Food and Drink: Know Your Dough
Solveig Tofte, of Sun Street Breads, says fermentation is the key to good bread.
Image credit: Photos by Tate Carlson
METRO loves a good loaf. After noshing our way through the Twin Cities best bakeries, we came up with this list of the area's best breads. We also asked the bakers behind them to help us solve the mystery of what makes their bread shine. These are there answers.
Solveig Tofte, Sun Street Breads, 4600 Nicollet Ave., Mpls.; 612.354.3414; sunstreetbreads.com
“Fermentation. It’s your one and only answer. It’s no different than wine and cheese and chocolate. When you get killer bread, you have yeast, which needs a food source like the sugars in wheat, and those things start going at it, usually at a certain temperature range, between 73 and 78. Either side of that and it suffers. ”
Fermentation takes time. “Preferments [a portion of the dough that gets separated, fermented overnight, and then added back to the dough in the morning] are what you do at the end of your day—so it’s a pain. I’ll have to go back in the kitchen now and do the preferements—but they add a ton of flavor and aroma.” I glance at the clock. It’s 10 a.m. I realize that the end of Tofte’s day is now—and she’s been working since early this morning. “Bakers are the kind of people who are willing to do whatever it takes.”
And what it takes, she says, is extreme dedication to repetition and detail. “People think that bread is something romantic and mystical. And it is, to a certain extent. But more than that, it’s an art, science and skill. I firmly believe that anyone can make bread, as long as you understand that there is nothing easy about doing something over and over again, and making it consistent.”
She says that successful bread makers watch the temps of their loaves. Her dough is “absolutely perfect” when it reaches 73 degrees—when she gets a caramelized crust that’s not too thick and not too thin, and an inner crumb that’s creamy with an open and irregular structure.
I agree with the “absolutely perfect” part: Sun Streets’ loaves go far beyond sustenance. I’d drive past a half-dozen lesser bakers for just one of her sourdoughs. They’re that good.
Tammy Hoyt, Rustica, 3220 W. Lake St., Mpls.; 612.822.1119; rusticabakery.com
“Our name sort of says it all—hand-shaped, country-style, rustic flavor and texture, fermentation and a slowed-down process. The faster the process, the less flavor. Some people will use a commercial yeast [to start their bread], and that’s just wrong!” Natural yeast starters can take weeks to get going and require daily maintenance—not unlike any other living thing. Hoyt’s starter has been with her for about eight years.
When I ask whether she still enjoys her work after 21 years, she gets a faraway look. “Yes, but it’s tiring.” It’s 2 in the afternoon, and she’s been at it since 4 a.m. She’s got another hour to go for the preferments. Rustica produces about 5,000 baguettes per week, each one hand-formed and receiving two preferments. The end results are prized for their crispy crust and nutty, chocolate-like sweetness. A tip from Hoyt: “When you’re tasting bread, chew with your mouth open. Really. It’s like wine in that way. You have to let the air in to get all of the flavor notes.” I guess just this once, mom was wrong.
John Kraus, Patisserie 46, 4552 Grand Ave. S., Mpls.; 612.354.3257; patisserie46.com
“Time. That’s really all there is to it.” Kraus runs one of the top bakeries in town, offering pastries and breads worthy of centerfold treatment—they’re that lovely to gaze upon. The starter that goes into his La Miche loaf, the most stunning bread in town, has been with him for 10 years. The loaf also starts with five-and-a-half pounds of dough, bakes for more than two hours and must be cooled overnight, so it won’t deflate once it’s cut into. But just because Kraus is an obsessive breadsmith doesn’t mean he’s a snob. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a bread I didn’t like. All the way down to a Saltine, they all have their role.” But he does have his preferences: “I like my crusts bordering on burned. When they are really nicely caramelized, the flavor starts to sink into the crumb, and that’s when a bread really starts to tell you what it has to say.”
+ Read more from METRO's resident foodie Mecca Bos here.
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