How I started

Currently, I am baking under the Florida Cottage Law. All our baked items are done at our residence. 

We started several years ago when I realized I did not eat any bread anymore. Coming from bread country Germany, we ended up in a bread desert. 

My son asked why I stopped baking. I did not have an answer, instead started baking. For about 1-2 years I was baking multiple times per day to develop the recipes, techniques.

Our Bread Takes Time

To bake good German and European Breads takes us multiple days. Our goal is to make delicious and tasty bread from the basic ingredients Flour, Water, Salt, and Yeast. Plus we add some extra virgin olive oil. 

The only way to produce tasty bread from the basic ingredients is through enzymes and natural yeast. We have dedicated sourdough starters for white wheat, whole wheat, and rye bread. The pre-ferments will be mixed separately and generated at different temperatures different flavors because different enzyme activities are being generated at different temperatures. And relying on the natural processes to develop flavors takes time. We give our dough time to develop the rich flavors naturally.

With this process, we are able to bake for example a 100% whole wheat bread that does not taste bitter. Typical whole wheat recipes require sugars, molasses, or honey to avoid the light bitter taste. We do not add sugar, honey, or molasses to our breads. Our goal is to use the basic ingredients and generate very good-tasting breads.

Or the rustic bread with its very fine and if warmed up super crispy crust, has a light sweetness. Most people cannot believe that there is no sugar added to this bread. 

Why we don't use bromated and bleached Flour.

Bread is a natural product that is around since thousands of years. By using good techniques and practices and time, there is really no need for these chemical flour alterations. Any additional chemicals, additives, oxidating agents etc. are in our opinion the opposite of what bread stands for.

In addtion as more additives and chemicals are being add more and more people have allergic reactions. Several customers never had any issues eating breads in Europe and in the US they have all kinds of issues.

Unfortunately, these chemicals, accelerated production processes result in mostly tasteless and cheap bread, and this gives the Bread a bad reputation. We tested several receipts with bleached/bromated flour and for us they tasted too artificial. Afterwards we really felt bad for our dogs that finished the loafs. (Note: they are still alive)

Healthy and Tasty Bread

 All our breads are either Sourdough or Pre-Ferment like the Ciabatta. In the long fermentation process nutrients like iron, zinc, magnesium, antioxidants, folic acid and other vitamin B are released. This has many benefits like longer digestion, blood sugar regulation, support gut microbiome and many others. We do not add any sugar to our bread.

Unbleached, Un-Bromated Flour 

Europe, China, and many other countries forbid bleaching and bromating of flour. The reason is that the oxidation agents for bleaching and bromation may cause cancer and were never supposed to be eaten. But every flour is bleached. And there is a difference in how the bleaching is done and this results in very different baked products.

Bleached Flour: If the flour is called bleached the bleaching process is being accelerated with oxidation chemicals. By adding bleaching agents (commonly benzoyl peroxide and chlorine gas and others) to the flour the grain will be affected. And this affects the final baked product. There are several reasons for bleaching. One is that the flour appears whiter. Bleached flour is able to add higher portions of sugars, chlorination reduces the spread of dough. In summary, the reasons are to increase production and produce bread faster.

Natural Bleaching: In the natural bleaching process flour will be bleached over time without any additional chemicals. Again this takes time to naturally develop the correct flour for baking.

Bromation of Flour: typically Potassium Bromate is added to strengthen the dough and allow higher rising. But Potassium Bromate is an oxidating agent. In theory, under the right conditions, this will be completely reacted. Many baked products are baked too short and at too low a temperature that there are no "right conditions" for the Potassium Bromated to react. So you will be eating this oxidating agent. 

Filtered Water

Chlorine kills sourdough yeast cultures. To avoid this, we use a 5-stage reverse osmosis system that removes impurities like chlorine and fluoride etc. This fosters a pristine environment for the delicate yeast cultures that bring sourdough to life.

Good ingredients

Our goal is to make excellent-tasting, enjoyable baked items that are also healthy. Good ingredients good practices and time is the key to achieving this. 

For our breads, we use un-bromated, unbleached flour, and extra virgin olive oil for the breads.

In addition, for our sweeter products, we use natural products, real butter, walnuts, raisins, apples etc. 

We want you to taste the difference