What is Artisan Bread? asks Zak the Baker

A nifty, hopefully inspirational video post today.

Zak The Baker Wynwood Bakery & Cafe is located in Miami, Fla. The video shows owner Zak preparing numerous artisan breads for a day’s sales which include not just the café but wholesale to a dozen or more outlets and local shops.

He also does numerous Farmers Markets throughout the week. I’m betting there is quite a good sized (and unseen) crew that works here as well.

It’s a somewhat low tech operations from the looks of it. In the video, he has an old Blodgett oven that he pumps steam in from a sprayer, uses metal garbage cans as flour storage, seems to be mixing his doughs by hand, etc.. Well, you’ll see when you watch the video. Photos on the website seem to indicate he’s upped the quality of the equipment a bit in the 2+ years since it was shot.

This lets us know that even though he may have started low tech, he’s since been able to up the game. Which is very good to know.

What is Artisan Bread? from Matt Degreff on Vimeo.

So… What is artisan bread?

Slow built and well fermented, basic formulas that generally contain just flour, water, salt and yeast – in this case, sourdough starter. It’s natural, it’s traditional. It’s real. And damn, if it doesn’t taste good too.

Meet Renée, le petit Boulanger

Meet Renée, the Boulanger at Le Pain de Molitg | flour-and-spice-blog.

renee

Here’s a great post (one of several so far) from the relatively new Flour-And-Spice blog by Tia, about Renée, a dedicated artisan baker from Molitg, in the south of France. Running his small scale operation, he and his assistant produce 150 to 400 loaves of bread three days a week, depending on the season. All artisanal, all as organic as they can be. He sells his wares at a local market in Prades and anything not sold that day goes to a co-op shop.

Hop over to Flour and Spice to read the posts on this ambitious small baker.

Baking By Hand Give-Away!

Yumarama.com is happy to offer our readers a chance to score a copy of the book Baking By Hand:

[easyazon-link asin=”1624140009″ locale=”us”]BakingByHand[/easyazon-link]

The authors, Andy and Jackie King, run a bakery, A&J King Artisan Bakers in Salem, Massachusetts, where they create a delicious and extensive line of hand-made breads and pastries.

Here a brief description of the book from Amazon:

Keep your mixer in the closet as Andy and Jackie King teach you long-forgotten methods that are the hallmarks of their exceptional bakery. In their book Baking By Hand, they’ll take you through all of the steps of making amazing bread, from developing your own sourdough culture, to mixing by hand, traditional shaping techniques and straight on to the final bake. Most importantly, you’ll learn the Four-Fold technique—the key to making the kind of bread at home that will simply be top tier in any setting.

[easyazon-link asin=”1624140009″ locale=”us”]BBH book[/easyazon-link]

Continue reading “Baking By Hand Give-Away!”

Video: Bread and the Baker

Here’s a short preview of a project currently looking for some crowd funding.

I’ll let their own description explain:

Mike Zakowski, Baker Extraordinaire“This experimental documentary will explore the craft of baking what it takes to produce a high quality loaf of bread.  It will also focus into the world of competitive baking and the process of what it takes to sustain an olympic mindset.  As a part of the 2012 U.S. Baking Team, local craftsman baker, Mike Zakowski [the bejkr] competed in the Coupe Du Monde De La Boulangerie (World Cup of Baking).  Now in an individual effort, Mike is headed to compete in the Masters de la Boulangerie representing USA in the bread category in Paris, France 2014.  The story will be told through the use of innovative film technique and the documentation of the burgeoning localized slow food movement in Northern California.  In contrast, it will focus on the fast paced competitive baking scene worldwide.”

Here’s a promo video for the project:

If you would like to help out with a small (or large!) contribution to see this film developed, hop over to the Bread and The Baker’s Indogogo page and drop a few bucks, pounds or euros towards it. As little as $5 will help them out (and you’ll get a nifty bread sticker!)

The crowdfunding effort runs Aug 8 to Oct 7, 2013.