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On a Roll.
It’s 10 a.m. on Saturday morning at the Chestertown Farmer’s market, and
Doug Rae and Molly Butz are doing a brisk business, bagging up loaves of artisan whole grain and country French bread, baguettes,
foccacia, chewy ciabatta and dark chocolate croissants. Today they will sell more than 250 of their artisan loaves and pastries.
Really excellent goods. But we have to admit that a big part of
the fascination is in Doug and Molly’s relative youth. These two became obsessed with baking at an age when most kids
are trying on careers like so many cheap t-shirts. Video games, music, cars…yeah, okay. But baking?
In Doug’s case, we can testify; we watched it happen. He says he began making his own bread in high school,
because wrestling practice left him really hungry. Then his dad helped him build a brick oven in the back yard, and for a
few unforgettable years, the kids at the school could buy his breads every week — Foccacia Fridays and Monday Bundays
have become the stuff of legends.
And then it was time for college. Doug went to Johnson & Wales (where he met Molly),
and earned an associate degree in baking. This summer, they came back to Chestertown, baking breads and croissants for
the farmer’s market.
Now he talks about the fluctuations in flour prices, fully developed glutens and fermentation, organic seven-grains and pullman loaf pans. He explains how his tube oven works, which uses steam in the tubes for a constant heat and keeps the crust soft for maximum expansion. Molly handles the croissants and describes the folding of the buttery leaves. “Her hands are cooler and she can handle the delicate work better,” Doug says. And soon, they’ll head back to their junior year in college. Doug will be studying food entrepreneurship.
So what’s the big deal about these breads vs. storebought?
Well, if you love the full texture
and taste of artisan bread, the difference is huge. (If not, okay. There still is room in the world for Wonder Bread, especially
wrapped around fried lake trout.)
We asked about the comparison. To illustrate, Doug and Molly dissected several loaves with us after one farmer’s market — including a supermarket baguette for comparison. Doug can explain how both theirs and his are made.
In the supermarket, doughs are generally mixed much longer and can rise faster.
This results in a uniform texture with smaller air holes, and a denser, softer consistency. Doug’s loaves are lightly
mixed and take longer to ferment (or rise); about two hours. The air holes will be bigger and the bread has a chewier texture.
The recipe is also a little different with supermarket breads; more additives are required to get the right taste and color. Doug’s loaves all come from a variation of four simple ingredients: flour, water, yeast, salt. (The foccacia uses olive oil.) Ciabatta, for example, is a very “goopy” dough, using minimal flour and requiring a longer baking time.
Does everybody prefer the rustic, crusty bread we love? No; Doug tells the story
of a guy who returned some ciabatta because the crust was too brown and there were big airholes in it. That’s something
you just can’t argue with.
But for many of us, good breads are satisfying and addictive. Here are some of the tips Doug has for choosing and using artisan breads:
Where do you get your artisan bread?
Doug and Molly will be here through Labor Day before they go back to school. That’s two more weekends to buy, eat and freeze. We hope they’ll be back next summer. Meantime, we’ll be searching the area for other sources now for our artisan breads. Send us your favorite spots and we’ll post soon. And maybe during a winter break, we can get Doug to show us some tips on home baking. Stay tuned. |
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