Against the Grain - interest in artisanal baking surges

Against the Grain - NYTimes.com:

"True artisanal baking — with a fierce emphasis on the best ingredients, natural leavening and radical freshness — has been a quiet ebb-and-flow force for decades in this country. But in recent years the practice has enjoyed a marked surge.

Small independent bakers in New York, California, Oregon, Virginia and North Carolina (and many points in between) are going to great lengths to approach an ideal of bread that is simultaneously cutting-edge and primordial. They’re hunting down heirloom grains, early forms of wheat like emmer and einkorn, and milling their own flour. Some are traveling to Washington State to meet Dr. Stephen Jones, a rogue wheat breeder who runs the Bread Lab, a Wonka-esque wonderland for crusty, airy-crumbed experimentation.

They’re using unusually wet dough and stretching out fermentation times. They’re trying to conjure up the baker’s version of terroir, creating sourdough starter in the classic manner: simply by letting it sit, welcoming the bacteria in the air so the bread presumably tastes like the place where it was made."



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