French Road Bakery

902 884 2599

Email: frb-at-seasidehighspeed-dot-com

(typed out to prevent spammers)

Cape Breton's only privately operated wood-fired brick oven bakery featuring sourdough breads and hearth loaves using mainly organic ingredients.

AT:

Cape Breton Farmer's Market, 340 Keltic Drive, Sydney:

Saturdays 8.30am - 1.00pm

Baddeck Farmer's Market:

Wednesdays 11.00am - 2.00pm (June-October)

This website is gradually being moved over to

The French Road Bakery Wordpress Blogs:

baking/food related:

http://frenchroadbakery.wordpress.com/

politics-economics related:

http://comingdarkage.wordpress.com/

This week's Notes and Specials

Early May:

Because of the change in season I have recently turned off the wood fire heating in the house resulting in a dramatic increase in indoor humidity along with more volatile daily temperature cycles; this has presented a considerable challenge to my slow fermentation methods with minimal mechanical climate controls. (This time of year, along with the similar October-November fall period, is always tricky.) The past two weeks have seen most loaves coming out fine notwithstanding, but with the exception of the fresh-ground 100% ryes being decidedly over-moist, so I will be happy to give a full refund to anyone who purchased those loaves on top of the price reduction already granted at time of purchase. I have been increasing the hydration envelope on this loaf after changing the grind settings and getting a new batch of grains, but the dramatic rise in indoor humidity pushed the formula over the top moisture and fermentation-wise. Hopefully next week (May 17) I'll get it right.

Meanwhile, the sprouted Ezekiel-style loaf has been steadily improving as I settle into a technique suited to the equipment and schedule of the bakery. Now everything except the pre-ground flax seed is being sprouted including the spices which are all seeds; to be precise there is also a small amount of stoneground rye starter in the final mix because I like to give the 'dough' a final overnight fermentation period along with the other breads because I believe it assures a digestively friendly microbial population. In sum, this 'Ezekiel' loaf contains sprouted spelt, rye, oats, barley, lentils, sunflower seeds, coriander, fennel, anise and caraway and is becoming a truly superior - as well as delicious - loaf. I have increased the percentage of the three minor grains (barley, oats, lentils) to 25% from 20% of the 'flour component' (even though there is no flour per se in a sprouted loaf), making spelt and rye comprise 37.5% each. (Sunflower seeds, ground flax and spices don't count as main grain ingredients). That said, this is still a tricky loaf because my 1880's design manual meat grinder cannot always process the grains depending on their softness/firmness, which I cannot always precisely control, so sometimes the evening grinding session is terribly frustrating and I am researching ways to overcome this.

I have recently started working with a pasta making machine using the lasagna-making function to roll out consistently thin whole grain crackers. It will take some time to develop a fermented formula that can be rolled thin using fresh-ground spelt, red fife and/or rye whole grain plus seed crackers. They are really delicious and appealing to those who find breads too bulky/bloating, and also excellent as pre-dinner snacks, with salza, cheese, smoked meats etc. More importantly for this bakery, such crackers will take advantage of the lower temperature cycle of the oven after the breads have been baked and hopefully add to the monthly net bottom line.

As can be seen from the two links above, I have started two little blogs. The main idea is to stop posting lots of links to various articles on the links page here and keep this site more simple and to the point.

Link to General Menu

Rosemary Garlic Focaccio:

"Bread deals with living things, with giving life, with growth, with the seed, the grain that nurtures."

--Lionel Poilane

Organic natural starter cultures

Highest quality organic flours & fresh ground kernels

Hand mixed and stretched

Slow fermentation for better nutrition and taste

Radiant and conductive heat in brick oven

No modern shortcuts:

No factory-made single-strain or otherwise unnaturally modified yeast

No machine mixing

No machine (or even hand) kneading

No additives, 'dough conditioners' or other unnatural unmentionables!

EXPLANATION OF THE MENU

First, and simply, am trying to provide a good range of items despite relative small number of loaves in this artisan operation, the range mainly being considered in terms of the spectrum of grains (spelt, wheat, rye with others like Red Fife and barley to come), and the type of grinds (white, whole grain dark, whole sprouted grain).

Second, the 'menu' is configured to harmonize with the natural heating cycle of the wood-fired brick oven, namely that certain recipes have been developed to be baked at very high temperatures of around 750 F (such as the garlic or other focaccio-like loaves), whilst others are baked at the bottom of the bread-baking range around 400F, with most of the hearth loaves being baked between 650 and 450. Pastries such as shortbread are baked at around 350 and lower.

Early Firing French Road Bakery Wood-Fired Brick Oven July 30th 2010

Works well as evidenced by little smoke coming into chimney area below the lintel; note also how bricks have turned 'white' inside because temperature is (way) above 750F

The Oven: Weight: 10,000 lbs; Bricks: 500 plus; Thickness of brick 'heating mass': 7"; Thickness of insulation materials: 4"; Internal Dimensions: 49.5" * 37". Nr. of 750 gram (pre-baked) loaves per batch: 15-30 depending on loaf shapes; Nr. of Batches: 4-8 depending on dough, type of wood, length of firing, fortitude of Baker.

100% Whole Wheat Loaves ready in the oven

Crumb shot of 100% Whole Wheat loaves in the oven above:

Ingredients

Flours: Organic Whites, Whole Wheat, Rye, either stone ground, fresh ground or sprouted.

Water: Revitalized well water - typically about 65-75% of the flour contents depending on recipe. Also filtered, though am waiting to purchase a much better filtration unit.

Salt: Sea Salt - usually about 1.3% of total recipe including flour and water, i.e. 12 grams per 600g loaf. Usually Marisol Celtic Sea Salt (the best I have found) but sometimes other brands depending on supply/transportation costs.

Starter : Wild or natural cultures; i.e. made from grain and water with no other inputs except air and naturally existing yeasts and bacteria from the environment. The whole thing is a) very simple and b) a mystery.

Also: olive oil or butter used to lubricate pans (only for pan loaves), and sometimes as ingredient in the loaves; home ground rice flour used on peels to load into oven and which generally falls off bottom of the loaf during baking and removal from oven. Traces of ash (and occasional small pieces of charcoal) on bottom of hearth loaves for which no extra charge!

Schedule, Ordering

Baking Days: June-October: Baking Days are Tuesdays and Fridays, rest of the year Fridays.

Special Orders: At some point we might have a form here on this website, but for now will take orders by email or telephone. Please order at least two days before a Bake Day, and again preference will be given to those making regular, weekly orders. Am willing to deliver - by arrangement - between Gabarus and Big Ridge or thereabouts the day after Baking Days providing these are regular weekly orders. There might be a delivery fee depending on location.

Current Prices: $6.00 for 680g gram baked weight loaves (Subject to change if wheat or other costs go up.) $7.00 for loaves with special additional ingredients such as fresh-ground Vollkorns and the Walnut Loaf, and $8.00 for the sprouted, multigrains. This compares weight-wise with similar artisan-style breads in supermarkets even though such loaves have usually been par-baked far away, frozen, then trucked in, then finish-baked in the local supermarket bakery and described as 'traditional hearth baked breads'.

Although possibly interested in commercial orders, because of limited weekly production capacity am hesitant to offer wholesale prices although am willing to consider those able to place regular orders after I have had a chance to determine the regular weekly demand from local community members. For now a general guide: Minimum size of special order is either 10 hearth loaves or 24 flatbread loaves or 20 shortbreads for which a 10% discount. Need at least 2 days notice.

Storage: Natural breads without preservatives, oils and other additives do not like being stored in plastic which promotes mould. Best to keep them in paper bags (supplied with delivery), or slightly damp cotton towel, or best of all, a bread box (available from Stokes in the Mayflower Mall for $30.00). If you want to freeze them, then double wrap in plastic just before freezing. When thawing, keep them thus wrapped until they have fully re-absorbed all the moisture trapped in the bags, then transfer to paper bag or bread bin or simply leave out on wooden (not plastic) cutting board, cut-side down. Again, once cut they are good to eat for 5-9 days depending on general humidity in your home and the moisture content of the loaf after baking. After that, toasting or re-heating in an oven with a little steam (spray in some water to get steam in oven) will make them moister. The crumb does dry out steadily over time, but popping it in the toaster, even when they are quite dry, softens the starch again and it becomes surprisingly soft. (This is another difference between sourdough and yeast loaves, especially commercially produced breads containing many chemical additives, oils, extra salts, sugars and so forth.)

Future in General: assuming some sort of basic operational viability, would at some point like to train a young assistant from the local community. It will take a while before am sufficiently familiar with brick oven baking and the local market, but anyone interested can apply at any time.

Also, am hoping a kind local farmer might at some point be willing to grow organic hard wheat, spelt and rye so that we have our own source on the island. This might prove especially handy if times get a little rough, as the international financial and geopolitical situation is indicating might soon be the case.

Housekeeper : will trade bread in return for several hours a week housekeeping service in order to keep home and bakery sparkling and ship-shape.

Thanks to:

Doug Brown of Oak Haven Bakery in Belle Isle NS. Doug graciously hosted me in his home and allowed me to witness his Baking Day in similarly sized and constructed wood-fired brick oven. Doug has been making 100% organic loaves, pastries and granola for about ten years.

Myron Syms: a friend of decades and master baker who has been most encouraging and also kindly hosted me to witness a Baking Day. Myron runs the well-known Grand Boulangerie De L'Est in Cheticamp and also sells at the Farmer's Market in Sydney during the winter months. Myron's croissants are so good he was hired by a group of Germans to lecture bakers all over the country on how to make them the old-fashioned way.

Randy Wilson, neighbour and host of the www.frenchroad.tk website which plans to offer various services for the local community including a chat space, community announcements and so forth. Randy came through with crucial construction help with aspects for which I lacked skills such as creating a solid base and adjusting some of the foundation work in the house to support the 10,000 pound oven, a steel harness, hopefully soon a better shovel and ash tray arrangement and so forth.

Ashley S. C. Howes

902 884 2599

About the Logo

The logo was drawn by Yours Truly using Japanese sumi ink and brush. It came from a dream I had shortly before awakening one morning, several weeks before deciding to change my life here and start the bakery, which at the time of this dream was not yet even the glimmer of an idea. To draw: start at the centre and draw a spiral to the outside, then turn back and go back to the centre - exactly what happens with the water revitalizer I use as it happens, i.e. a double vortex. Whatever - it is an ideal Bakery logo!