Back to Routines
Bodhi tearing it up in the Atlantic
Hey Bread Heads!
Well, we’re all back to school now that it’s real summer here in the Bay area. Is anyone else feeling that? To beat the heat, we all went kayaking down at the Encinal boat ramp this past week and it reminded me how grateful I am to live in a place with such easy access to water. Having grown up surfing waves at the Jersey shore, I’ve always felt best living nearby (and soaking in!) water.
We also got to bodyboard a bit while we were in NJ and troll around on a kayak with my dad who prefers the calm bay waters to the ocean. We spent some time with “griddle master”, Arthur who now resides in Connecticut. If you went to Tetrahedron Coffee’s garden parties then you were familar with the gentle giant who made a mean egg-in-a-hole. The four of us had a great time eating and chatting our way through Portland, Maine together.
Now back on this coast, it helps me to stay grounded by drawing a line between places, experiences, and people.
Agnes Denes: “Wheatfield- A Confrontation” in May 1982
From the Field: Growing Grains
As a science educator and school gardener, I’ve recently been thinking about growing grains in San Francisco with my middle school students, maybe even trying to grow some wheat in Alameda!
Have you ever heard of Agnes Denes? An artist who in 1982 planted an enormous wheat field in Battery City where landfill and debris remained from the building of the Twin Towers. Think her work might inspire kids to conduct a grain-growing experiment on a rooftop near Dolores Park? To learn more about her work click here!
Considering growing my own wheat “field” encouraged me to pick Trev’s brain to see what he knows. I learned from him that there are two growing seasons for grain - one which produces a hard wheat which is the winter season and the other, quicker season, which is in the spring, and responsible for producing more of the soft wheat varieties.
Further research brought me to the Community Grains website which states hardness is a measure of wheat’s protein content: the protein in the wheat berry holds the starch together, and so the more protein, the harder the wheat. The protein in wheat flour makes dough strong and elastic, with the ability to both stretch and hold its shape; two very important properties for sourdough bread baking allowing the dough to trap air bubbles and rise.
Soft wheat varieties’ seeds like the Edison and Sonora wheat we use in our pastries have lower amounts of protein. And so if you purchase a “all-purpose” flour what you are getting is actually mix of both high and low protein flours. Food for thought!
New Bread Club starts this Saturday!
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Don’t sleep on this. No more worrying about us selling out! And heirloom tomato toasts!
The past few markets have been really fun. Thank you for all the excitement around Night Heron Bread being back! Fridays I’ve enjoyed picking up fresh tomatoes and peaches for our galettes, and corn for our flatbreads at the Old Oakland farmer’s market. If you haven’t checked it out, it’s a great place to relax and enjoy a lazy Friday with a friend.
Hope to see you soon, Alameda!
Robin, Trevor, & Bodhi
Trevor, Arthur, and Bodhi outside Night Moves Bakery in Portland, ME
