Sourdough and Surfboards

How 19-year-old Lachlan Gibson is defying the digital age with ancestral baking.

I have a guilty secret! Every week, a charming young man brings a delivery to my door. With a lovely smile, he hands me a gift wrapped in brown paper. Slightly warm and with a delicious aroma that makes you salivate. Meet Lachlan from the Algarve Bread Company.

Bread is my favourite food. But we keep getting told not to eat it. The only way of not piling on the pounds is to demonstrate total abstinence from this decadent, calorie-loading evil that’s put in supermarkets as a terrible plot to expand your waistline. Yet for years, everyone ate bread as part of a daily ration without seemingly succumbing to obesity – so what has changed?

Now, modern commercial varieties are highly processed, low in fibre, and quick to spike blood sugar. Traditional bread, made from just flour, water, yeast and salt, is different. Enter Lachlan, delivering me guilt-free bread. As he says, “There is nothing bad in my bread.”

At just 19, Lachlan’s daily life is a study in contrasts. By day, he studies remote business management at an American university. But once his screen closes, his education shifts to the Algarve Bread Company, which requires manual labour, physical intuition and time.

Drawn by the surf, Lachlan’s family moved from the US to the Algarve three-and-a-half years ago, as his father sought to recreate the free-spirited California coastal lifestyle of his own childhood. He succeeded. When Lachlan’s grandmother visited, she was struck by how much Lagos reminded her of southern California in the 1960s. Lachlan quickly integrated, finishing his secondary school at Lagos’ Brave Generation Academy. By age 16, he was repairing surfboards with his father under their brand, Gibson Surfboards, a craft inherited from his grandfather, John, who shaped for the legendary Hobie brand. Incidentally, John Gibson was also in a band called The Sandles, which wrote the soundtrack for the legendary surf film ‘The Endless Summer’.

It was surfboard repair that paved the way for his baking. “I made some boards for a French baker’s son and did repairs on his boards,” Lachlan recalls. “He sold sourdough at the Wednesday market but wanted to retire. I asked if he would teach me.” After a six-month apprenticeship, Lachlan bought the stone-deck oven and set up a small bakery at his parents’ property near Lagos.

Real sourdough takes 24 to 48 hours of slow, cold fermentation. Unlike supermarket loaves pumped with commercial yeasts and chemical conditioners, Lachlan’s process allows wild yeasts and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) to thrive. This slow fermentation breaks down complex gluten proteins, making the bread much easier to digest for those with non-celiac gluten sensitivities. It also degrades phytic acid, an anti-nutrient that binds minerals like iron and zinc, thereby unlocking their nutritional value. Furthermore, sourdough has a lower glycemic index, preventing the sharp insulin spikes of processed bread.

“It is just flour, water and salt,” Lachlan notes. To enjoy his signature loaves, he recommends slicing them thick and smearing them with salted butter.

For those seeking maximum nutrition, Lachlan offers a 100% whole wheat (integral) loaf. Sourdough whole wheat is particularly nutrient-dense, as the whole kernel is ground into the flour, preserving all of the grain’s natural fibre, vitamins and minerals. Fermentation unlocks these nutrients, making the whole wheat loaf an outstanding staple for overall gut health and stable energy. I also love his olive pimento loaf, which adds another dimension to a slice of toast. And if you are feeling naughty, his sweet treats, such as cinnamon rolls, offer a decadent dive into sweet pastry (but maybe not so good for you!).

Whether he is carving a board to ride the Algarve waves or waiting forty-eight hours for a wild culture to transform grain into healthy bread, Lachlan’s message remains the same: some things are simply better when they are authentic.

Facebook: Algarve Bread Company