A Portland, OR-based home bakery that specializes in wholegrain Eastern European rye breads. I wish
Portland, OR
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To numerous bread aficionados and those in the know of the dough, it is clear that most “rye” breads that one finds in American stores do not have very much actual rye at all. If one buys a package of German pumpernickel from a European store and compares it to a mass-produced loaf of American “pumpernickel” bread, there’s an obvious visual difference. The former is made of whole rye grains, and is very dense product with a natural, malty sweetness. The latter is a white or partially whole-wheat bread colored with caramel coloring, cocoa powder, and/or molasses, often containing little actual rye flour.
If one travels to Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, or Russia, an assortment of aromatic and dark rye breads abounds. Much of my family came to the United States from Belarus and Poland during the early 20th century, and it has always been a curiosity of mine that dark rye breads would have been so commonplace for them. Bakers in these countries use a host of complex fermentation technologies and fine temperature control to bake their dense, flavorful loaves. A sweet-sour flavor profile dominates said breads, which stand up to their ingredients and are not simply carriers for toppings. Eastern European bakers produce such breads with various types of rye flour, all containing various amounts of bran and germ. Zavarka, my home bakery, seeks to capture a taste of Eastern European rye baking within the Portland community. I want to spread the knowledge of what the highest forms of rye breads can bring to a meal, and promote their superior digestibility and flavor. I work from knowledge of Soviet-era baking advice and suggestions put forward by the modern Eastern European baking community.
