PROOF.

A baker's hand scraping pale dough down the side of a spiral mixer bowl under warm light.

Hour 1 of 5 Mix

Bread is made while you sleep.

At 02:00 the first bowl is already turning: 62 kg of flour, a levain that has been working cold since four yesterday afternoon, and two people who would rather you did not ask them anything until the dough is at 24 °C.

First bowl
62 kg
Dough
24 °C
On shift
2
Two hands folding a round of dough beside a bench scraper and a floured basket.

Hour 2 of 5 Shape

Hands, not machines.

The country loaves are folded by hand, 14 to a board, 780 g each. Baguettes get a 20-minute rest after pre-shaping and are then rolled out to 62 cm, one at a time, by whoever has the steadiest wrists that week.

Country loaf
780 g
Baguette
62 cm
Rest
20 min
A low view of a rolling pin pressing dough across a floured steel bench, flour hanging in the air.

Hour 3 of 5 Roll and fold

Roll. Fold. Chill. Again.

Croissant dough takes three folds in ninety minutes, and every fold ends in the fridge so the butter stays a sheet instead of a smear. Three folds make 27 layers. The bench stays cold, the pin stays heavy, and nobody opens the door to the hot kitchen until the last one is done.

Folds
3
Layers
27
Window
90 min
A row of shaped baguettes with slashed tops glowing amber inside a deck oven.

Hour 4 of 5 Bake

The oven woke at half past three.

The deck oven goes in at 250 °C and the first load gets twelve seconds of steam before the door is shut. The country loaves stay in for 40 minutes; baguettes need 24. Nothing in this hour is hurried, because everything in it is now fixed.

Oven
250 °C
Steam
12 s
Baguette
24 min
Racks of freshly baked baguettes with deeply coloured crusts, seen at a slow slide past the shelves.

Hour 5 of 5 First tray out

They sing on the rack.

The first baguettes leave the oven at 05:52. For the next ten minutes the crust cools faster than the crumb and crackles, and the people who work here stand very still and listen to it. Then somebody sweeps the floor, and the doors are almost ready.

First tray
05:52
Loaves
38
Crackle
10 min
Croissants and sugared pastries in a dark glass case, a red tray beneath them.

07:00 Doors

We open at seven.

Everything below came out of the oven this morning, in the order it came out.

First out: country sourdough, baguette, butter croissant.

Espresso running from a group head into a small black cup, with warm blurred lights behind.

Coffee starts when the doors do.

One house blend, ground to order, pulled on a two-group machine that gets cleaned at 05:00 like everything else.

  • EspressoS$3.80
  • Flat whiteS$5.20
  • Kopi-o gao, our wayS$3.60
  • Cold brew, 18 hoursS$5.80

A counter, eleven seats and a window.

A bakery window lit from inside, shelves of pastries and loaves behind the glass.
The window
Wooden shelves of loaves and rolls above a long wooden counter.
Wall of bread, labelled by bake time
A customer, seen from behind, choosing at a warmly lit pastry counter.
Queue at 07:10
A cafe room with arched wall niches, round tables and warm pendant lights.
Seats by the wall
A barista's hand setting down a small espresso on a wooden counter.
Espresso, handed over

Flour, crust and a peel by the door.

  • A pair of hands pressing a disc of dough on a bench while a cloud of flour drifts up behind them.Flour on everything
  • Round loaves browning on two shelves of an oven, lit from inside.Second shelf
  • Hands scoring proved bread loaves lined up on a tray, ready for the oven.Scored, ready
  • A baker leaning in to slide dough into a brick oven on a long wooden peel.The peel
  • Two shelves of a deck oven, one with golden loaves, one with a tray being pulled out.Two decks
  • A hand clapping together, a burst of white flour hanging against black.Flour, 02:10
  • Macro of a baguette crust, blistered and caramel-brown with flour in the cracks.Crust, at 1:1

Visit Find the door

37 Pelangi Lane, #01-14.

Look for the light on at five in the morning and the line at seven. If the street door is shut, the back is open and someone will let you in for a loaf.

Want a loaf set aside for tomorrow? Call or message before 18:00 today and it will be on the rack with your name on a bit of paper.

+65 6100 0147
hello@proofbakehouse.sg

Hours, and the night before them

Tuesday to Friday
07:00 – 17:00
Saturday and Sunday
07:00 – 16:00
Monday
The ovens rest

The dark bar is the night shift, the amber bar is the shop. Most loaves are gone by 13:00. The last croissants usually go before ten.