Bubbles

What holds us

Dear bread fans,

I’ve been traveling.

I always forget how many people there are. At home, my circuits get tight. I listen to myself and the radio, and when I leave, I’m surprised at how many realities exist. Riding the subway, taking the train, I was a bubble meeting bubbles. Who are my fellow riders? Look at them sleep, read, look at their phones. Where are they going? What do they hope? I never ask, just observe and wonder.

Here are some of the bubbles that held me:

• I visited the Tenement Museum. During the Under One Roof tour, we met a Jewish family and an Italian family who became neighbors in the early 20th century. What an immersion. I’m eager to return and take more tours!

• Ellen Gray, writer and baker, met me at Penn Station with Mandelbrot she made. We had a snack and she talked about twice baked cookies across cultures. I took notes but I’m so glad she wrote about it on her website! Please read it, and try out her recipe — the cookies were a great hit and addition to the rye conversation she couldn’t attend.

• The Neighborhood and the Reher Center held an event, Rye: Bread, Whiskey and Jewish History at New York Distilling. I was the moderator. Andrew Coe, author of A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression got us started by talking about rye bread history. Sarah Litvin from the Reher Center spoke about rye as it fit in Reher’s Bakery and the Kingston, New York community. Avery Robinson of Black Rooster Food brought incredible breads, and he and Allen Katz, distilling and cocktail expert, led us through tasting an array of breads, toppings, and of course, rye whiskey. If this whets your rye appetite, please check out the Rye Revival. The evening was a bubble of rye stories, and people appreciating this underdog grain.

• Last week I was in Rhode Island, starting off at the Antique Stove Hospital. WOWIE! I got a long friendly tour from Emery Pineo, who has been restoring cast iron stoves for 40 years. His son Brandon is part of the shop too. I found them through social media — sometimes the algorithm provides — and I’ve been excited to see this bevy of stoves. From tiny Union College dorm room stoves to tall barrel chested stoves for heating general stores and churches, made by Philo P. Stewart, who co-founded Oberlin College, I saw an eyeful.

  

  

• Next, I was in Providence for Camp Bread. Johnson and Wales University hosted the Bread Bakers Guild of America’s baking education conference during the culinary school’s spring break. Bringing together 300 people to learn about baking, this container held and stretched our curiosities. What a bubble! I miss it, and the people who made bubbles with me — including but not only Andrew Janjigian, Jess Porter (baker at Appelton Farms, who made me the Flour Ambassador logo!), Tristan Noyes from Maine Grain Alliance, Marissa Venturi from AGC, Jill Brockman-Cummings from Janie’s Mill (thanks for the cap, Harold!), and Aimee Hill and Katie Phelan from the Hartwick College Center for Craft Food & Beverage.

  

• The classes I visited were extraordinary, bubbles of people in dough, each teacher adding experience and context to the work. Hazim Tugun and Susan Chagas from Zingerman’s Bakehouse led a tour of fresh flour baking; Blair Marvin and Andrew Heyn from New American Stone Mills and Elmore Mountain Bread explored varieties, as did Thom Leonard in a separate class; Martin Philip gave a demo on keeping baking fresh and exciting amid the repetitions of production; Hana Quon wowed us by taking lamination to the moon; Daisy Chow showed us how she uses homemade jams and pickles to add highlights to her repertoire at Breadboard Bakery. Jeffrey Hamelman and Harry Peemoeller were both so smart and helpful, and Appolonia Poilane talked us through her bakery as if we were with her.

  

• I feel so lucky to have access to this incredible gathering, and to get a window on the craft and profession of baking. I’m awed by people who chose to make baking their work, and the efforts they put into furthering themselves. Many thanks to the BBGA and especially to Richard Miscovich, JWU prof and writing pal for working hard behind the scenes to make this happen, and to the JWU students who stayed on campus to make the classes hum. Tracey and Trent: thanks for feeding us! The arugula, pickled onion and benne salad is burned on my brain, and I’m making stabs at recreating it.

• Friday, I was in another bubble entirely, celebrating International Women’s Day with YWCA-GCR. We made our soups from ingredients donated by Honest Weight Food Coop, and served bread from Camp Bread. I spoke about the history I researched, and how hard it was to narrow down what I learned. We delivered roses to the residents at the Y, with greetings and wishes written by the guests. Then, we washed the dishes and silverware, and the sun shined as if spring were here, and I collapsed on the sofa. Kerplunk.

Now, I’m entering another bubble, that of repair. I was anticipatory over the weekend, because I’m having minor knee surgery today. At the end of 2022, I fell while cross country skiing. My husband is a gazelle. I am not a gazelle. With luck and time and physical therapy, I’ll get more potential back in my knee. Bike rides! Think of me please, eventually biking and baking, and more immediately, resting and reading.

I promise I’ll be thinking of you, and wondering how we can make our bubbles safe and transparent, and keep ourselves ready to connect.

Amy