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Greetings from The Hague: the story behind Leffers
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In October, Noëlle-Joy Workala and her husband opened their second sourdough bakery in The Hague. What began with a spontaneous bread moment in Copenhagen and a small-scale trade at a day nursery grew into Leffers. With their artisan loaves they are now winning over Delft and The Hague. And Noëlle-Joy may well be the only Moluccan sourdough baker in the Netherlands. That this remarkable couple of entrepreneurs is right around the corner from us could hardly go unnoticed.
A loaf in Copenhagen
The start of Leffers can be traced back to one loaf of bread. During a city trip to Copenhagen, Noëlle-Joy and her husband stood in a long queue outside a bakery. "We were hungry and my husband said: 'I'm not waiting for this.' But I had to try it.'" It turned out to be worth the wait. "That bread had a hard crust, was soft and sticky inside, with a slight sourness. It tasted totally different from what we knew in the Netherlands. That moment inspired us to start making bread ourselves." At home they began experimenting. Noëlle-Joy made the dough in the evening, after which her husband finished it later that night when he came home from his hospitality job in Delft, and then got up at four in the morning to bake it so she could take it to work early.
From day nursery to a full bakery
The first regular customers came unexpectedly from her work at a day nursery in The Hague. "The parents got bread from me, free at first. Then they asked: 'Can we order a loaf from you every week?'" Soon restaurants in Delft wanted the bread on their menus too. The bakery moved from the kitchen at home to a small spot behind a lunchroom. "In the beginning we made 40 to 60 loaves a day. Then came the lockdown and we had to come up with something." A simple sign outside and a call-out on Instagram were enough. The neighbourhood discovered Leffers and came by every day.
A Moluccan touch
The Leffers formula is clear: "We make sourdough bread that ferments naturally without yeast, with a high moisture content and a slight sourness. Crunchy outside and soft inside." The bakery also sells Scandinavian cinnamon buns, cakes and biscuits. But part of the range refers to Noëlle-Joy's background. "My father comes from the island of Serua. We use cloves from there in our hot cross buns at Easter. And I once made a bun with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves, among other things. My father called it a Moluccan bolus. I sold it under that name for a long time too. It led to lovely conversations with customers, who often had no idea where these familiar spices actually came from."
Family as a backbone
The opening of the second shop showed how important family is to her. "My family is the most important thing of all. I come from a family of seven children. When I had to open the shop in October and had no childcare credit left, I simply said in the family app: 'I need help.'" That worked immediately. "Everyone stepped in. We made a schedule. My brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles – everyone helped where it was needed. We really do not take that for granted."
Noëlle-Joy wants to see that warm atmosphere in her shops too. "It should simply be a joy to walk in here, with a warm welcome and good bread. That is what we stand for."
