Our Bread
In 2012, Pete and Paul Marczyk decided that if we were going to sell the best bread in town, we were going to have to make it ourselves. Baked with artisan flour and made by hand, not machine, these loaves have won the hearts of bread lovers all over Denver. We make loaves for sale in the market and also supply our deli with freshly baked bread for all of our delicious sandwiches. Searching for the perfect, authentic baguette? We've had former residents of France tell us that ours is the best baguette they've had here in the states.
Baguettes & Ciabatta
The iconic baguette, simple in its ingredients but complex in execution, starts with a dough called pointage, which is made 12–15 hours in advance to increase the flavor overnight. At 2:00 a.m. daily, we pull the dough, then divide, shape, proof and score each loaf with the classic 5 vertical slits to allow for expansion and retain the elongated shape we all know and love. The perfect amount of steam creates a thin, but crispy crust with an airy crumb. The dough is so good we use it for our ciabatta and ciabattini as well.
Pain au Levain
Our pain au levain is a classic French sourdough. “Levain” is the French word for what we refer to as a "starter." We use the levain to start the fermentation process with the dough and add a hint of rye flour for flavor. Because this dough is mixed and baked on the same day, it has a mild taste with floral notes from the natural fermentation. The crust is delicate and russet while the crumb is very open, often with larger air pockets. We shape the dough into a classic batard and score it twice down the top to open up the loaf and create those beautiful "ears" once it bakes on the hot "rock" of our deck oven.
Jewish Rye
Using organic rye flour padded with white bread flour, this sturdy, wholesome loaf is also technically a sourdough in that we use a 100% rye flour "starter" for leavening. The dough mixture also has fresh yeast, which makes it "go fast." This means that the mixing, the folding of the dough to create structure, the pre-shaping, the final shaping, and the proofing all have to be tightly monitored so the dough doesn't over-proof. We hand-shape this loaf to form a blunt cylinder, score it five times diagonally across the top to allow for proper expansion, and then bake on the hot rock of our deck oven. The end result is a crust with an almost orange-brown hue, tight crumb and hearty rye flavor with a hint of sourness and floral nose from the starter.
Seeded Multigrain
This is the thick-cut ribeye of breads. We mix oats, rye chops, bulgar wheat, flax, and sunflower seeds into our hearty wheat bread dough. The bread is made from two parts: the first is a soaker, which incorporates all the seeds with salt and boiling water to hydrate overnight. The second is the build, which uses a starter to begin fermentation with white wheat flours. The result is a loaf that eats like a meal.
White Levain
A batard isn't the most efficient shape for bread in our delis, but the flavor of our naturally leavened pain au levain is so perfect for sandwiches that we simply use the same dough but bake it in a loaf pan in our rack ovens. A single score down the middle offers a split-top look to the finished product, which is a dark, golden-brown crust with a tight crumb on the inside of the loaf. The slight sourness and floral aroma lend themselves well to any sandwich.
Whole Wheat Levain
Our wheat bread is a sourdough, meaning it starts with a "baby," or starter, using white flour, water, and the natural process of wild yeast fermentation. The starter is used to create a "build," which is a spongey mix of flour and water. This sits overnight. We then mix this sponge with organic wheat flour, white flour, local sunflower oil, and fresh yeast to make the dough, which gets folded two times to create structure. We then shape the loaves, roll them in oats, and bake.