Bread Alone Bakery Blog
Hurricane Irene: A Calm After the Storm
During the last week of August this year, our small town of Boiceville, as well as our other café and market locations came under the wrath of Hurricane Irene. Our communities suffered great losses, but once the clouds rolled back and the sun came out again, people could see what was and wasn’t left. Power was still out for much of the upstate area we serve during the following week, with our Woodstock café being in the dark for many days itself!
With our decision to invest in a generator for our main bakery, we were able to keep production going. Our Boiceville café served as a light in otherwise power-less and tree limb covered stretch of Route 28. We quickly understood our importance as a strong hold for the community in the days after the storm. We felt privileged to help those around us with hot coffee, healthy meals and bread, as well as a place to relax, meet and charge the ever-important cell phones and laptops to communicate with family and friends.
Many of our neighboring towns and farms have continued to suffer damages from the flooding. We support local farms, and with our farmer’s market involvement, it came to our attention that over 80% of Greenmarket farmers have been impacted, with about 10% reporting a severe loss of 80-100% of products. The GrowNYC website it taking donations currently and is encouraging everyone to support farmers by shopping at markets.
A Little about Levain
Levain is not only this traditional French bread's name, but levain is actually a bread starter used as a leavening agent and sometimes called "wild yeast." Acting in much the way yeast does, levain helps dough rise but also effects the flavor and characteristics of the Pain au Levain (bread of a wild yeast.) The essence of levain rests in patience. To make levain, water and flour are mixed together and allowed to sit for up to several days to develop flavor and strength as the starter is exposed to air and grows good fungus (this fungus actually keeps bad bacteria away making levain safe.) A well-ripened levain will be bubbly, and extremely elastic. Levain can be kept for years if fed often and maintained.
The levain cannot be bought, making levain unique to each baker who begins to cultivate this starter. Some are soupy, some are firm and tough. Theses differences ultimately effect the mildness or sourness, the weight, texture and look of the finished bread.
The French word "levain" translates to "leaven," and rise of our final bread is attributed to this process. It's estimated that levain has been used since the 1600s. In keeping with our traditional methods of making and baking bread, levain was a natural option for us here at Bread Alone. This also allows us to keep ingredients simple and natural; the way bread was originally made. This is a commitment we make as bakers and a nod to all the bakers who came before us. Plus, we know how darn delicious a good Pain au Levain can really be!
The Baker meets the Farmer, Thanks the Miller!
That is not to say that farmers are indifferent. The growing of wheat is a non-linear process fraught with pitfalls and delays - most of which are brought on by weather and weather-related conditions. What you can't see from the requisite photo of me in a wheat field, the farmers that I visited were incredibly generous with their time and information. I can only imagine what they think of my ignorance over such basic tenants of farming such as understory planting, haying and cultivating. I learned so many things on this trip that I didn't even know that I didn't know. The greatest of these is that all around us there are people doing brilliant work on issues that matter. Wheat trials that are happening on farms all over the world are working hard to ensure that our world has it's greatest staple; wheat. Locally there are many people who are dedicated to bringing a viable production of wheat cultivation closer to those that use it. That's you and I.
I'm proud to be part of a tradition that is working to ensure that the connection between producer and consumer remains strong and authentic. To that end, I was thrilled to be able to walk out into a farmer's field at the height of the growing season when the days are long and hot and see the bounty of what the land can offer. By providing clear and transparent expectations to the farmer, our miller is able to facilitate the highest quality flour for our breads. It is our job (all of our jobs really) not to squander that precious resource. To that end, I relish the opportunity to make the absolute best breads and pastries possible and to present them for the delight of all who taste!!
Nicaragua, coffee and me.
I recently traveled to Nicaragua with our coffee roaster: Counter Culture Coffee. We stayed near San Ramon on an organic coffee farm/ecolodge – Finca Esperanza Verde.
Beautiful views, vibrant wildlife, succulent fruits – these are words, descriptors to be used when attempting to describe to another a sense of place or to tell a story that has meaning and background. A really good storyteller is a gift to those who are within earshot.
But as all travelers know, you really have to be there to believe it. There was a group of us who arrived in Managua, the capitol, to learn more about how coffee is grown and processed and what variables are important when trying to decide which coffee is great, which is good and which is not acceptable. Very subjective material.
The simplicity and straightforward lifestyle of most of the native people that we came into contact is anything but subjective. To my overly privileged, obsessively informed and curiously ignorant view the Nica people seemed poor. Poorer than I could have imagined, even having watched NatGraph documentaries my whole life. Driving by, walking by and interacting with some of the farmers and workers, my initial reaction quickly turned onto itself, however and I realized that their lack of awareness of our lifestyle made their poverty much less of a psychological burden. Where a westerner would feel bad about their plight, some of the people that I saw were simply walking with their bundles or sitting with their children.