From Formula One engineer to pastry chef, the artist who brought French croissants to Melbourne

She fell in love with Italy during her last trip, between coffee made with the stovetop “cuccumella” pot in Caiazzo, and tagliatelle with wild boar sauce tasted in Tuscany. But it was France that inspired her creations in the Melbourne workshop, where everything smells of good quality butter. Her Lune Croissanterie is the kingdom of French leavened doughs, a happy destination for those who can't do without a bit of sweetness at breakfast. Yet baking was not always the dream of Kate Reid, an aerospace engineer who as a child fantasised about working in Formula One. A goal achieved but which, as often happens, turned out to be less exciting than expected.

From Formula One to croissants

“Once I had achieved my dream, I realised that working as an engineer did not make me happy,” says Australia's most famous baker. "I started to feel dissatisfied, every night I would come home and start kneading, and baking was the only thing that made me happy."

Her training led her to fall in love with the more technical side of pastry making, "I love the fact that pastries have a profoundly scientific nature, the precise combination of ingredients, the meticulous procedures lead to perfect results and smell better in the home than anything else". This is how her adventure in the kitchen began, for fun, to give meaning to those days that were all the same, "I would bring sweets to my colleagues and see the smiles on their faces. It was then that I realised that this was my path'. A passion that led her to drop everything and look for work in Melbourne cafeterias.

A touch of France in Melbourne

Kate started with the basics. Muffins, cakes, biscuits, but then her engineer's mindset kicked in, “I needed to deal with more complicated, more technical recipes, so I started studying French pastry”. And she flew all the way to Paris to gain experience in boulangeries and discover the world of viennoiserie, “I fell head over heels for croissants, but once back in Melbourne I couldn't find any as good. So I decided to start making them.” In 2012 she opens Lune Croissanterie in Fitzroy, a neighbourhood famous for its artistic streak.

The intent of the place is explained in the sign: here you can only find croissants, no cakes or single portions, “I wanted to create a place that would show Australians how special the croissants made with care, passion and attention to detail can be”.

Kate's are French-style croissants, flaky with butter and fragrant, available in an infinity of ever-changing flavours. There are classic pastries, but also savoury versions, the latest novelties with modern shapes and fillings, and creations inspired by Australian tradition, such as the Vegemite savoury girella, the Oz version of the yeast-based spread.

The Australian pastry chef in love with Rome

In the autumn, the baker landed in Italy for a month-long (mostly) gastronomic trip, which surprised her from the first moment. Among the places she visited was the Barnum Cafè in Rome, dedicated to specialty coffees and about to introduce a brand new line of viennoiserie, homemade and inspired by Lune's work, “an artisan who worked with us seven years ago was involved in the project” and then Casa Manfredi Teatro, where pastry chef Giorgia Proia let her taste the first panettone of the year, “which I secretly brought back to Australia... I think it is the best panettone I have ever tasted in my life”. But Kate was also fascinated by Boccione at the Jewish ghetto in the capital, where she tried the Jewish “pizza”, a sweet plait full of candied fruit and nuts, “I had never eaten anything like it in my life”.

What captured her most about cooking, however, is the respect for ingredients, simple products that give life to extraordinary dishes such as those found in trattorias, “the tagliatelle with chinghiale sauce from Locanda Paradiso in Chiusure, in the province of Siena, or the spaghetti with clams from Scanella, in Ischia”. But you know, a trip to Italy is not complete without a good pizza, like the one at Pepe in Grani, “but the most talented chef I have met is Sarah Cicolini of Santo Palato”, back in Rome. Her favourite dish? “Carbonara, hands down”.

Italian coffee vs Australian coffee

Many believe that Italy is unrivalled when it comes to food. There are, however, some areas that can (and must) still improve, such as coffee. The specialty world is growing, especially in Rome, “I found several quality places such as Barnum, Faro, Otaleg, Casa Manfredi” but the small towns remain anchored to tradition, “in the small villages you can only drink espresso, then I had fun trying the moka or the ‘cuccumella’, a nice ritual for home coffee”. And Australia? The gastronomic scene is in great development, “you can find cross-pollination from all over the world, consumers are increasingly informed and demanding, attentive to sustainability, seasonality and the origin of ingredients”.

Kate travels a lot, and is convinced of one thing: “In Australia, cafe standards are the highest in the world”, as confirmed by trends such as the avocado toast, “born in 2006 in a café in the suburbs of Melbourne called APTE... who would have thought that it would then enter menus all over the world”.