I left the bakery late the other night to spitting rain and quiet streets. The day had been brilliantly clear, and now, in the dark, the rain released the city's sun-warmed petrichor in a bold rush. The roads smelled of summer, of asphalt and tires and walking down to the lake through the heat of some long-ago August night to go skinny dipping in the inky water. As I rode across the bridge on Dupont, the smell of the creek rose up, cool and wet, throwing me back, for a brief, unexpected moment, to that first climbing trip in Squamish: eleven or twelve, looking up at the rock through forest-dappled sunlight and knowing the power of my body. Farther along I passed a breath of unidentifiable flowers, dark and honey-sweet, like the depth of a jungle night, and then some exotic woodsmoke that reminded me of distant mountains, of the stone-walled barley fields and honeycomb houses of Ladakh, or maybe the cinderblocks and eroded milpas of a half abandoned village, high in the Mixe.
The road was empty, and I was full of sense-memories, there and gone again, quick as the passing cross streets as I rode on towards home.
How beautiful the night. How beautiful the strange workings of our minds.
At Market Today
Red & White, Mountain Rye, Vollkornbrot
Bittersweet Chocolate and Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate & Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies
Rhubarb & Rose Rolls
Rhubarb Bread Pudding
Preorder Wednesday Pickup
Red & White
Rosemary Sea Salt
Bittersweet Chocolate Cookies
Test 1 (currently called Country Rye, because it looks like it belongs on a farmhouse table) is 85% rye and 15% wheat, leavened by both a three stage rye starter and wheat starter. I'm hoping to build a loaf with a smooth, open crumb, a little lighter than the tinned ryes, that can be plain or seeded, mixed with dried fruit or nuts, or scented with bread spice or blue fenugreek, depending on the season.
Come give it a try and tell me what you think!
See you soon.
Owner | Baker