-shaped croissants filled with baked custard, as well as ‘Zimt Schnecken’ cinnamon scrolls heaped with cinnamon as well as the addition of cocoa, a traditional German addition to the beloved baked good.
Shielding the arduous mixing and rolling of the baking team in the centre of the shop are two tall metal racks, each level loaded with flour-toasted loaves and rolls of different shapes and sizes but all produced with the strict sourdough ethos of the business.
“Our bread has no improvers, no additives, sourdough bread is sensitive to time and to temperature and that’s the thing we teach here,” says Anita.
Today it looks like a well-oiled machine with over 19 staff in rotation but Anita describes Butterken’s very modest beginnings.
“It was just me and Hendrik and we only opened Friday to Sunday…I honestly think we would only get three to five hours of sleep though because we were running on such high energy, baking every day and testing things.”
Butterken is now open six days a week, the pair even extended their operation just under a year ago, taking over a space behind the shop adjoined by the courtyard so that they’d be able to make pastry in a more temperature-controlled environment with a sheet machine.
“Bread likes it hot [to proof] but pastry likes it cold, that’s why we’ve got the space now, it’s made things so but easier and we’re able to do some really cool things,” says Anita.
The Specifics:
What: Butterken Bakery
Where: 54 Mount Eliza Way, Mount Eliza
Find out more about Butterken Bakery on their website.
Photography by: Ella Taylor
