In July we hosted an exchange student from Beijing. Each day his class took a field trip to some place notable in Oregon: the coast, Mt Hood, downtown Portland, the Columbia River Gorge. Oddly enough, one of the field trips they took was to Bob's Red Mill. I tagged along that day.

First we went to Bob's store and cafe.

The last time I was here the store and cafe were pretty small, but it has been greatly expanded.

The cafe featured pancakes and hot cereals that featured Bob's grains. I stuck with their whole wheat biscuits and jam, which were excellent.

After breakfast we went for a tour of their new warehouse and production facility.

I was impressed by how seriously they take "Gluten-free" processing. The gluten-free area is completely isolated from the rest of the processing, with completely separate mills, grain bags, even fork lifts. I guess I'd never really thought about how much is involved in guaranteeing that there gluten-free products are truly 100% gluten free.

An example of one of the stone mills they use today. I believe they are Skiold mills.

Mills at work. Not a terribly dynamic scene to photograph, but interesting nonetheless.

Bags of grain ready to grind.

I'll admit, the exchange students were a bit bored on the tour: the five minute nutritional comparision of golden versus red flax seeds wasn't really up their alley (Niketown, however). But I enjoyed the tour and the cafe and store are awesome.

I was wondering what the best way is to go about finding a job at a bread bakery?  Not some donut shack, but a truly down-to-earth bakery that makes everything from scratch.  I've been wanting to get into making breads at a bakery for so long, as I'm a baker at home and have a great amount of passion for it.  I could see myself falling more and more in love with the process.  I've looked all around Nebraska, where I'm from and currently live, but nothing is to be found - at least nothing that's looking for any help.  Any ideas as to where to go for a job?  Really anywhere in the country would be great!  Looking to move in a year or so, so if any of you are owners of bakeries or know of a network of people I could talk to, I would greatly appreciate it.  Also, just general advice would be helpful for me.  For all of you out there who do this for a living, and really love to create beautiful rich breads that make peoples day; I would love to hear your thoughts and advice for someone like me wanting to, in so many words, join the international family of bread bakers.

Thanks so much everyone

Andrew 

     Boulevard Bread Company is a European influenced bakery/deli located in Little Rock, AR. Specialize in hand-crafted artisan breads. Breads included are french baguettes, san francisco style sourdough, whole grain hearth loaves, and European style pastries.

(501)663-5951

Boulevard Bread Co. 

1920 N. Grant

Little Rock, Ar 72205 

Have you gotten off the ground yet? I haven't heard from you in a while and I just wanted to see how things were going. We are all envious of you and living out your dream!  I did get a little closer to some things I wanted. My husband must have overheard me complain about the kitchen tile and how every one on here was going on and on about your countertop being so nice, and I came in one day and the old tile was flying everywhere! I now have new countertops. Smooth as a baby's butt! YEA! But alas, one thing leads to another...the new counters made the cabinets look bad, so I started sanding and refinishing them, and of course the old paint looks bad....well you've been there before! Enjoy your weekend!

                                                                                                      Audra36274

Where might I by sourdough starter in San Francisco?  I'm going there on vacation.  It'd be foolish not to bring some starter home with me.  So, then, if I buy a bunch, can I freeze it or do I need to dry it first?

Steph

This summer my brother and I will be traveling cross country! He's moving to San Diego, California, so I'm helping drive him there starting from Pensacola, Florida. We're both foodies (he's the cook, I'm the baker) so we're looking for places to stop at along the way.

Does anyone have suggestions for bakeries or restaurants to visit? We will be passing through Houston, Austin, Killeen, Baton Rouge, El Paso, Yuma, Las Cruces, and Phoenix, and all places in between. We're also not set against reasonable detours.

Here is some white sourdough bread from the Bertinet bakery.  The grigne and crust are something I aspire to achieve some day.

The texture was incredibly chewy and creamy and flavour was mild (could barely tell it was a sourdough!) 

Does anyone know when Sutter's Bakery on 10th St. in Greenwich Village closed?  I'm thinking it was in the mid-80's, but I'd love to know for sure.  Also, I'd love to find a corn muffin like Party Cake used to have and a cheese danish like Rigo Pastry had.  Everything I try now seems to be lardy and over-sweetened.  I live in LA now but am in NYC - my culinary and spiritual home - often.

I've been away from the Fresh Loaf for awhile but have started baking bread again.  My wife has a workshop in Portland at the end of this month and I'm going to tag along and see the sites.   I'm looking for suggestions for bakeries, pizza places, places to eat and also places to buy supplies (couche's, scrapers etc....) Thanks in advance

Stevefnp/pac

Spearfish, SD

This afternoon on the local NPR station I heard about a bakery in Seattle, Barrachini's. Remo Barranchini was interviewed - he is 78 and has been baking bread since he was 11! The bakery was started in the basement of the house where he lived and later the present bakery was built at a cost of $5,000. When asked what he likes so much about baking bread he said that he looks through the glass door of the oven to watch the bread "burst open". So nice to hear someone so happy with his work and still getting a kick out of watching bread bloom. He says he plans on baking until he is 95 and then he will go part time. Hope I can make a trip over to check it out in person, A.