There’s nothing like the aroma of freshly baked bread filling the kitchen. Luckily, professional bread bakers can go to work and experience this aroma daily.
But before the scent reaches their noses, they carefully prepare each loaf with techniques exclusive to their bakeries.
Jill Katz — owner of Humble Bagel Bakery, located at 2435 Hilyard St. — said she knew bread baking was her calling the first time she sunk her hands into a lump of dough.
“The first time I baked bread, I thought, ‘Whoa! This is what I was meant to do!’” she said. “It was really that cosmic. It was really strange.”
There is no one right way to bake a loaf of bread. Different bakeries have different styles, allowing each loaf that comes out of the oven to be unique. At Humble Bagel Bakery, Katz said the secret lies in kneading the dough and letting it rest a number of times to let the gluten develop before baking. Gluten is an ingredient that makes bread chewy — without it, the bread would crumble. After the gluten has developed in the dough, Humble Bagel Bakery loaves are stored in a cooler overnight and baked in the morning.
“Baking bread in the oven is the finessing part,” Katz said.
Eugene City Bakery, located at 1607 E. 19th Ave., has its own bread recipe. Owner Charles Koehler said he exclusively uses organic flour and as little yeast as possible. Like the Humble Bagel Bakery, the bakers knead their dough and leave it to rise several times, but unlike Humble, more flour and water is added to the dough each time. Yeast is only used in the bakery’s baguettes and Italian, polenta and olive breads, right before the dough is kneaded the first time.
Metropol Bakery, located at 2538 Willamette St., is another source for loaves. Artisan baker Shane Tracey, who is studying to be a pastry chef, said ancient techniques are highly valued in the bakery’s kitchen.
“As an artisan baker, I follow traditional recipes,” he said. “The bread is baked on stone instead of in pans.”
Tracey said the Metropol Bakery uses a mix of French and Italian techniques. The French style, “pâté fermenté,” involves saving a portion of dough from one day and using it with the dough made the following day. The Italian technique, “biga,” also uses a day-old portion of dough in the new batch, but flour and water are added to the old portion before it is mixed in.
After much careful preparation, some bakers feel the bread is too good on its own to be eaten with anything else.
“I eat my bread with butter, by itself with a meal or with cheese,” Koehler said.
Katz added that bread is always the center of attention if it is eaten with other ingredients.
“Whenever I eat a sandwich and the bread isn’t fresh, it drives me nuts,” she said.
Those seeking to tackle their first loaf of bread at home can make use of a few tips from the professionals. Katz encourages amateur bakers to pay close attention to instructions.
“First, don’t be afraid of kneading too much, because you can’t wreck the dough,” she said. “Second, don’t skimp on rise time or mix time.”
Of course, if the bread turns out to be a crumbly, misshapen lump, novice bakers can always buy a fresh loaf of bread from their nearest bakery.