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| Angelika/Mike Schilli |
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Michael It's fascinating to watch how much progress the U.S. has made in recent years when it comes to baked goods, especially bread. Going back in history, until the 1980ies, American consumers mainly purchased a rubbery substance called Wonder Bread. And even today, if you're touring outside of the major metropolitan areas, all you'll find in the rural supermarket shelves is bouncy synthetic bread, cut in slices and wrapped in plastic bags. In its raw form, without toasting it, it might very well be a dangerous choking hazard.
Nowadays, crunchy German-style bread is available in hip urban areas, but it is still considered rather foreign to cut off the required slices yourself with a bread knife. Every time I'm buying bread at the Danish "Andersen Bakery", I first need to tell the sales person in no uncertain words that I don't want the loaf sliced, then yell and wave my arms to prevent them from running it through the cutting machine on auto-pilot. Readily sliced bread, an American invention that dates back to 1928, is so common place that the German saying "the best thing since the invention of the wheel" is actually "the best thing since sliced bread" in the United States.
At the hippie supermarket Rainbow Groceries, I recently noticed that the commie comrades there no longer carried my preferred brand of bread made in Berkeley, but replaced it by a really dark rectangular whole wheat bread named "Josey Baker". I usually don't like whole wheat bread, but there was no other choice, so I grudgingly bought it for a whopping $5.99. At home, I cut off a few very thin slices with our German-made WMF bread knife, which was quite a challenge because the bread surface was hard like cement. But I was completely floored when I tasted it, the rich flavor was completely natural, and I liked it so much, that in the meantime, I've gone back and have bought it three times in a row now!
In 2010, a jaunty young entrepeneur named Josey Baker quit his job as a "science curriculum designer" (whatever that is) and started baking bread, first privately, then later in a small shop. Meanwhile, he's baking in the hipster coffee house "The Mill" in San Francisco and sells his fare next to the seating area, alongside the hipster coffee brand "Four Barrel". He's even published a 5-star-rated book on Amazon on 5-star-rated book on Amazon on breaking bread.
In November last year, he even invited German baker Josef Wagner over, who lives in the Starnberger See area near Munich. They had a three week long exchange of recipes and techniques at his shop "The Mill" on Divisadero Street in San Francisco. Maybe Bavarian-born Joseph Wagner told him an old family recipe and that's the reason the bread tastes so great!
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