Updates

http://www.frenchroadbakery.tk/ ( Back to Home Page)

January 21 2012: Have changed my email addresses due to server issues: the new address is: (image file to prevent spammers picking up the address from text)

Updates, Comments etc.

November 12th: Am currently looking into using sprouted grain kernels and flours. They are very expensive (about $4.00 a kilo) but I have a strong feeling they are the best to use and I could incorporate them into my current offerings by raising the price only as much as the flour cost increase rather than adding a mark-up, whilst also slightly lowering the weight. So I could offer a 650 vs. 680g loaf for $7.00 instead of $6.00. Unfortunately, I cannot buy any such grains or flours without shipping them in and so am holding back on ordering just one bag because the shipping will be more than the flour. This is another small, particular example of how the current economic model, which principally is that of cartel monopolies, is failing us. There is no reason for oil to cost $95 a barrel. There is no reason for us to be dependent on it in the first place but in any case, we have oodles of oil in Canada and should never have agreed to give the US 75% of it each year. All these things are scams to enrich and further entrench the large cartels, all of whom are linked at the top as a recent book published in Europe proved (forgot the title unfortunately). Meanwhile, the 'little guy' pays for it, with reduced choice and opportunity. In other words, if I can't buy it in Walmart, I shouldn't bother because I will be priced out of the market.

And yet such prices are not all that terrific any more. I recently compared my shortbread price ($6.00) to that of the very good Walkers shortbread, which uses real butter. I have forgotten the weight of the package but I believe my price is about the same per gram even though I am using organic flours (shipped in) and high-priced butter (am not a member of the Dairy Association so have to pay retail prices). Which means that the mark-up by the retailers is making Walkers really not all that efficiently priced for the 'consumer', only the retailer. The same is true for my breads currently. My price per 100g is only slightly higher than equivalent 'artisan-style' loaves in Superstore and Sobeys, albeit mine are organic, real sourdoughs and freshly made, whereas theirs are not. Because my loaves weigh more this is hard to see at first, but they use commercial yeast to fluff them out. Most of their $4.50 loaves only weigh about 450g. Most of my 680g loaves cost between $6.00 and $7.00, so the $6.00 rate is lower than the supermarket and the $7.00 rate only a smidgeon higher. This week's special, for example, which costs $7.00 includes organic cream, unsalted butter and organic honey, the addition of which costs close to $1.00 and hence the shift in price from the base $6.00 to $7.00. You can't get anything like this in any supermarket anywhere.

So I am hopeful that even though my prices are nominally higher (mainly because my loaves are the traditional 1.5 pound weight), that gradually more people will be willing to pay them and at the same time develop a taste for authentic breads made with high quality ingredients.

If and when I do start using the sprouted flours, then my prices really will be higher than the supermarkets, but only by about $1.00 or so a loaf, and again my loaves weigh more. In any case, first I have to get the flours, then we shall see, but I have a good feeling about this despite the need to import the grain from far away. Ultimately I would like to be growing grain here on the island and also setting up a sprouting and milling operation, but as it is, I can barely afford to buy an old used car, so such notions are far on the horizon.

Oct 28th 2011: The past few weeks have seen menu and other developments. Menu: thanks to the generosity of Jeremy White of Baddeck, an up and coming farmer-brewer, I had some 'spent grains' to play with, namely left-over barley and hops (plus shredded carrots) from the mash. The sweet malty aroma and flavour have subtly permeated many loaves the last two weeks in October whilst stimulating the starter cultures in a very pleasing, almost passionate, way. Also have been using North River Organics garlic the past few weeks. It is very good indeed. He has about 200 lbs to sell still and might be coming to Sydney to do so. And the past two weeks to celebrate the harvest season have been incorporating soft, succulent oyster mushrooms from Margaree Mushrooms into the Garlic Rosemary Sisters. Delicious!

And meanwhile more interest has been popping up from other established professionals. The most prestigious hotel on the island paid a visit to the bakery recently and a good time was had by all. Several restaurants have expressed interest. Meanwhile I keep baking away getting better and better all the time, worried about whether or not my supplier will finally show up with wood for both oven and house (two months late and counting) and so on. It has been a good year.

Have also been getting a steady stream of compliments from people coming back from away, from Paris, New York, Montreal, Berlin, Great Britain, many of them saying how they 'couldn't find any better over there' or how pleased they are to be able to get a loaf from me again. Such simple things are the greatest rewards.

All is well.

Aug 12: The fresh-ground Rye is enjoying a revival (in emphasis) because after continuously tweaking this recipe the past few months I feel I have made significant progress in improving both flavour and texture, mainly by adjusting starter quantity and density of the grind (favouring a finer configuration). This loaf is now truly superior.

Also of note the fairly recent change to the basic 100% whole grain whole wheat loaf which now features 10% fresh ground barley, and most bakes has 50% of the water in the recipe substituted by home brewed dark or English Bitter style ales. So yet another unique and also superior loaf. Nov 2011 Note: I am now back to 100% whole wheat with no tricks, but have raised the hydration slightly giving it more holes and a softer, chewy texture. This also is now a truly superior loaf and finally, finally more people are beginning to choose it. In some ways it is the most advanced of my offerings. Just whole grain flour, water and salt.

(By superior I mean above average in terms of flavour, quality of ingredients and originality/availability of similar or equivalent loaves in this region.)

The Walnut loaf has settled down to the following configuration: baked in a round loaf pan for a pleasing shape, the walnuts are rinsed about 10 times and soaked for over twenty four hours in the process; the flour features fresh ground grains - 30% whole wheat, 5% rye and 5% spelt - and the white flour is 50% stone ground white and 50% all-purpose (LaMilanaise blends), all organic of course. This too is a high quality, superior loaf which goes extremely well with just about anything bread usually goes with.

The 'Rosemary Garlic Sisters' now feature organic Cape Breton garlic, a welcome improvement. The taste is slightly subtler, but you can feel the improvement in quality from the typical US or Chinese supermarket varieties.

June1: Yesterday added new Sprouted Wheat loaf to the menu.

June 1: First time at the charming and authentic Baddeck Farmer's Market. Will be going every week from now until mid-October on Wednesdays from 11.00 - 2.00pm.

May 18th: Bad fortune for someone else has been a small stroke of good fortune for FRB, namely a large Glace Bay out-of-business sale has meant that I have been able to pick up over $2,000 worth of loaf pans, trays and suchlike for around $100.00. This will greatly help operations in that on those days when temperature and humidity cause the dough to be ready before the oven (which happens), I now have enough pans to work with overly liquid doughs. And these breads, once baked, a perfectly delicious; it's just that the dough had become too liquid to hold its own shape free-form on the hearth. I now have full-size baguette forms as well so hopefully there will be dramatic-looking baguettes soon on the Farmer's Market table. Not to mention some heart-shaped cake forms for next year's Valentines! And now also muffin capability.

Furthermore, now that am at the main Farmer's Market, increased sales volume and income means I will be able to afford ordering from www.AuMillesetUneSaisons.com , who not only supply my preferred LaMilanaise flours at good professional rates, but also have an impressively extensive line of organic and natural products, meaning that very soon French Road Bakery will be able to offer 100% organic nuts, seeds, oils, butters and sundries in the breads. So this is a very positive and welcome step forward. I hope to be able to have this new line of ingredients for use by mid June.

May 12: am back at the Cape Breton Farmer's Market on Keltic Drive each Saturday from 8.30 - 12.30.

NewsFlash - 'Scientific' Proof FRB is Best Bakery in the World!: One of FRB's first regular and very loyal customer's, Anna X from Sydney who grew up in Poland, just spent several weeks visiting family in Paris where she sampled many breads, including from famous boulangeries such as world-renowned Le Poilane, and many other both sourdough ('pain de levain') and organic, but on her return this week reported, to this baker's delight, that she "likes your bread best of all." 'Wait a minute', thinks the egomaniac: 'if my bread is better than any in Paris, maybe I'm the best baker in the world!'

May 10: will soon be returning to the Cape Breton Farmer's Market which has a new Board and manager. Will provide date when have decided. Meanwhile in research different techniques etc. and today studying about 'backferment' which is an alternative and/or additive to sourdough cultures I stumbled across an English organic bakery with picture of their rye loaf. The surface, at least, looks more or less JUST LIKE MINE, I am happy to say, even though my technique and recipe is entirely self-developed. The website: http://www.artisanbread-abo.com/info/Baker%27s+Yeast+Free+Bread.html This is an article about baking without commercial yeast. TEST!

April 7: New Loaf: This will become a regular item and I suspect will be the principal mainstay called 'French Road Miche'. I will tweak the recipe over the coming months but basically it is another mixed loaf (mixed white and whole grain flours), the current incarnation featuring a mixed starter (33% fresh-ground rye, hard wheat and spelt) which might well become the principal universal starter for the bakery instead of making several different starters as is currently the case, and then a mixed loaf with 70% white, 12.5% Spelt and Hard Red wheat, and 5% Rye, the latter three all fresh-ground. The loaf smells and tastes sweet rather than sour with a soft, springy crumb. It combines the best of white (light, fluffy texture, soft crumb, aromatic) with the best of dark (deeper flavours, more substantive nutritionally). Here is a picture of the crumb of the first French Road Miche:

I made this into an 800 g loaf so that it would be larger and qualify (barely) to be called a Miche. Personally I would prefer to make full 1 kg loaves but I doubt many here would be willing to pay extra since already many clients say they have a hard time eating one loaf a week. As a European I find this a very strange sort of remark, but I've learned that no matter how many years I live here, I will NEVER understand Cape Bretoners and food!

Also this week: I was experimenting with a new starter type (lower hydration) and it all went south on me so I added lots of flour (Speerville Whole White which I shall start baking with again soon because I love the flavour so much AND it's healthier than white) and baked the whole thing as a 2.5 kilogram Miche instead of six baguettes. I read somewhere that Miche means 'bottom' or 'cheek' as in 'baby's bottom' so it's not a recipe, per se, rather a shape. This being 2.5 kg qualifies as a real Miche. So here' a picture, with Cape Breton mug for scale, making this a:

2.5kg MICHE MUG SHOT

Spring Picture: the snows have melted. Eight Fresh-Ground 1.3 kg loaves in front of a window. A few days ago it was all covered in snow. The ash pile is from the bakery this past nine months:

June1: Yesterday added new Sprouted Wheat loaf to the menu.

June 1: First time at the charming and authentic Baddeck Farmer's Market. Will be going every week from now until mid-October on Wednesdays from 11.00 - 2.00pm.

Long overdue picture of the (infamous) French Road Focaccio which has been selling out rapidly at the Sydney Downtown Farmer's Market. This picture looks messier than it is because of the flash, but the flash also shows some highlights because this loaf often comes out with a nice, shiny crumb, the mark of a superior sourdough loaf. This focaccio is made with garlic and soaked rosemary simmered in olive oil for a short period of time but just enough to embed the flavours of garlic rosemary into the oil which is then mixed into the dough which ferments overnight before being baked the next day. So along with some sprinkles of rosemary on top, which you can see clearly in the picture, the entire dough has garlic rosemary inside and throughout. It's delicious! It sells out so fast I have yet to eat a loaf myself, since I get leftover samples each week for my personal fare.

Even longer overdue picture of Fresh-Ground 'vollkorn-style' loaves, currently in 100% Spelt and 100% Rye but soon to feature 50% of each which might well become the principal offering in this style.

Two 1360g Fresh-Ground Siblings Together on the Board (left is 100% Spelt, Right is 100% Rye)

Crumb Shot of 100% Spelt

March 17th: apparently Rosemary is very good against radiation (though have no idea of dosage needed) as well as Dulse (seaweed). Have added some of the latter into the basic 100% Whole Wheat loaf. I purchased it a few weeks ago with this idea in mind but the blowout of the reactor in Japan with all the coverage recently about people rushing out to buy potassium iodide and suchlike (not me, thank you!) has prompted me to finally remember to give it a try. So let me know what you think.

Also, in response to a customer request, this week am offering a Walnut White loaf (with about 10% darker grains, part Spelt, part Whole Wheat just to give it a bit earthier of a taste and texture). Hopefully this will be a delicious loaf.

March 10: This Saturday's market was my biggest day in terms of sales since opening the bakery. So it seems like the new market is becoming established and also those who want my bread now know where to get it. This is very good news both for the business and personally since I have been having a hard time paying for basic necessities of late. But the slow months of winter are also melting away, so along with the emergence of the new Downtown Sydney Farmer's Market, hopefully French Road Bakery is now firmly established. The focaccio continues to sell out rapidly, but the shortbread also has proven quite a hit.

March 5 2011: Two new items on the menu: first a nice focaccio (an almost-flat bread) with olive oil, rosemary, garlic and sea salt. This one tends to sell quickly at the markets even though it really is best eaten within a day or so of baking. Second, a simple but delicious, buttery organic whole wheat shortbread. Will be experimenting with variations on this theme (rye flour, spelt, fresh-ground, spiced and so forth) but early results are promising.

Note: have been told I was on the local CBC television news last Saturday. The new market is now called the "Downtown Sydney Farmer's Market". (Personally I liked 'Sydney Community Market' better.) I hope this will be my main, if not only, weekly Sydney venue, but also intend to sell at the Baddeck market this summer from May to October on Wednesdays; will be nice to be in middle of the island hopefully rubbing elbows with those from the 'other side' such as the Margarees, Cheticamp, Ingonish and so forth.

Jan 22: am now selling at the new Downtown Sydney Farmer's Market at St. Andrews Church on Charlotte St (by the Aliant building), Saturdays 1 - 4 pm. The first market last week went very well considering there are still only a handful of vendors. More news about this market later when I better understand its structure and vision but for French Road Bakery; it is most welcome since this is a dedicated food market and the current Cape Breton Farmer's Market Coop saw fit not to let me in as a weekly vendor.

Dec 11th: New additions to the menu: Spelt and Rye Vollkorn style breads, each 100%. Also 100% Spelt hearth loaves from Organic Stone Ground flours from either Speerville or LaMilanaise depending on availability. Am also finding the sourdough pitas are becoming more of a regular item so today made a rye variety which is really delicious so from now one there will be WW and Rye pitas, plus three types of Vollkorn (Fresh-Ground). If you haven't tried one (pics coming soon I hope), they look like bricks since they are coarse-ground flours baked in loaf pans, but are surprisingly soft and easy to chew, with a rich, nutty flavour and aroma from the well-fermented grains. These are 36 hour loaves. I don't know of anyone else making such loaves in this part of the world; certainly I have never seen them on offer. More importantly, the fresh-ground aspect means that one is getting all the nutrition from the grain, there is no rancidity in the natural oils in the germ of the kernels which is possible even with organic stone ground flours. I am pleased and proud of these loaves and intend to make them the core offering from French Road Bakery. I hope one day to be able to offer these to local health food stores, but so far none are interested. I am delighted that so many at the HEAL and Flea Markets have been willing to give them a try and then come back for more. They are delicious and very healthy breads.

Oct 7 Update: Pictures below of new stone ground organic whole wheat (100%) which came out very well. Despite not having any white flour in the mix, crumb is springy and light and yet the flavour has the sort of depth one would expect - along with the additional nutritional value - from a whole grain loaf. (The colour is darker 'in person' than in these flash photos.)

Furthermore, all the other loaves (White and Rye) came out well too, so it seems I have managed to sufficiently control the temperature in the bakery to get the sort of results I am looking for, which is basically slow-processed and yet still well rising loaves.

Offerings will include loaves such as:

Sourdough White: (first real baking batch in new oven, July 28th 2010), made with natural 'wild' yeast starter fed on organic rye giving this a darker color, nuttier flavor, but still a nice, light, chewy white loaf. The oven was too hot and I had to wait several hours longer than expected to bake this - am still learning how this oven behaves - so the loaf didn't rise as much as I would like, but the multi-layered darker to lighter colours in the crust, not to mention its 'crunch', is something you just can't get in a home oven. This loaf took only 10 minutes to bake instead of the usual 25-30 in home oven. In fact, it was overcooked, but then the oven was too hot. I was tired of waiting and the dough was over-ready so this was a very successful experimental compromise loaf. The first one to 'go public'!

(Aug 4) 66% Fresh-Ground Whole Wheat Hearth Loaf with Rye starter:

Friday 13th August: first batch of Twenty on Cooling Racks (for Gabarus Community Hall tomorrow)

Group of Four from same Batch:

two 100% organic white, two organic 46-27-27(percent) White, Fresh-Ground Wholewheat and Rye

Other Shots:

Country Loaf (30% Whole Wheat) toasted:

Also some pastries, possibly custard tarts.

General Introduction

French Road Bakery offers traditional hearth and pan loaves made of (mainly) organic ingredients and a sourdough process featuring natural, or 'wild' starter yeasts, which have been cultivated for some time from organic, often fresh-ground whole wheat, spelt and/or rye kernels.

The starter cultures are from 'wild' local cultures begun in early 2010 and refreshed after every bake with organic whole grain flour, usually rye. The doughs take from 24-72 hours (or more) to ferment. This not only develops the sourdough flavour, but more importantly the yeast and bacteria (lactobacillus) in the cultures pre-digest the grains releasing the many minerals, vitamins, enzymes and other nutrients trapped in the highly condensed structure of the grain kernels. Such nutrients in whole grain loaves made quickly with commercial yeast, for example, are generally not available because they have not had enough time to be released from the grain structure. The human digestive system cannot handle whole grains very well (we don't have five stomachs like cows), making many 'healthy whole grain loaves' actually not all that beneficial unless they are properly 'pre-digested' by thorough fermentation, which is no doubt why our ancestors all over the world were skilled at fermenting all sorts of things, including vegetable pickling of course, but also various meats, fishes, dairy products and of course grains. Conversely, white flour, although more digestible, especially when fast-risen by single strain commercial yeast, is processed by our systems in much the same way as white sugar as well as forming 'gunk' in the alimentary canal which, over time, seriously compromises our ability to absorb nutrients from proper foods and thereby encouraging us to get into foods that provide sugar or other 'energy rushes'. Sourdough whites, on the other hand, behave quite differently in the digestive processes and also show little or no glycemic profile like normal yeast-risen white breads.

In order to maximize the benefits of this traditional approach, I nearly always will use old-fashioned 'slow fermentation' techniques, meaning that the initial fermentation takes place at low temperatures or with minimal quantities of starter over much longer time frames than those used by most commercial and home bakers. Most doughs are not kneaded, either with mechanical mixer or by hand, rather the dough will develop naturally over time via the slow fermentation process once the water and flours have been mixed together, usually by hand but sometimes by mixer. The result, I hope, are simple, wholesome breads that everyone will enjoy and appreciate; they are heavier in texture than most Cape Bretoners we are used to, but they will not be overly dense 'bricks', nor do they sit heavy in the stomach.

The main flours are either from Speerville which buys only from (unsubsidized) Maritime farmers (in NS, NB and PEI), or Quebec's La Milanaise, who offer specially formulated unbleached white flours designed to emulate French flour blends featuring chewy texture with rich wheaty taste and aroma, as well as rye and whole wheat stone- ground flours. All these flours are 100% organic, meaning there are neither genetically modified elements nor fertilizer or pesticide chemicals lurking in the bread; only natural grains, spring water and salt - albeit far less salt than in most commercial supermarket loaves including those of the 'health food' variety. (If there are occasional delivery problems, whenever a flour is not organic this will be printed on the label.) In terms of salt, for now am using the very high quality Marisol Celtic Sea Salt harvested by hand in Portugal.

Generally speaking, although featuring mainly organic ingredients, French Road Bakery will not be trying to put out purist-style 'health food' bread, rather traditional or 'gourmet peasant' bread, or what I think of as 'basically good bread'. Simple, delicious bread is the idea: white, whole wheat or rye, with various combinations of the same. But it just so happens that because of the quality ingredients and the slow fermentation, these breads are also very healthy, indeed possibly much healthier than most 'health food' breads, the majority of which, though comprised of bona fide organic ingredients, are made with fast-rising commercial yeast fermentation which lacks the bacterial components found in natural starters and again the process does not give time for fermentation to make the nutrient content in the whole grain available for digestion. For example, many who have problems eating bread normally, including for example those who are gluten intolerant, find they have no such problems with traditional sourdoughs, again because the grain has been essentially pre-digested during the natural fermentation process.

Along the way will be posting links to articles of interest about bread and other matters on the Links page button above.

Also, once have got up and running, will regularly feature experimental loaves or seasonal specials.

About Flour and Bread:

Flour:

Organic: means that no chemicals including artificial fertilizers or chemical pesticides are present in the grain.

White flours: white flours have had all elements of the grain (which is a seed) removed apart from the endosperm, which is the starchy part; this is a little like removing the yoke from an egg. Most white flours are bleached and have additives in them. My white flour has no additives and is unbleached, giving a slightly darker colour; usually they are of the rare stone-ground variety as well (La Milanaise 'sifted 50'). White flour has lower nutritional value, but creates nice-rising loaves with good aroma and taste.

Whole Wheat: I used the term 'whole wheat' but probably should be saying 'whole grain wheat'. Most whole wheat flours in supermarket loaves comprise white flour with bran added to it, whereas 'whole grain' is the entire grain ground together meaning that you get the complete grain in the flour along with all the synergies present in any natural organism. So typical 'whole wheat' is an artificial, somewhat de-natured product.

Rye: has delicious flavour, grows well in northern climates, but does not contain wheat gluten meaning it will not rise in the same way as wheat flours. Rye breads usually comprise about 20-40% rye flour mixed with various combinations of white flour, whole wheat and seeds.

Gluten: some people have been diagnosed as 'gluten intolerant' but in several tests internationally it has been found that many of those same people have no such problem with sourdough breads, meaning that perhaps the problem is not so much with the gluten, per se, as with unfermented flour. Cows have five stomach to digest grass (which is what wheat and rye are, after all) for a reason.

Sourdough: as mentioned (too often) on this page, sourdough cultures change the taste and composition of the doughs. There is a little irony at play here: after decades of cheerfully ignoring this and recommending commercial bread in typical 'food chart' diets, doctors are finally (and correctly) warning their patients with diabetes and other chronic problems to avoid bread - and a good thing too. Unfortunately, they do not know that fermented breads really are a different kettle of fish, so to speak. If you really like bread but have been warned off it for health reasons, you might want to give sourdough breads a try provided they are real sourdough breads without commercial yeasts added. Also: loaves baked with natural starter cultures do not necessarily have a sour taste, indeed some of FRB's loaves taste like they have honey added even there hasn't been. Spelt starters, for example, often develop this somewhat sweet aroma and taste.

FRB Technique: The FRB technique is slightly unusual in that usually I don't add in flour shortly before baking in order to give the cultures new food and thus promote an accelerated rise shortly before baking, rather all flour is added in right at the beginning giving the cultures about 24 hours (sometimes longer) to 'work' on the dough. This makes it quite a bit harder to have the bread 'come out right' every time, but the benefit is that the dough is thoroughly pre-digested by the cultures and thus much better health and flavour wise.

Eating:

Most Islanders nowadays mainly use bread either for sandwiches, as toast with jam or other spreads, or as something to put breakfast eggs on top of. All of which is fine, of course, but traditionally in Europe bread is eaten with nearly every meal and FRB bread is somewhat in this style. Indeed, in the Middle Ages, before the advent of porcelain china, bread served as the 'plate' upon which the food was served. So with that in mind:

White breads, being somewhat bland in flavour comparatively speaking, go very well with tasty meals; they can be used to absorb spicy sauces including those on spaghetti, gravies or hearty soups. When toasted they are delicious with butter, cheeses and jams, though darker loaves, especially whole wheat, are tastier in this regard. White breads go extremely well with red wine; indeed in France they say there is some synergy between the different yeasts and in informal settings often dip white bread into their wine.

Darker loaves have more inherent taste, nutrition and weight. The rye breads go very well with meals like the whites but are especially good with cold cuts, complementing smoked meats very nicely, and also harder, sharp-tasting cheeses. Strong rye is not so good with wine, although lighter ryes (like mine) are fine. Ryes go especially well with beer, which is perhaps why Germans favour ryes so highly.

Whole Wheat toasts very nicely and goes well with sweeter accompaniments since the grain has a slightly bitter flavour compared to white or rye. But such loaves are also delicious with hearty soups and stews, creamy cheeses, and of course toasted with butter and jam. Whole Wheats do not go so well with most main courses or wine, however, since the stronger flavour does not always complement the food (of course this depends on the meal).

Generally, although sourdoughs are more chewy and dense feeling than yeast breads, they sit better in the stomach because they have been pre-digested by the culture so that most of the harmful phytic acids in wheat have been eliminated during the fermentation process. Although not something to try to survive on exclusively of course, properly fermented grains are definitely quite beneficial and can help make a simple meal of meat and fresh vegetables, for example, feel far more well-rounded, complete and substantial; furthermore unfermented grains are generally not beneficial, including even the more easily digested white flour.

In other words, good solid sourdough breads are an excellent accompaniment to most meals. We don't tend to do this any more in the 'sandwich loaf' era, but not so long ago bread came out on the table automatically with any meal, and since most loaves nowadays are not fermented, this is a good thing. However, you will find that the sort of breads offered here will work very well that way, whether with soups, salads, main courses, cheese, breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Nutrition note: this is highly unscientific as a survey - being of just one, namely myself!- but in the process of mounting the bakery I have been eating far more bread than usual, indeed for a while it was my main item since I hate throwing things away. I noticed a definite difference in energy and strength levels on days when I was mainly eating white loaves compared to days when I was eating the darker loaves. The sourdough leavening process really does release the nutrients in the whole grain, but the whiter flours have had all the parts of the grain, or berry, sieved out so as to give a very smooth, nicely rising flour. If you get used to the decidedly heavier darker loaves, there is no question that you will be getting far more nutrition for your buck, so to speak, so this might be of interest especially for those with growing children or those who tend to eat mainly processed food. Bread is 'live' food when it goes into the oven so although the cooking process does 'kill' the bacterial and yeast cultures, some elements of the culture remain, and in any case this way it is a fresh source of plant-based nutrition and one of the few ways to eat properly fermented grains which otherwise are too hard for humans to digest properly.

Finally, natural sourdoughs do not go stale as quickly as loaves baked with only commercial yeast (although they will not last as long as supermarket sandwich loaves which have many additional ingredients designed to keep them moist and springy for a long time). Indeed, it is best to start eating them a full day or two after baking versus on Baking Day. They will last in a paper bag, or simply out on the table cut-side down for 4-7 days easily, sometimes more depending on temperature and humidity. For those watching their salt and sugar intakes: first, only sea-salt is used, which has many more trace minerals than typical 'table salt'; in terms of quantity, my recipes use about 1.8% salt relative to the dry ingredients, or about 1.3% including the water after baking or about 7.7 grams per 600 gram loaf. (There are many 'health loaves' in the supermarkets with higher than 10% salt content because this counteracts the flavour of the additives used, reduces oil rancidity over time, and also increases moisture retention and thus also shelf life.) Except with specialty enriched breads, I will not use sugar, though in denser loaves I add in a miniscule amount of brewing malt sugar - less than a tenth of one percent which is largely consumed by the yeast during fermentation so that it is really no longer present by the time you eat the loaf.

Crusts : There are different, and often passionately held, attitudes about crusts. Some insist on a thick, chewy crust, others on something soft that their teeth can handle, so there is no one-size-fits-all solution! Generally my crusts are easier to chew, thick or thin, the first 2-3 days after baking and then they gradually harden up. Some loaves come out with thin crusts, some with thick generally because of the time it takes for the loaf to bake which in turn is due to the temperature of the oven and thus the order in which each batch goes in. The first batches in tend to have both darker and thinner crusts, the last batch tends to have lighter and thicker crusts, so strangely enough the darker crusts are often easier to chew both initially and later on.

Cutting: At first when the loaves are soft, bread knives work best. Later when they harden a little, sharp cooking knives are better than serrated blades.

Wood-fired oven

Baking in a wood-fired oven using traditional methods takes time; or put another way, because the oven takes many hours to bring up to baking temperature and requires quite a bit of wood to do so, baking less than a full load (about 60-80 loaves a baking day in three to four batches) is neither economical nor practical, meaning that I won't be able to make just 10-20 loaves a day for the local market. Indeed, small artisan bakeries like this across North America usually, for this reason, bake once or twice a week.

Baking Process: To give you an idea: first you begin dough preparation, usually the day before if you are a sourdough baker such as myself, with the starters having been 'primed' or 'built up' to the necessary amount before that, then on Baking Day you heat up the oven, which usually takes 3-4 hours, at which point the internal temperature of the dome might have gone up to about 1300F+then you wait an hour or two for the heat to distribute equally throughout the 'thermal mass', which in my case is 7" of brick all round surrounded with several insulation layers above and below. Once the heat has stabilized throughout and the oven temperature has come down to baking temperature (around 700d), you can then bake 3-5 batches of bread from that firing, and then after some batches of pastries at the lower temperatures around 350F. So if your dough becomes over-ripe before the oven is ready, it collapses; if it is not ready in time, by the time it goes in the oven might have cooled down and so there won't be good results that day because of poor timing. So it's a bit more demanding than far more convenient push-button, thermostat controlled contemporary technologies.

Despite being a little tricky, a brick oven, along with providing conductive heat via the hearth to the bottom of the loaves, provides radiant heat in the oven chamber from the heated bricks in a way that no convection-heated domestic or commercial convection ovens can offer. This sort of heat radiating out from the brick heating mass deeply penetrates into the ingredients making for crispier crusts and high-rising loaves even without commercial yeast and other additives - though of course the more fresh-ground and/or whole grain flours in the recipe, the less the rise compared to an all-white loaf. Along with a slightly smoky aroma from the wood fires absorbed into the bricks, there is something fundamentally wholesome about baking simple, pure ingredients in an oven heated with real fire from wood, versus electrical or other mechanical contraptions. Using one is more work and considerably more tricky, but I hope you will agree that the results are worth the effort.

Technique: for baking afficionados, I am using a combination of well-known techniques in a way I have not seen or read about elsewhere namely: a 24-48 hour process combining warm and cold fermentation periods. The dough is mixed by hand, there is no kneading, per se, rather 'stretch and folding'. Mainly time and temperature are used to condition the dough rather than time-saving techniques such as mechanical kneading, commercial yeasts (which do not combine well with natural starter cultures) and so forth; as well an emphasis on high quality ingredients.