MORE ABOUT US
Our bread is made to be shared; we specialize in organic and naturally fermented breads, with locally sourced ingredients right here in Utah. Learn more about our process and what that means for our bread here.
WHAT IS A MICROBAKERY?
For us, this means that right now we aren't trying to bake a lot of bread for a lot of people. We are locally-focused and bake small batches of bread and pastries out of our home kitchen. While we would like to grow and increase production someday, for now, we're happy to keep perfecting our methods and trying out new recipes, mostly on the weekends. Although we currently can't bake large quantities, we are very interested in connecting with people in our local community. The joy of sharing bread is why we got into baking in the first place. We want to share bread with you, and get to know you.
WHAT DO YOU BAKE?
Our two staples that we bake almost every week are the Country Roads Sourdough and the Jalapeño Cheddar Sourdough. The Country Roads sourdough is our take on a classic country sourdough and is made from a blend of high-protein bread flour, malted artisan bread flour, and whole wheat flour, all of which are 100% organic and sourced locally from the Central Mi l l ing Company right here in northern Utah. The Jalapeño Cheddar Sourdough uses the same dough but has a solid amount of sharp cheddar cheese and sliced jalapeños in every loaf. Our Country dough sourdough loaves weigh around 1 kilo or 2.2 pounds before being baked and our J.C. loaves weigh around 1.6 kilos (3.5 lbs). It's a lot of cheese. We also bake croissants, cruffins, sourdough baguettes, and tarts, although not as often. Everything we make is naturally leavened.
WHAT DOES “NATURALLY LEAVENED” MEAN?
Naturally leavened means that everything we bake is leavened with our sourdough starter which contains wild yeasts instead of with commercial baker's yeast. (Although with some pastries we use a combination of both sourdough starter and commercial yeast.) Our starter M.F. DOOM was made from scratch in our home kitchen back in 2018. You can learn more about our starter and the sourdough baking process below.
IS SOURDOUGH BREAD HEALTHY?
Yes! But a lot of things are called healthy so what does that really mean? Let's break it down a little. The health benefits come primarily from the starter, or more specifically the wild yeast and beneficial bacteria living in the starter. During fermentation, these bacteria create lactic acid as a natural byproduct which makes essential minerals in the flour easier to absorb and more readily available for our body to use. Lactic acid bacteria also produce antioxidants which can protect cells from damage that cause diseases. Sourdough is nutritious or in other words, more full of nutrients because sourdough maintains many of the nutrients that get processed out of other kinds of bread.
Bacteria in sourdough also produce enzymes that pre-digest the flour and break down some of the gluten which makes the bread easier for people to digest. Many people who have gluten sensitivities or digestive issues can enjoy sourdough bread with no adverse reactions. How cool is that? And, as opposed to store-bought bread which contains additives like chemicals, preservatives, and sweeteners with no nutritional value, traditional Sourdough is made with only three ingredients: flour, water, and salt.
There's a lot more info on the health benefits of sourdough talking about things like low glycemic index and promoting healthy gut bacteria, but we've said enough already. Just trust us, it's awesome. And it's delicious!
How Sourdough is made
Making sourdough is a long and winding road. This process can take two to three days overall, but for the most part, is very simple. Time is an ingredient. There's a lot of downtime, but this is when the microbes in the starter are hard at work transforming flour, water, and salt into something that becomes light, airy, crunchy, and flavorful bread. This is how bread was made for thousands of years. The following steps aren't meant to be a recipe or a detailed guide (there's a lot of those on YouTube) but more an overview of our process so you know what goes into every loaf we bake.
STEP 01
the starter
It all starts with a living, breathing, fermented culture that's appropriately called a sourdough starter. The starter is a mixture of flour and water that cultivates wild yeasts and beneficial bacteria from the environment around it. When you mix flour and water into an active starter (also called 'feeding' your starter) the yeasts break down and feed on simple sugars in the flour and release carbon dioxide which leavens the bread. As the bacteria feed they release lactic and acetic acids which give sourdough its distinct flavor and also a lot of nutritional benefits. We made our starter in our home kitchen in 2018 and named it MF DOOM. We feed DOOM once or twice every day with equal parts water and flour by weight to keep it active.
STEP 02
THE LEVAIN
The levain is basically just a bigger version of your starter that you make in preparation for a bake. If I'm baking a lot of bread and need 1100 grams of levain, I'd mix 100 grams of my existing starter with 500 grams of flour and 500 grams of water, or a 1:5:5 ratio. Within 8 hours or so, the levain should be at peak fermentation activity and ready to add to my dough.
STEP 03
THE AUTOLYSE (FLOUR AND WATER)
Autolyse is a technique of mixing your flour and water together about an hour before you add in your levain. This allows your flour to become fully hydrated, gluten bonds to begin to form, and makes your dough more extensible.
STEP 04
warm bulk
This is the name for the long period of time that our dough wi l l be kept at room temp from the time the levain is added and begins to leaven the entire dough. For our bread that's typically 5 to 6 hours. 30 minutes after we add the leavain, we add salt. Then throughout the rest of the warm bulk we stretch and fold the dough to build strength so the dough holds its shape before and during baking.
STEP 05
cold proof
At the end of the warm bulk, we weigh and divide our dough into equal pieces and pre-shape it. We let that rest for 30 minutes where it gets really relaxed and then we do a final shaping and place it in our bannetons or proofing basket. These will help the bread maintain its structure and shape during the final stage of the rise.
STEP 06
baking
After removing the dough from the fridge, we score it (cut the surface of the dough with a razor blade). This allows the dough to expand and spring up in the oven. You can also score a design into the surface of the dough, we usually cut a wheat stalk design. The dough bakes in an oven at 500 degrees F either on a baking stone or inside a dutch oven for 20 minutes. A dutch oven allows steam being released from the baking dough to be trapped and circulate around the dough which creates a crunchy crispy crust. If not using a dutch oven you can introduce steam into your oven in other ways to achieve the same result, like adding ice cubes into the oven right before you close the door. After 20 minutes you remove the dutch oven lid or open the oven to release the steam, lower the temp by 50 degrees and bake another 20 minutes or so until you reach your desired darkness. The crust gets darker and more caramelized the longer it bakes. After cooling for an hour, the bread is ready to cut into and enjoy!
