What is in a bread

By Chef Peter

"I remember back to a commercial about Jack in the Box where a testing group was being asked what they liked most about a new special cheese burger. The participants loved the big amount of meat and the loads of cheese, but ended up questioning why the bun was there. Jack comes in and yells, “because then you hands would end up being covered in meat and cheese!” and the group all smiled in happy irreticence verbalizing their yeahs. 

We don’t think about the buns. It seems like they are just there to make sure your hands are not covered by and sandwiches filling.  Buns and sliced breads alike are mass produced to be soft, never staling edible handholds to not get in the way of the flavor of the sandwich.  We have been brought up to be okay with the state of our bread and buns never questioning and never pondering why or how things could be different.

What if there was a way to make bread a source of the overall flavor of the meal? Whole grain flour has flavor. It is robust and lends a critical role when making robust pastries.

When in comes to classic bread making, whole grain flour makes a strong flavored bread, but because of the bran and germ, the long chains of gluten are not there to hold in large bubbles of air released from the yeast. Therefore the breads baked are more dense and privy to taste stale much quicker than we are used to. 

But there is a solution.

In the pastry world there is a product that has the same ingredients found in a challah dough minus the yeast.  And not all breads are classified as having the need to be risen by yeast. 

A pate au choux dough is a mixed of cooked flour in milk and butter where eggs are then stirred in.  I have found that when a choux is made with whole grain flour and then baked, a bread that is soft for days, thin and fluffy is created and lends great flavor to the overall dish. 

This is great news for those of us finding a way to ween off of conventional industry standards and finding a way to keep our fingers clean while enjoying the full flavor taste of a burger or a bahn mi. 

This year for our Fall Pop up Event,

we will feature two sandwiches made with this bread.


You will be amazed at how filling these sandwiches will get you because all of that bran and germ helps with satiation.