Dining An Ancient Craft Sees a New Rise The pandemic is bringing out the bread makers BY CLAIRE NATALE It’s a wonderous thing to take four simple ingredients and turn them into something as spectacular as a loaf of bread. As we spend more time at home, many of us are getting creative in our kitchens and looking to accomplish a new feat. One of the most satisfying and useful staples to learn is baking bread at home. In addition to accomplishing a new cooking skill and enjoying the tastes of your efforts, psychologists say spending time in the kitchen can help relieve stress and improve your mental health. It can be a relaxing and even meditative process, providing a sense of control plus it can be a cure for boredom and fill ample time while at home. Bread is one of the world’s most widely consumed foods. Research suggests that it dates back 30,000 years. However, it was not until the turn of the century and the industrial revolution when bread’s status in daily lives changed. Prior to this, wheat was ground by hand using stone grinders making flour harder to produce. With the invention of iron and steel rollers, processing wheat changed dramatically. Stone grinding removed the wheat berry, which contains most of the fiber but not the germ, which contains the oils that are rich in nutrients. The new roller mill was able to remove both the wheat and the germ resulting in flour that was mostly starch with little nutrients, flavor or unique characteristics. With this industrialization came new types of wheat. Wheat was bred to grow fast, stay stable in different weather con-
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ditions and had high yields. This allowed more farmers to grow it and for consumers to purchase and store the flour since the fat would not spoil it—making bread more common place in daily life. This “new” wheat continued to evolve. The modern wheat typically found on grocery store shelves is typically a cross-
bred variety, often with genetic manipulations to appeal to mass production. This may be one reason why bread has gotten a bad rap in recent years. Many people blame modern wheat for contributing to the obesity epidemic and increased awareness of gluten intolerance as many people cannot easily digest it. Bakers who want to produce a loaf that is of a higher quality, has a longer shelf life without the addition of preservatives, is more complex in texture and flavor want to use flour made from heritage grains. “Heritage grains are older strains of wheat that have been passed down from generation to
generation and have not been manipulated or cross bred,” says Nick Ambeliotis, founder and owner of Mediterra Bakehouse. Ambeliotis launched Mediterra Bakehouse in 2000 after spending 18 months traveling the world and learning from the best bakers. Latching on to European techniques, the bakery uses cold water versus warm when proofing the bread, incorporates a levain sourdough starter, allows the bread to rise for over eight hours versus one hour or less and scrutinizes all of the ingredients used. That is why in 2012 Ambeliotis partnered with a local Arizona farmer and planted 50-acres of heritage grains in Coolidge. Red Fife, Sonoran White and Durham Blue Beard are the three types of heritage wheat Mediterra Bakehouse grows. Many farmers find heritage grains difficult to grow because they take more time to mature and the economics are difficult to sustain. These grains are also better tolerated by people who may be adversely affected by gluten. But more importantly, the flour creates a more unique, high-quality and better tasting bread. “I don’t know of any other bakery in the country that grows their own wheat,” Ambeliotis says. “We wanted to invest in and have our hands on growing our wheat because that is how we approach everything else in the bakery. Each loaf of our bread is hand kneaded and shaped, loaves put into the oven and packaged by hand and only the best ingredients are used. Sourcing our own wheat was a simple next step to ensure our techniques matched our quality.” Mediterra mills the wheat on its Austrian-imported stone mill and uses that
flour in its bread. The bakery recently started selling 2-pound bags of its heritage grain flour on its website mediterrabakehouse.com, allowing home cooks easier access to these hard to find flours. Once you have the flour and a recipe from a reputable source, a few good tips for proper technique will help you pull a delicious loaf from the oven every time. In addition to sourcing heritage grains, Mediterra uses a sourdough culture (levain in French). This may seem daunting at home and while it takes time and attention to detail to maintain, it is very artisanal and quite simple. Ambeliotis provided these steps to build a liquid levain at home that is ready for sourdough bread production in 10 days.
Day 1 A whole-rye flour is recommended to start the culture. The wheat germ and wheat bran present in these flours (not found in white flours) have more nutrients and minerals that allow for faster enzymatic activity and fermentation. Rye flour also has more natural sugars than other flours that will speed up fermentation (more food for the bacteria to metabolize). A small amount of honey is also used in this initial feed. Honey naturally contains wild yeasts and will help jumpstart the levain. Whole-Rye flour: 5 ounces Room temperature water: 6 ounces Honey: .2 ounces (1 tsp) For a total of 11.2 ounces
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