Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 10, 1993 TAG: 9309100011
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Dolores Kostelni
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The bakery presents an appetizing still-life of breads. Long, skinny baguettes ($1.65) stand guard over baskets of round, chubby boules ($2.50), while tapered, golden batards ($2.50) keep company with shiny New York Jewish rye ($2.75). Sturdy, pudgy fruit breads ($2.95) and fragrant, dark-crusted Ligurian olive loaves ($2.95) beckon.
Slices of herb-flecked focaccia ($1.25) generate hunger. Just looking at the array and inhaling their perfumes satisfies the soul and excites the taste buds. Ahhh . . .
Of the 12 different daily breads offered, I've happily participated in consuming six of them with three different groups of tasters. When all of the comments were tallied, the consensus was unanimous: each beautiful bread provides excellent flavor with a highly chewy crust enfolding a moist, tender interior of uniform consistency. Aromas, textures and flavors are fragrant and fresh.
Like every serious baker, Hartman attaches tremendous importance to every step of his bread making process. He explained that all of the breads are made in the traditional European manner. This means that most of the doughs rise by means of natural fermentation, an ancient process that uses what the French call le chef, or levain. In English, it's a starter or "mother."
Hartman began cultivating his starter last October from the purest and most elemental ingredients: Organically grown grapes, Belgian wheat flour and water. With every batch of bread, a portion of dough from a previous lot is used as the levain. After fermentation, some of this newly risen dough is removed so that it can be the levain for the next group. Those breads containing a commercial yeast sustain a long fermentation process, rising slowly and developing flavor through the watery sponge or Eastern European method called poolish.
His four-chambered gas-fired ovens come from France. They are equipped with an automatic steam ejection that combines with the intense heat and thick hearths to develop the characteristic shiny crusts and to act as a catalyst for the final expansion of the dough.
Before describing these loaves individually, I must explain that the crusts on Hartman's breads are not identical to the crackling crusts of a true San Francisco sourdough or the thick-crusted Italian loaves of the countryside. Nor do Hartman's crusts resemble the French breads emerging from Poilane's wood-fired ovens in Paris or the flour-dusted rounds from the small boulangeries of Liege, Belgium. These world-class breads possess thick, yet magically tender, crunchy crusts that shatter when sliced.
Breads from On The Rise Bread Company do have crusts that are every bit as attractive and tasty as their counterparts. However, they are exceedingly chewy, not crunchy or crisp. As they are, these chewy crusts make perfect picnic partners with pate, cheese and a jug of wine. But, at the dinner table, they can be ungracefully tough.
Solving this problem is easy. Miraculously tender crusts can be developed by heating room temperature loaves briefly in a 375-degree oven. Another method (that may leave purists aghast) involves first freezing the loaves and then refreshing and crisping them for several minutes in a moderately hot oven before slicing. Fruit and olive breads come alive with toasting. An electric knife or an extremely sharp serrated blade does the neatest slicing job on all of the loaves.
Most aromatic of all the breads is the Ligurian olive bread. Made with an olive paste that appears swirled throughout, the rustic round shape boasts an invitingly smooth and shiny crust. Its spongy, flavor-packed crumb has a slightly chewy texture and is most satisfying plain, with soup and salad or spread with goat cheese.
Everyone loved the dark-crusted raisin walnut bread ($2.95). A barely sweet, delightfully chewy bread, it derives sweetness from the abundance of raisins and chopped walnuts studding its crumb.
After a brief toasting, flavors become vibrant. (One taster admitted to having difficulty stopping with one lightly toasted piece.)
As New York Jewish rye breads go, this one has good, but not pronounced flavor, with a decent sprinkling of seeds speckling the soft, moist crumb. Sometimes the crumb is too soft and slices are uneven and distorted even when an electric knife is used for cutting. It presents a beautiful picture with its dark, brightly shiny crust that gets all the better from a light toasting.
The classic baguette ($1.65) looks like it just arrived from Europe. With its slightly nutty flavor and nicely webbed interior, it companions every meal perfectly. A brief warming brings total stardom: tenderly chewy on the outside and superbly flavored within.
The French sourdough batard ($2.50), a tapered loaf with a lot of golden crust and a center slash, comes close to resembling the French or Italian breads. A close relative of the fashionably slender, baguette, the batard is short and wide with a naturally thick and chewy crust. Like all of the other breads here, it is picturesque and wonderfully delicious.
\ ON THE RISE BREAD COMPANY
120 East Campbell Avenue
344-7715
HOURS: Tuesday - Friday: 9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Saturday: 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Closed Sunday and Monday
PRICE RANGE: $1.65-$3.50
CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED? none.
HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE? No.
by CNB