Sourdough stars at Melbourne Food and Wine Festival pop-up bakery

In biblical times, bread miraculously multiplied. Breaking bread can unite people around the table or a measly meal of bread and water can be used as punishment. From breakfast to school lunches and the bread plate at restaurants, the loaf that holds up the food pyramid sustains us.

It may shock the bread-loving populace but white bread shouldn't be white. Artisan baker Tim Beylie explains: "When you slice a good loaf of bread it should be yellowish in colour. Even if it's white bread, it shouldn't be white as paper. It should have a creamy colour."

Beylie, a second-generation baker from the south-west French town of Vieux Boucau, is the baker-in-residence at the Artisan Bakery and Bar at Queensbridge Square, Southbank - a celebration of bread, pastries and coffee during the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival with workshops from February 27 until March 15.

Starting his day at 4am at the Woodfrog Bakery, in St Kilda, Beylie is a skilled shaper of dough who is responsible for the crunchy crust and delicious goodness inside that becomes toast or sandwiches.

After learning to make bread from his father, Dominique, he came to Australia 10 years ago, and one thing hasn't changed: "I just like eating it." Especially when it comes out of a 245-degree gas oven as hot bread.

From a gourmet slice to bread-and-butter comfort food, he said: "I find it really interesting that you start with flour, water and salt and out of that you can make something that people have been eating for so long."

As a hobby, Beylie is a DJ and - true to his heritage - goes by the name "Baguette". Not that he waves one overhead as he bops to '80s Italo disco or spins one of the thousands of vinyl records in his collection.

Whether on supermarket shelves or in a bakery, Beylie's edict that bread should contain only three ingredients and undergo long, slow fermentation wins the imprimatur of veteran baker John Downes, a purist who introduced innocent Melbourne to sourdough at the Feedwell Foundry in Prahran, in 1979, then the Natural Tucker Bakery in Carlton North.

Downes, who lives in South Australia, first got his hands into sourdough during his "hippy sojourn" in Byron Bay in 1975. During his sold-out "Mastering sourdough" workshop on March 3, he will "contextualise" the bread to create greater understanding of it.

The original hippy baker watches with concern as the hipster generation rolls with their own recipe. "A lot of so-called sourdough makers are using 10 ingredients, which is absurd," Downes said. "From yeast to ascorbic acid to vinegar. There are no regulations, so you can call it what you like."

An international guest at the Artisan Bakery and Bar, in 2011. What splendid timing, given Catherine has a bun in the oven.

melbournefoodandwine.com.au