Bread: distinctive all over the world
Walking this afternoon, I was listening to a Milk Street Radio podcast about Southern (US) food. Perhaps a bit odd to be walking in a town in Southern Germany listening to a New England-based podcast, but....a little bit of home practice (listening to a podcast) was in order.
Christopher Kimball was interviewing Michael Twitty, who succinctly described the similarities of Southern food and African food. Similar preparation, similar ingredients, and similar tastes. That I believe, having been interested in Southern (US) foodways and the history of vegetables and grains grown in the South for a long time, as a vegetable gardener and cook.
Bread is something, however, that isn't particularly a Southern tradition, as corn, rather than wheat, was easier to grown in warm climates. And certainly the northern European staples of hard wheat, rye, and barley weren't suited at all. Soft wheat varieties were used for biscuits and sweets, but the tradition of growing local wheat has been lost until recently, when traditional artisan bakers started wanted to have locally-grown wheat, so small supplies are now available from Carolina Ground, and a few others, in North Carolina and other places around the South (Anson Mills in South Carolina).
We've been largely buying delicious whole-grain breads from Pfeifle, a local bakery here in Freiburg. They're using traditional methods as well as heirloom grains for their various loaves. Einkorn - made with a type of Emmer wheat, is our favorite.
Our HomeExchange partner recommended their signature "Michel" loaf recently, so we tried it.
Yum. It's an artisan loaf carefully developed with long fermentation -- with a wonderful crust and sourdough flavor to the bread.
Christopher Kimball was interviewing Michael Twitty, who succinctly described the similarities of Southern food and African food. Similar preparation, similar ingredients, and similar tastes. That I believe, having been interested in Southern (US) foodways and the history of vegetables and grains grown in the South for a long time, as a vegetable gardener and cook.
Bread is something, however, that isn't particularly a Southern tradition, as corn, rather than wheat, was easier to grown in warm climates. And certainly the northern European staples of hard wheat, rye, and barley weren't suited at all. Soft wheat varieties were used for biscuits and sweets, but the tradition of growing local wheat has been lost until recently, when traditional artisan bakers started wanted to have locally-grown wheat, so small supplies are now available from Carolina Ground, and a few others, in North Carolina and other places around the South (Anson Mills in South Carolina).
We've been largely buying delicious whole-grain breads from Pfeifle, a local bakery here in Freiburg. They're using traditional methods as well as heirloom grains for their various loaves. Einkorn - made with a type of Emmer wheat, is our favorite.
Our HomeExchange partner recommended their signature "Michel" loaf recently, so we tried it.
Yum. It's an artisan loaf carefully developed with long fermentation -- with a wonderful crust and sourdough flavor to the bread.
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| A Friburger Michel loaf |
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| A very distinctive label! |
Glad You are enjoying Your Michel ! Wolf
ReplyDeleteIt’s been delicious! Almost gone...It reminded us of real San Francisco sourdough bread -a good thing.
ReplyDelete