Artisanal bread—bread like ours that is baked by a process of traditional breadcraft—has a stunningly simple core recipe: it consists of nothing more than flour, water, some salt and an agent of fermentation. The “art” of artisanal bread resides in the capacity of the skilled craftsperson to transform these four elementary ingredients—without any additives or enhancers, chemical or other—into an array of gloriously delicious breads. This artisanal process requires neither elaborate tools nor secret ingredients, and depends above all on the joint intelligence of the baker’s mind and hands.

BREADBAR’s artisan bakers understand that the dough is a living thing, and we give it all the time and care it needs, seeing it through the most decisive stage of bread-making, the fermentation, or the rising. The artisan cannot rush or artificially accelerate this developmental phase without compromising the goodness of the outcome.

Today there are many industrial bread-making technologies available. To speed up the bread-making, they deploy all sorts of mechanical strategies built around a freezing process that excludes that luxurious fermentation. The industrial operation is dough-unfriendly, treating the dough aggressively, subjecting it to physical and thermal shock, and compensating for these ravages with the use of additives. The prevalent industrial process, called parbaking, produces breads that are quite attractive and in many ways satisfying. But those industrial breads simply don’t attain the level of sensorial quality—the vivid flavor and texture—of the artisanal creation. A crispy, caramelized crust, a moist crumb bursting with fragrances, and an intensity of taste, are unique to the artisanal loaf.