
Fall is upon us. Last week summer was still here, but starting Wednesday, there were two days of cooler temperatures then, boom! the first storm of the season, including a South Pender power outage for most of the day. Just like that, Summer’s done!
Sourdough September is nearly over, too! It started a few weeks back, and we only have a week left. It’s more of a phenomenon in the United Kingdom. Still, it’s evolved into an international celebration of genuine sourdough and the people who make it. The U.K.-based Real Bread Campaign and the charity, Sustain, encourage people to buy genuine sourdough bread and make their own.
Bread-like products
Sourdough bread may seem like a slam dunk to many of us, but there are vast segments of the population unaware of it or unmoved by it. Large baking operations continue to churn out millions of homogenous loaves a day and people buy them. However, these loaves shouldn’t really be called bread, but rather “bread-like products.”
Sourdough September is a reaction to significant baking interests that try to co-opt the word “sourdough,” among other things. These companies can (falsely) claim their own products are sourdough, even though they’re leavened with 100% commercial baking yeast.
Their bread-like products can be flavoured by “sourdough” additives like acetic acid that produce a sour flavour but contain no leavening action. 1 Look at the ingredients label on these plastic bread products. Many of them are barely pronounceable and possibly a little worrying.
A good plate mop
I’m being strident here. I was raised on this stuff, and when I do indulge in one of these loaves, it’s OK! As a vehicle for condiments, like creamy butter and luscious preserves, a slice of toasted plastic bread really works! The crumb is little more than mushy cotton, not as chewy as a good sourdough’s. It might also make a good plate mop for something decadent, like a sauce or egg, but it needs some help to make it palatable.
Sourdough September is meant to draw attention to the glories of genuine sourdough, made on a more human scale. Like flour, water and salt, leavened with naturally occurring yeast. Plastic bagged bread includes many more ingredients like calcium propionate (a mould inhibitor), wheat gluten, soybean lecithin, sorbic acid or fungal alpha-amylase. Some components may be undeclared because there is no legal requirement to do so.
Through programs like Sourdough September, the Real Bread Campaign is lobbying the UK to adopt something called the Honest Crust Act. The plan would be to have measures passed into law, such as legal definitions for words like “freshly baked,” “whole grain bread,” and “sourdough bread.”
The Honest Crust Act
According to stipulations laid out in the act, bread products containing ingredients like dried gluten and soy flour would not be allowed to be called bread.
There is much more to the UK’s Real Bread Campaign and no real equivalent organization in Canada, aside from passionate bakers raising awareness.
You already know that Happy Monk bread is leavened with sourdough. Happy Monk bread also uses essential ingredients (flour, water, salt, yeast) and a handful of things like seeds, spices, sweeteners (molasses, honey and malt syrup) and occasional enrichers (eggs, oil, beer or cider).
The real bread seal of approval
Our bread would qualify as real bread, according to the Real Bread Campaign. We do need to do a better job of detailing all our ingredients and where they come from.
We’re passionate about real bread. We look forward to connecting with more organizations like the Real Bread Campaign to spread the word.
It’s been a good September so far! We’re happy to be back from the holidays, and we look forward to making more real bread for the rest of the year.
Happy Monk Tidings - May 18, 2022 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Olive Bread; UPDATE: Canal Bridge project postponed; Assume normal delivery schedule; BLOG: The Breadman's Quest for the Stanley Cup - [See LinkTree in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - May 11, 2022 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Rye-Spelt Sourdough; Blog: Road/Bridge Closure: Be Here Now - [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Fun visit from @thiswolfeislandlife on bread day Friday. Laura Buckley and partner Peter from Wolfe Island near Kingston, ON to compare notes and share a few laughs. So great when bakers get together! Thanks for the photos, Laura! See you next on Wolfe Island!
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#bakers #bakery #bakerslife #woodfiredovens #woodfired #woodfiredbakery #woodfiredbakerylife #southpenderisland #southpender #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbaker
Happy Monk Tidings - May 4, 2022 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Polenta and Rosemary Bread ☀︎ Blog: An Artisan Bread Manifesto ☀︎ [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
This guy, Davy Rippner, @leathersmithe, our neighbourhood sandal-maker, wood-chopper and story teller extraordinaire, is one of my best buddies. He comes every Friday morning to help me bag each loaf of bread and get ‘em out the door in time for delivery. He turns the whole process into a heck of a lotta fun, laughs and great conversation. Lucky to have him as a friend and Happy Monk helper. These are Spelt-Honey Sourdough loaves, by the way. Adapted from Michael James’ Tivoli Road Baker.
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#bread #breadbaking #bakery #bakeries #woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #breadhead #breadmaking #sourdough #spelt #speltbread #michaeljames #sourdoughbread #penderisland #southpenderisland #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbakers #southerngulfislandsbakeries
Happy Monk Tidings - April 27, 2022 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Spelt Honey Sourdough; Blog: A Podcast for Pender Island [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - April 20, 2022 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Mountain Rye ; Blog: Walking with My Father [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - April 13, 2022 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Hot Cross Buns; Blog: Who's to Blame for the Hot Cross Buns Song? [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - April 6, 2022 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Whole-Wheat Flax Bread; Blog: The Baker's Arms [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - March 30, 2022 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Oat Porridge Bread; Blog: Thanne Longen Folk ...; We're Donating to Ukraine! [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Mooning for the camera, first light on bake day, with the first load of Salish Sourdough singing at the table..
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#breadsinging #breadsong #woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredbakery #woodfiredbread #bread #breadlove #baker #bakersofinstagram #bakerslife #bakersofsoutherngulfislands #sourdough #sourdoughbread #sourdoughbaking #sourdoughlove #happymonkbaker #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany #southpenderisland #penderisland
Billowy Spelt-Honey Sourdough, burnished (after) and raw (before).
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#spelt #speltbread #honeybread #breadhead #breadporn #breadlove #wildyeast #honey #honeyhoney #honeybread #michaeljamesbakes #tivolirdbakery #naturallyleavened #artisanbread #realbread #rusticbread #woodfired #woodfiredbread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #penderisland #southpenderisland #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany
Happy Monk Tidings - March 16, 2022 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Spelt and Honey Sourdough; Blog: Wheat Connections to Ukraine [ See LinkTree in Bio ]
These corn kernels are headed to the mill to make cornmeal for Anadama Bread this week. It’s a bread with origins on the east coast, but that shouldn’t stop us west coasters from enjoying it, too, godanadamit! This is organic field corn from @fieldstoneorganics of Armstrong, B.C. … and the hard red whole wheat from Metchosin, B.C. make this Happy Monk take on Anadama a bona fide west coast phenomenon! Just sayin’!
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#anadama #anadamabread #cornmeal #cornmealbread #metchosinbc #armstrongbc #stoneground #stonegroundflour #stonemilled #stonemilledflour #stonemilledbread #woodfiredovenbread #bread #realbread #naturallyleavened #baker #bbga #artisanbread #breadhead #breadmaking #sourdough #sourdoughbread #penderisland #southpenderisland #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbakers #southerngulfislandsbakeries
Happy Monk Tidings - March 9, 2022 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Anadama Bread; Blog: Salvador Dali and the Art of Bread - [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - March 2, 2022 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough; Blog: Have Your Been Shriven? [ See Link in Profile ]
Morning Breadsong (volume up!) A pile of Salish Sourdoughs just out of Mildrith, the wood-fired oven.
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#breadsinging #breadsong #woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #bread #realbread #naturallyleavened #baker #bakery #bakerslife #bbga #artisanbread #breadhead #breadmaking #breadmaking🍞 #sourdough #sourdoughbread #coboven #earthoven #earthenoven #penderisland #southpenderisland #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbakers #southerngulfislandsbakeries #penderisland
Happy Monk Tidings - February 23, 2022 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Danish Rye (Rugbrød); Blog: The Burned Loaf: And Offering and a Blessing - [ See link in profile ]
I cut open the loaf to reveal a pretty pleasing and moist crumb. Wow! If you don’t mind a little char, this burned loaf has some pleasures, like a super crispy crust contrasted with the soft crumb and the nutty chew. The char does dominate the flavour, though 😂. But would you put it in the display case of your bakery? (Thanks for the comments, all 😉)
It just needed a few more minutes. That was three hours ago. Saved my best for last! #showusyourfuckedloaves
Happy Monk Tidings - February 16, 2022 🍞 - Baker's Choice this week: Sourdough Sandwich Loaf; Blog: Festival of Fornacalia - All hail, Fornax! Goddess of the Ovens! [ See link in Profile ]
John-boy’s got his arms loaded with a bunch of Happy Monk bread, one of his favourite states of being. He’s generous to a fault, though, and spread the loaves around his close circle of friends. That’s m’boy!
The 2kg Desem miche is out of focus, in the back ‘cause it would have drowned out the little 1kg Durum Sesame loaf in front. The miche is a monster but every bit as delish as the Durum loaf! The Desem’s coming soon! Won’t be a miche, though!
See this video that explains how sourdough flavour can be added to dough to make the bread taste like sourdough.↩