Wrapping Up Another Year of Bakery Life
Hello Bread Community!
It’s hard to believe we are coming to the end of another year. 2024 will be the start of our 4th year as a bakery! Trevor and I feel extremely lucky to make a living pouring our creativity into this business, and the hard work makes it all worth it when we hear how much you anticipate and enjoy what comes out of our ovens. We couldn’t do this without your support and commitment, and though the growth is slow, we hope you continue to see innovation as we challenge ourselves and learn more about how to put our beliefs into action and learn the ins and outs of running a small business.
“Is it all sourdough?” Yes, it is!
This is a question I often hear at the market from new customers so I wanted to address it a little in this forum. Night Heron Bread is a sourdough bakery.
We exclusively use a sourdough starter to process flour into bread (no commercial yeast- well, sometimes, but very rarely). What sometimes surprises me is that a lot of us eat fermented foods but don’t truly understand what it means? Cheese, pickles, chocolate, vinegar, miso, yogurt, and of course, sourdough are all fermented foods. When a food is fermented, it means that it’s left to sit and steep until the sugars and carbs that the food naturally contain interact with bacteria, yeast and microbes to change the chemical structure of the food.
In bread specifically, the microbes mainly responsible are lactic acid bacteria and yeasts. The naturally occurring yeast leavens the bread, which essentially means it eats the carbohydrates and expels them. As this happens, the gluten in the dough traps those “yeast farts” (as Bodhi calls them) or air bubbles in pockets like a balloon and the bread benefits by getting a light, fluffy, and open crumb. The lactic acid is what results in the flavor and is what Trevor measures with a pH meter to ensure it’s at the right stage in the fermentation process to be baked.
When bread is “over fermented”, I like to think that it means the community of microbes has “partied, overeaten, and gone to bed”. That happens sometimes when the climate is too warm and it’s hard to control the pace at which the microbes do their thing! In the winter, Trev has the opposite problem. Colder conditions slow the process and often the dough sits next to a space heater fooling the microbes into thinking it’s a warm sunny day in late May.
Last, have you ever met someone who prides themselves on their starter? Maybe even gave it a name? This kind of enthusiasm for starters is everything and here in the Bay Area and in my research, I found out that a particular strand of bacteria is more common locally and taxonomists have had fun with this one. It’s called Fructilactobacillus sanfranciscensis. Have fun sharing that fact at your holiday gathering!
Cookies and Pies and Breads - oh my!
Trevor and I are excited to bake next week. Last year, the cookie boxes were a bit of an experiment for us and kinda our first real collaborative baking project. We felt the boxes came together in the end to represent Night Heron Bread in such a festive way!
Cookie boxes 2.0 are on the horizon and available on our website. Available in small ($35) or large boxes ($70). Refer to the picture to get a clearer idea of the size of a large box!
Holiday breads this year are our classic country loaf or the baker’s choice which is Cherry Pecan with Orange Zest. Please preorder to avoid being disappointed at the Saturday market on 12/22. That day we will be offering a modified menu that focuses mainly on our holiday products.
We are also offering a few pies like the Chocolate Cream. To make it festive, we are doing a peppermint version and a Chili Chocolate Cream pie which features Gualijan chilies from Oakland Spice Shop. There’s also a Poached Pear Galette if you are interested in something more fruit-forward. We’re poaching the pears in mulled wine which is sure to make it feel a little fancier than our weekly galettes at the market. Quiches are also available as a quick, easy, addition to holiday brunches!
Also, last-minute gifts like gift cards, bread club subscriptions, bread knives, and our new Night Heron Bread shirts are on the site. They are also available at the Saturday farmer’s market.
