For those people who avoid making their own pastry because it all seems too difficult, there is good news at hand.

 

A Barossa-based chef is taking all the hard work out of the process by supplying a high-quality, ready-to-use pastry for restaurants - and aspiring home cooks.

 

Careme Pastry is run by chef William Wood and his partner Claire, who live at Greenock and have a small commercial kitchen at Tanunda where the pastry is made.  The idea for the pastry came about when William, a classical fine dining chef, realised a lot of chefs were no longer making their own puff pastry.

 

"It's difficult to make...and what was out there was pretty low quality," he says.

 

"I started to toy with the idea of making puff pastry for chefs, as good as what they would be able to make themselves, and then it seemed natural that consumers would use it too."

 

William makes an all-butter puff pastry, sour cream flaky pastry and vanilla bean sweet shortcrust pastry.

 

"We use real vanilla bean for the sweet pastry, unsalted butter and local free range Rosie's eggs," he says.  Careme Pastry is also used by top-flight chefs at restaurants such Magill Estate, Jolleys, Chianti and The Hyatt.

 

"This is just an affirmation for me I'm on the right track," William says.

 

In addition, William and Claire also make artisan patisserie delicacies, using traditional methods, which are free from additives, preservatives and colourings.

 

"We started making a few types of turnovers for our stall at the Barossa Farmers Market to get ourselves known, and people loved them, they always sold out, " Claire says.

 

Careme now has 25 different pastry lines with savoury tarts, homemade pies, galettes and sweet pastries.

 

Careme tarts and pastries are available at the Barossa Farmers Market from 7.30am to 11.30am every Saturday.  The pre-made pastry and patisserie items are available at selected stores in Adelaide, including Jones the Grocer, Hyde Park, and Udder Delights, at Hahndorf.