It was only a matter of time.
First I fell in love with making sourdough starter.
Next; I covered my bookshelves with bread baking books and studied every baking technique for making good bread: stretch and fold, slap and fold, pinch and fold, no knead, gently coax dough into shaggy ball, firm starter, wet starter, open crumb, tight crumb, burnished crust, golden crust, shapes of baguette, boule, batard, ciabatta, foccacia, pain au compagne,
Then came MY FAVORITE: THE SCORE.
I learned how to slit open the tops of the loaves before they go into the oven so they open up in to the myriad of patterns, visual delights that show off the breads lasting mark… AND NOW
DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!! WE ARE GOING BACKWARD TO SHOW OFF THE FLOUR, THE FARMER AND THE AMAZING FLAVORS OF THE FAMILY OF WHEATS…. PRESERVING IDENTITY … how each flour really tastes.. Just as we began to take back the flavors of heirloom tomatoes, just as we began to taste coffees from the farms of Ethiopia, Kenya, Sumatra, Bali.. we will taste grain from small farms from the hands of the farmers who know their land..
No more middleman commodity shareholder, no more trying to “enrich” or make “shelf stable” or make more “efficient” by killing nutrient rich soil with pesticides and milling out the nutrient dense bran and germ, nor more growing the same crop year after year as in monocultures with weed killers like round up. Instead of round up.. We will rise up to the level of great bread!I am taking you back to grains grown throughout California on small farms preserving their individual characteristics and wow what a revelation these flavors are. Get ready!
Have you ever heard of these varieties? JOAQUIN D’ORO? RED FIFE? EDISON? PATWIN 515 ? FRASINETTO, Neither have I..but together we will taste them all.
***These flavors are expensive $4.00/11/2 pound. You know what I mean?
The subscription of 6 breads will now cost $36.00 … a small price to pay for 1)saving the soil 2)contributing to local farm economy 3)preserving the distinctive flavor of grains … each to where they are suited rather than let the suits make the grain fit their pocketbooks. 4)nutritionally packed with bran intact. 5)the sheer excitement of discovering a long lost flavor. Yes in the end it is just good bread… whichever way you slice it (sorry) but for me now it is also about starting a discussion ONCE AGAIN. about where does our food come from? what makes it so good? Taking back our food to where it belongs…in our hearts and minds and souls.
To those that cannot afford it, I give loaves away every week.. I want it enjoyed pure and simple. Thank you all for contributing to the greatness of the community and the grain!
best, anina
YE OLDE HIGHLANDS BAKERY SHOPPE 