Well there are hundreds of different types of breads that vary based on things such as size, shape, texture, taste and the ingredients used.
Now one group of breads we are focusing on are sourdoughs. True sourdoughs require a yeast culture as well as several days preparation before they are actually baked. The yeast reacts with warm water to start producing gas which adds not only flavor to the bread but traps air bubbles in the dough; developing those holes that exist when you cut bread. In order to develop the proper texture you must either allow the bread to rise a certain amount or prevent it from doing so. In order to develop some of the flavor of our breads, we let them 'retard' which means they are chilled to slow down the rising and the yeasts reaction, adding a more intense flavor to the bread.
After developing, shaping and rising the bread (the whole process of which takes about two days; not including growing the yeast culture), we bake them off in the wood oven. Again this takes quite a bit of preparation, it must be heated by small fires over several days before baking. The temperature must be absolutely perfect or you will either get a soft or rock hard crust and possibly ruin the inside of the bread. The same is true for any of the baked goods we sell, they all require different temperatures and different amounts of time to prepare for.
However the labor is undoubtedly worth it, the flavor of the bread is incredible. It has a texture unlike any other and of course we have sourced out organic and almost entirely local producers of all the ingredients! In the future we also hope to move into specialty breads for people who are celiac or who may have allergies to common bread ingredients. So hopefully if everything goes as planned we will have more bread actually ready to sell for next weekend, and of course we will be selling pies and apples. Hopefully I will see some of you soon!
Until then everyone,
Good Eating!
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