Opening Wednesday, March 21 8am at 540 Delaware Ave.!

Almost exactly two months after signing our new lease, we are ready for a soft-opening at 540 Delaware Avenue on Wednesday at 8am!


Our new building sign! As soon as the buildling department
gives us the go ahead, we'll get it hung.


So many people have helped us get here, not the least of which is the Community Loan Fund of the Capital Region, who helped us shape our business plan and funded our move.  We are indebted to everyone who has supported us in a myriad of ways as we have approached this stage of growth. We are coming off the adreneline rush of having accomplished everything required to get the new shop open, and we are ready to begin baking again!

Our regular hours will be Wed-Fri 8am - 3pm and Sat-Sun 9am - 3pm. We've hired two friendly, wonderfully capable people to give us a hand (Liz for front of the house, formerly at Mezzo Marketplace and Lauren who recently graduated from the Culinary Institute as Nick's Sous Chef). Liz and Lauren share our passion for fresh, local, sustainable foods and we are confident they will be very valuable first additions to our work family. Please give them a warm welcome them when you visit!

Our new retail area accommodates 10 seats inside and we'll be adding at least two patio tables outside to start. Nick has created an a-la-carte lunch menu of Six Seasonal Sandwiches (3 grilled cheeses for $5.00 and 3 vegan/vegetarian for $5.50/$6.00) that will also include seasonally-based soup and salads ($2.50-$5). We are sourcing biodegradable, compostable packaging for lunches to go and should get our first shipment within a couple of weeks (till then our ability to package soups and salad to go will be limited). Parking is available in our lot or on the street, we are in the same building as The Yoga Loft, next to Mingle.

"Little Green Monsters"

Our Muffins & Scone varieties will continue to change depending on what's available from our farmers, and we will prepare our Bialys, Cinnamon Buns, Energy Treats and Tartlets daily.  Nick will prepare his Soft Pretzels as time allows and our Saturday & Sunday Brunch menu will consist of Croissants (Traditional and Pan Au Chocolat), Quiche with local/seasonal ingredients and our own crust, Savory Bread Pudding, Savory & Sweet Philmores (stuffed croissant dough), likely French Toast and Pancakes, and specialty sides like Seitan Hash (as time goes on, we'll also offer a few other specials Nick has up his sleeve).  We'll continue using hyper-local, responsibly sourced ingredients as often as humanly possible and making our own butter every week (hopefully adding biscuits soon - we need to use up that buttermilk on something besides scones!).

Everything we serve will continue to be made fresh, from scratch.  And of course, THERE WILL BE BREAD, all of which Nick will prepare himself!  We intend to offer daily: Hearty Multigrain, Honey Whole Wheat, Rye (with molasses & caraway), Ciabatta, Country French Sourdough and a Specialty Loaf that we call a "Baker's Pick", which Nick will change up based on inspiration and inclination. 

For Beverages, we'll serve regular and decaf fair-trade, organic coffee from Hudson River Coffee House, a small variety of teas, local apple cider and our own fruit waters. We've also added a light weekday breakfast menu of toast and butter/jam/peanut butter, bialys with cream cheese and a kid's menu of a few sandwiches.

Travis from Organica (an organic growing supplies shop on Delaware Ave., next to Ultra Violet) is setting us up with a hydroponic garden in our kitchen (visible from our sidewalk window, take a peek!) where we will grow organic and heirloom herbs and a variety of lettuces, right on the premesis! We're pretty sure no other restaurant in Albany has a hydroponic garden - Travis will be helping us maintain it and he can help you too if you'd like an indoor setup. It's fun growing food, if you haven't tried it we recommend it.

Planting will begin very soon!

We will continue to rent to other small food producers looking to get a leg up. Katherine Hunter from Three Smiles Kitchen will be preparing her new Seitan for us and for the Saturday Delmar Farmers Market. Gatherer's Granola is still with us for a little while while their new production space is readied, and there are a one or two other producers we're in talks with.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will get our staff and organizational processes up to speed and soon after, we'll have a big Grand Opening Party, including a ribbon cutting with the Community Loan Fund! Our street signage should be complete by then and we'll hopefully work out any kinks in operations quickly.

We look forward to seeing you for opening week, starting this Wednesday at 8am! Time to make the butter!

Your bakers,
Britin & Nick Foster

New Beginnings

Greetings Fans,

(Britin here.) We haven't kept up with the blog as much as we would have liked this season, but the lack of time to dedicate to this forum was thankfully filled with an incredible year of growth for AGB.  Opening our shop on Quail St. has widened our audience significantly, especially due to Nick's ability to transform simple, fresh (local) ingredients into incredible lunch fare.  Everyone who has visited the shop has been very welcoming and enthusiastic, for which we couldn't be more grateful. We've gotten to know a lot of regulars this year - one of my personal favorite aspects of our "job" (it's hard to call it that- we are both really enjoying living the dream).

We've also made much deeper connections with our neighboring farmers and other small food-producing suppliers (Farmer Jon's Produce, Mountain Winds Maple Farm, North Country Farms Flour, Bulich Mushroom Farm, Capital District Community Gardens, Our Daily Eats, Meadowbrook Dairy, among others); groups dedicated to promoting Real Local Food like the Chef's Consortium of the Hudson Valley, From Scratch Club and the Saturday Delmar Farmers Market; local food bloggers Steve Barnes (Table Hopping), Daniel B. over at Fussy Litte Blog, Greg & Mary at All Over Albany, and Christina D. at FSC. It has truly been an incredible year for us and it was all capped off with Nick being chosen as a Rising Star Chef with the Albany Wine and Dine for the Arts Festival (happening this weekend)! Major Woot!

When we began renting our kitchen on Quail in November 2010, it was for the sole purpose of executing our first Community Supported Bakery season. We didn't intend to open up for retail, but when our landlord (Mark Guido of Guido's Frozen Desserts) said, "You're paying all of the overhead, the lights are on - why not open?", we started thinking seriously about it.  Nick and I have worked in restaurants since we were both 15 years old, and met while working in one in '03. Virtually since that day, we started talking about what we would do if we opened our own place. Guido's suggestion rang in our heads all that winter and we took the plunge in April of this year.

Most people in the Pine Hills neighborhood & surrounding Albany have welcomed us with open arms. Business owners, families, neighborhood associations, organizers, beat cops - all of our customers have all been wonderful to get to know and we are grateful for the opportunty to do so. We have participated in every way we can to be good neighbors, highlight the great aspects of the neighborhood and to be advocates for changing what needs improvement. Unfortunately, limited parking, street trash, vandalism and sporadic violence plague the Education District.  Although some issues are being addressed, we reluctantly accept that meaningful change is likely to be a long time coming.

By late October, the reality started to sink in that our location on Quail St. just isn't the ideal venue for what we do, and we began entertaining the thought of moving the shop. One major reason is that our rent increased in December.  We knew it would happen, we just didn't realize by how much and there's only so much we can produce fresh in our tiny kitchen in order to support the extra overhead. Gatherer's Granola has continued to rent from us three days per week, and has been putting out an enormous amount of granola to local farmers markets and co-ops. They are growing, too, and are looking for a larger production space.


The retail area at 540 Delaware Ave., still small, but bigger than we have now!

We started working with the Community Loan Fund of the Capital Region and contemplated a few spots for a new building.  The one that has been calling our names for years, 540 Delaware Avenue, was vacant, and offered a multitude of improvements: Three times the square footage, 10 parking spaces, a slightly larger retail area, reasonable rent, fully-installed fire-suppression system (with fans and hood - a huge expense!), better quality finishes, on a main thoroughfare, accessible to our Delmar customers (but still in Albany) and we could walk to work in good weather!  Just last week, we closed on a modest loan with the great folks over at the CLF (big thanks to Lissa, Joe, Walt and the Board!), and LAST NIGHT we signed the lease on 540 Delware Ave.!  We've lived in the DelSo neighborhood since moving here in 2003 - having our bakery here will be an absolute dream come true for us. We'll start acquiring equipment and navigating the city permitting process next week.  We're hoping to open sometime between mid-February and mid-March, and will operate on Quail St. until then.

We'll be open 5 days per week, add more lunch and breakfast options, hire two staff members, increase our loaf varieties & share programs, and hopefully grow some of our own produce in a kitchen garden out back. We'll continue to use primarily local suppliers, prepare everything fresh, maintain our low-waste practices and hopefully be seeing more of you! We hope making this move will bring positive, measured growth for our bakery and our family - and we couldn't be more excited!!

More detailed information will follow as we progress. We hope you share our enthusiasm!

Your bakers,
Britin & Nick

Winter Bread Share Signups, Gift Certificates!

Greetings Friends! We're signing up members for our 2012 Bread Share program and now have holiday Gift Certificates available, please read on for details!

2012 WINTER BREAD SHARES
Last year around this time we rolled out Albany's first Community Supported Bakery ("CSB") Winter Bread Share Program and we are now ready to offer Shares for 2012! Similar to a CSA where one pays for weekly produce at the beginning of the growing season, our Winter Bread Shares offer weekly pickup of sustainably produced, small-batch, artisan loaves in exchange for payment at the beginning of our program season.  Members are benefitted with larger Specialty Loaves than those sold retail, a reduced price on Daily Sandwich breads, a unique view of the evolvement of Nick's skills and talents throughout the winter, and greater involvement with those in our community who care about consuming Real Bread!  

Nick's Hearty Multigrain Loaf


Each single Share equals one loaf per week starting Sunday January 8, for 18 weeks, for $103.50. Multiple shares may be purchased, sign-up sheets are HERE!  We will only be accepting 30 members this year and have 6 previous members signed up so far.  The deadline for sign up is Sunday, December 18 - please consider confirming your spot right away as they are sure to go quickly.  We are offering Sandwich Loaves (Whole Wheat, Hearty Multigrain, Rye, Ciabatta) and "Baker's Pick" Specialty Loaves this year; pickups will be Sunday afternoons from 3pm - 6pm at the shop (160 A Quail St., Albany).



Matt B., last year: he couldn't wait to dig in!

 Last year, we prepared our locally-sourced breads and from-scratch baked goods for 49 CSB members who split 69 shares over 6 months, including 4 sponsored shares for Catholic Charities Mercy House Women's Shelter and Refugee Resettlement Program. We will be offering this option again for anyone to who would like to sponsor a full share of Weekly Healthy Bread to Catholic Charities for the season at the discounted rate of $90.00 for the season (please indicate your choice on your sign-up sheet). 

Our first season went incredibly well! There were two babies born and we formed long-term relationships with many of our members who have given us valuable feedback, the ability to open our storefront and were reponsible for us beginning to use all Organic Flours and much higher-quailty ingredients all around. We are eternally grateful for their encouragement and support over this last year as we have grown our little bakery! We hope you'll join us as we embark upon our second Community Supported Bakery Winter Bread Share Season!


HOLIDAY GIFT CERTIFICATESWe are offering Gift Certificates in just about any denomination that will be great gifts for those AGB lovers in your life!  Choose $5, $10, $15 or more - all certificates over $25 will receive an extra $5 on the certificate to be redeemed by your chosen recipient, the balance of which doesn't have to be used all at once and the certificates have no set expiration date.  Please email us, or see us in the shop or the Saturday Delmar Farmer's Market to pick one up.

NEWS
The Albany Wine and Dine for the Arts Fest is coming up January 12-14! Nick will be in the Rising Star Chef Pavilion and participating in the Slider Slam on Friday night. Get your tickets now!

Please let us know if you have any questions, we're happy to answer promptly.

Your bakers,
Britin & Nick Foster

NOFA-NY September Locavore Challenge

We are members of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of NY, who this month launched its second annual Locavore Challenge state-wide, and we are proud sponsors!  Please read all about it here and take on the challenge of eating as much local food as possible for as little as a day, a week or for the whole month - the point is to learn more about our local food system on a level you are currently comfortable with, give a boost to our local economy and support our farming neighbors.  Read on for all the information and please visit the NOFA-NY website for a calendar of events & more info!

Our September 18 Food Swap with From Scratch Club is a featured event and we are a participating restaurant!

(Tickets for the swap will be released any day on FSC.)

http://www.nofany.org/events/ny-locavore-challenge/locavore-events-calendar

 "The New York State Locavore Challenge is a state-wide campaign organized by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of NY, the only state-wide non-profit organization dedicated to building the local and organic food movement from the farm up.  We help educate and train organic farmers, improve food distribution and access systems, and increase markets for organic food and ongoing advocacy work.

 The Challenge starts with the theory “vote with your dollar,” and takes it a few steps further, by appealing concerned citizens to participate in a wide variety of events and challenges that support their local economies, encourage organic and sustainable growing practices and propel the movement forward.

The goal for this campaign is to educate consumers about how to make healthy and ethical food choices, cook with in-season, local organic foods, while supporting local sustainable farms and food businesses. Our 2011 goal is to involve 5,000 people in this year’s challenge, and bring the concepts of local, organic and sustainable more into the forefront of the general public’s minds. 

This year’s program is versatile, fun and FREE! 

Challenge Levels

Bite-Sized (3 mini-challenges)

Meal-Sized (6 mini-challenges)

Feast-Sized (9 mini-challenges)

Challenge Categories

Grow, Cook, Eat

Join the Movement

Take Action

 

Grow, Cook, Eat

Bite-Sized Challenge: Choose 1

Meal-Sized Challenge: Choose 2

Feast-Sized Challenge: Choose 3

Take a 250 Mile Day Challenge

Take a 250 Mile Week Challenge (Counts as 2)

Take a 250 Mile Month Challenge (Counts as 3)

Shop at a Farmers Market, Farm Stand or U-Pick

Dine at a Locavore Restaurant

Join a Winter CSA

Join a Food Co-op

Eat (at least) 5 Servings of Local, Organic Fruit & Veggies per Day

Cook with Local Oils, Grains, Meats & Cheeses

Sip on Local Milk, Juice, Beer, Wine & Spirits

Swap Sugar for Local Honey & Maple Syrup

Try Food Preservation (Canning, Freezing, Drying)

Go Foraging!

Make Your Own Butter, Yogurt, or Ice-Cream

Grow an Herb Garden

Plant an Indoor Winter Garden

Plant at Cover Crop in Your Garden

Compost Your Kitchen Scraps

 

Join the Movement

Bite-Sized Challenge: Choose 1

Meal-Sized Challenge: Choose 2

Feast-Sized Challenge: Choose 3

Like NOFA-NY on Facebook and/or Follow NOFANY on Twitter

Blog About Your Challenge Experience (and send us the link!)

Become a Member of NOFA-NY

Attend a Locavore Event

Host a Locavore Potluck on Sept. 25th (Counts as 2)

Attend a Locavore Potluck on Sept. 25th

Read a Locavore Book

Host a Locavore Book Discussion (Counts as 2)

Participate in a Crop Mob

Take Action

Bite-Sized Challenge: Choose 1

Meal-Sized Challenge: Choose 2

Feast-Sized Challenge: Choose 3

Join the Millions Against Monsanto Campaign

Lobby Your Food Store to Include More Local Product

Ask Your Representative to Support Organic Farming

Speak With Your School About Local Sourcing

Start a Garden in Your Community or School

Volunteer at a Farm or Community Garden

Donate to the NOFA-NY Farmer Education Fund

The 250 Mile Diet Challenge

This 250 Mile Diet mini-challenge urges participants to eat only local and organic and/or sustainably produced foods. Participants who choose the Day or Week long challenges may select a specific day or week during the month of September that they would like to complete the challenge. The Month challenge can start anytime in September and be completed 30 days later. All foods consumed during the 250 Mile Diet Challenge must be produced locally within 250 miles and be produced using organic or sustainable methods. It is a difficult challenge, but there are a few helpful short-cuts allowed to make the transition a little bit easier.

1.) Marco Polo Rule: Salt, pepper and spices do not need to be local. Also yeast, baking powder and baking soda are nearly impossible to source locally so they are accepted exceptions as well.

This rule originates from the premise that if you could carry it in your pockets while at sea, you could bring it with you to the “New World.”

2.) Wild Card Items: Choose up to (5) Wild Card Ingredients that cannot be sourced locally but that you cannot live without.

Certified Organic, Fair Trade, or Locally Processed items are encouraged for all Wild Card items. Popular wild card items include: Coffee, chocolate, tea, olive oil, nuts and rice."

We hope you'll join us in support of our local food system.
Your bakers,
Britin & Nick

INGREDIENTS UPDATE: Better Butter

You may have heard, I (Britin) started making our own sweet cream and cultured butter for the bakery two weeks ago. We recently found out Meadowbrook Dairy wouldn't be able to bring us our usual beloved variety from The Country Creamery in Canestota anymore due to sustained high fuel costs and distribution complications.  When Chuck Van Wie (one of the Meadowbrook's owners) suggested I made our own butter, my mind started racing. Could I learn the skill quickly and thoroughly enough to prepare it in bulk?  Would our baked goods suffer or improve?  Is there ever enough time to tackle new tasks such as this?  Chuck pointed out that Meadowbrook's heavy cream is vat-pasteurized (the old fashioned way) making it superior to other local dairies.  Plus the cream is not subjected to high-heat, is GMO-free and with Meadowbrook we know the cows who provide us with such bounty are grass-fed for much of the year and treated humanely.  It didn't take long for panic to give way to excitement and I started researching all the ins & outs of butter making.  Tackling this new challenge has been exciting and fun (and messy)!

First 12 lbs. of sweet cream butter.

See, we are purists when it comes to food, especially with what we serve in our bakery.  Because we use almost 20 pounds of butter every week in our Croissants, Scones, Cookies, Muffins, Tarts and grilled Sandwiches, we can't settle for even one less-than-superior major ingredient.  We've experimented with a couple of other local butters from the Honest Weight Food Co-op, but found them lacking in depth, flavor and texture.  Culturing some of the cream before churning provides us with real buttermilk that we're beginning to use in our Scones, and Buttermilk Biscuits are most likely going to become a staple on Sundays in an effort to use everything we are producing.  The real buttermilk, which is thinner than store bought, can then be used to culture the next batch of heavy cream, which in turn gives us our own Creme Fraiche.  Once I started figuring out all of the derivative products we can use in the bakery just by simply beating fresh or cultured heavy cream, the decision to soldier through 20 lbs of butter making every week didn't seem so crazy.

I guess what I'm trying to convey here is, we're passionate about each and every detail of what goes into the food we offer to you.  We are deeply committed to providing consistently delicious Real Food, even when it means taking on a daunting task.  That said, I'm still working out the minor kinks regarding texture and proper culturing so you may see and taste some changes over the next few weeks as we figure out which baked goods respond better to each variety of butter and refine techniques.  It's important to us to hear your feedback, so please don't be shy about sharing your opinion. We change things up based on what we're learning from our community, so hearing your thoughts is crucial to our improvement.



1/2 lb pkgs sold this week.

We're thinking of starting a very small Community Supported Butter share program in a few weeks once the desired production consistency is achieved.  Ethical, NY-sourced sweet cream and especially cultured butter are rare (if not impossible) to find in the Capital Region, so we hope some of you will be very excited about this prospect!  I'm also thinking of flavoring a small amount with herbs, high-quality salts, garlic, maple syrup....the ideas are flowing!  We plan on making enough of each variety so that we can offer additional small quantities to the general public as well.  We'll keep you posted on the status of the initiation of the program.

I've been feeling pretty giddy with myself about all of this.  I've made 20 lbs each of sweet cream and cultured butter so far, and will begin culturing a new batch of heavy cream in the morning.  A recipe with detailed instructions will be posted on the From Scratch Club blog tomorrow, so if you're interested in making your own, please take a gander!  It's so easy to prepare in a small batch, everyone should give it a try.  I'm happy to answer any questions should anyone decide to take on the task.  We look forward to our continuing adventures with our own better butter, and hope you do too!

Your bakers,
Britin (& Nick)

Why Aren't We Open More Hours? Special Late Night Post

Aside from detailed answers we give to questions about our ingredients, the nature of which we gladly divulge, the question we are most often asked to answer is: When will you be open more hours?  As of right now, there are three reasons we aren't quite ready to make that jump yet:

1) When we were looking for a kitchen to rent to bake for our Community Supported Bakery members in the fall of 2010, we found almost zero affordable, leasable real-estate or rent-by-the-hour kitchen relatively close to our home near Delaware Ave. We lucked into finding our spot on Quail St. through an unlikely source: the Albany Health Department.  The main go-to person for restaurant permitting at the AHD is Maryanne Stone - she was helpful and patient with our repeated phone calls & questions, AND she ultimately recommended Mark Guido (of Guido's Frozen Desserts, a mobile Italian Ice truck in businesses in Albany for more than 15 years) who had a 495 foot kitchen/retail space to rent on Quail St. (tiny: yes; about 3 miles from our home & affordable for 24 hour-access: boons!).

We chose to build our business with cash (no debt), so taking on the additional overhead was a daunting prospect.  We happened to know another small producer from the Delmar Farmers Market (Gatherer's Granola, Sandro Gerbini) who had grown out of his current production situation at Java Jazz Cafe in Delmar (recently closed, have you heard a new vegan restaurant has opened there?).  AGB & Gatherer's, recognizing and suffering from the severe lack of affordable commercial kitchen space available in Albany for small-food producers to grow, decided to secure the space together.  Combining this partnership with the investment of our shareholders through our CSB, AGB was able to put down a deposit, pay the first month's rent and purchase a used 20 qt. Hobart mixer (with the rest of the capital going to ingredients, permits & providing for our family through the winter).  Sandro invested in an oven and huge refigerator, we all navigated the City of Albany/Health Dept./Ag & Markets permitting processes (+ building, electrical, planning dept, City Clerk, the list goes on...NOT simple), and whoopdidoo!  Whaddya know? We're in business!  The headiness of that idea still smacks Nick & I in the face sometimes when we arrive at the bakery early morning, or are about to open our doors.  We OWN our own bakery!  Thrilling stuff.

Going through the experience of trying like hell, for months, to find affordable kitchen space to rent in Albany-proper led us to the idea of starting a Bakers Co-op.  Gatherer's & AGB are growing, so together we are currently occupying the kitchen for the majority of hours, but Fluffalicious Cupcakes rents our space on Mondays while they complete their new bakery in Cohoes, and we have other prospects clamoring to get in.  Together, we have the fortunate (unfortunate for prospectors) situation of needing the kitchen for most of the hours available.  In the long term, we hope to gather other local, stellar bakers with philosophies similar to ours (and complimentary products) to bring Albany a group of "All Good Bakers" who can help staff the shop full time, offer their wares and make a living.  For now, our partnership with Gatherer's Granola and other small-producers keeps our head above water.

B: Nick and I have a 4 year old daughter (when she was in the womb, we affectionately called her "The Kid").  Running a small business, even "part-time", based on the rigorous standards we have for the absolute freshness of our products, requires sometimes 20 hours a day (or more) when we're open from Nick, who prepares & bakes almost everything.  Days "off" are spent handling accounting; marketing; researching ingredients; developing relationships with suppliers, wholesale clients & event coordinators; ordering materials; driving to our farmers to pick up fresh produce, and handling various other bakery errands.  Wedged in there, we have to carve out quality time & meals with The Kid, who is suffering from our change in schedule & lifestyle at the moment.  We're finding ways to handle that challenge.

And #3:  We are growing slowly on purpose!  Everything we do is "bootstrapped".  While Nick & I have both worked in restaurants & customer service most of our adult lives, we don't have accounting, business, marketing or food-service degrees.  We're learning as we go.  I'm a research fiend, so we make up the difference that way (+ through building community relationships).  We bake as much as we can handle with the part-time help of a couple of friends, and take care of the remainder of requirements ourselves when not at the shop.  We're small and will remain that way.  We don't intend to become the next Panera Bread - you won't see our wares doctored & carelessly mass-produced at any point in the future.  We believe in supporting our neighbors and their creative talents (just as we are supported).  The integrity of the quality and personality of our business is of the utmost importance to us to maintain.  There's something intuitive about our feelings on this subject - we're not thinking analytically & strategically like a large chain might.  Our business decisions are based on our intimate knowledge of what's going on in our community, and what we perceive people (including ourselves) really caring about. 

Healthy balance, and a positive, manageable quality of life are among our goals.  So is following our dream of bringing our breads, baked goods & healthy lunches, that encompass our philosophy, passion & talents, to our community based on one main tenant: REAL FOOD. No preservatives, no chemicals, no antibiotics, hormones or GMO.  No Greenwashing.  No Bullshit (sorry for the expletive, but that particular word sums things up nicely in this case, and it's late after a long day - that's my excuse for lack of more appropriate language).

So, that's the long answer.  The short answer is: We'll open for more hours when we can handle it and the universe aligns with our talents, available time & goals.

All in good time, friends, all in good time.  Rest assured we'll keep you posted and we will work towards these goals (almost) tirelessly.  Rest....rest is important.   Think I'll get some now...12:05 pm.  Have to be up in 5 hours for the farmers market.  Nick will be up in an hour.  Sympathize!

Your bakers,
Britin (& Nick) Foster

What's In Your Bread And Is It Making You Ill?

Bread is the foundation of our business.  We prepare a variety of other offerings, but flour is our medium and bread is where our meals begin.  Nick has had a passion for preparing food since he was a very young; his maternal grandmother ("Gommy") faithfully baked fresh breads and pastries for his mother's family of eight, twice weekly (they couldn't afford to buy from the store).  The stories Nick heard from the extended Foster family, and one-on-one baking time with Gommy as he was growing up stayed with him.  Gommy passed away when he was 9, and at the age of 15 he began working in restaurants.  With no culinary degree and little working baking experience, the sensory memories gleaned from time spent at his grandma's house on baking days inspired our one-and-only bread baker to begin working from her techniques 9 years ago.

AGB's Sesame Semolina and
Whole Wheat Sourdough

Recipes can mean little when you're using just a few basic ingredients. Method is king in bread baking, an intuitive process.  When one person is mixing, kneading and baking large quantities, in the finite amount of time required for freshness, a "Surrender to the Flow" is called for (In Nick's case, that means listening to lots of Phish).  Crafting bread is an art, make no mistake.  Yes, admittedly, anyone can make a loaf but if you've ever tried it, you understand.  There are a million different paths one can take: quality and quantities of materials; length of kneading, rising times & baking temperatures; and a huge variety of sourdough concoctions & creative additions all come into effect when creating something as simple, and complex, as bread.

Extremely high-quality ingredients are the King's companion in our view.  Here at All Good, that means we use: Champlain Valley Milled flours that are un-enriched, unbleached, contain no GMO and are 100% organic (our White, Wheat & Spelt are from Central NY); Red Star baking yeast, Albany tap water, Kosher Salt and Sugars which vary from: local honey, fair-trade organic raw sugar, molasses, or the trub of a local brewer's mead or India Pale Ale.  Our variety of (still relatively young) Sourdoughs contain very little sugars and yeast, allowing the starters to grow naturally.  When preparing specialty loaves, we use only organic (or organic-practices) whole grains, oats, cereals, seeds, nuts, vegetables, fruits and local cheeses free of hormones and antibiotics.  We source these additions aggressively from hyper-local producers as often as humanly possible.  We can't stress enough how important it is to us to use materials that won't make our community of customers ill over time - bread laden with preservatives, chemicals, GMO, unnatural dough conditioners and lab-produced sweeteners like High Fructose Corn Syrup have been found to do exactly that.

Notice the ingredients? 100% Organic White Flour.  That's it.

Despite the "healthy" claims of many current, major bread manufacturers,
The UK Daily Mail reported on June 15 that: 

"...the Real Bread Campaign, a (UK) non-profit pressure group, claims that bread has actually got worse since 1911 in terms of secret adulterants — enzymes that do not have to be declared on labels — still being smuggled into it. Today, despite the modern fashion for healthy eating, ‘nutritionally empty’ white bread accounts for more than 50 per cent of what we buy.   

Meanwhile, there is growing belief among medical researchers that modern industrial baking methods may be behind today’s extraordinary rise in digestive illness such as gluten intolerance and coeliac disease", and posted this graphic: 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2003622/Is-bread-making-ill-How-2011s-loaves-bad-you.html

Crohns.net reports that "Poor food choices not only cause Leaky Gut Syndrome but may lead to food sensitivities as well. Processed foods are low in nutrients and fiber and often contain lots of food additives, unhealthy fats and sugar. This creates an alkaline intestinal pH and a slow waste transit time."  If you're gluten-intolerant, have celiac's disease, or other intestinal difficulties, the culprits could be the chemically-produced additives and preservatives that have abounded in mass manufactured foods since the 1950s.  False claims from some manufacturers concerning the health benefits of their breads (and other goods) have fooled everyone, but hopefully not for much longer. Sourdough breads, with a starter more than a month old, free from additives are supposedly fairly easily digested by those with a gluten intolerance (the same isn't proven for those with celiac).

"Healthy" food claims may not be provocative, but they sure are popular, whether or not they are true.  We gladly accept the additional costs, management, research and time required to acquire our quality ingredients from people we trust.  And we won't ever lie to you, the only thing we wash that's green is fresh vegetables (and our compost bin). 

So we ask you, what's in your bread?  You know what's in ours and if you ever have any questions about any of the ingredients we use, we are always happy to take the time to delve into the details of our food.

Your bakers, 

Britin & Nick Foster