Description
The Approachable has become a Happy Monk favourite; a loaf designed for the grocery shelf but with honest-to-god artisan credentials. You’ll recognize the ingredients: sourdough, whole wheat flour, salt, a bit of honey and oil for flavour and baked in a pan. Makes great toast!
It’s our version of the Approachable Loaf, a formula developed by “The Bread Lab Collective,” a group of bakers affiliated with The Bread Lab of Washington State University in Mount Vernon Washington. Our blog post about the loaf explains a little about its appeal. We also published the recipe for Happy Monk people to try out on their own.
One important caveat is that this loaf contains a small amount of commercial yeast to assist in leavening the whole-grain ingredients — less than half a percent of total flour weight. Wild-yeast sourdough does most of the heavy lifting, though, with nearly 21%.
The Approachable Loaf is an exciting bread trend — a sign that the artisan bread world has achieved a critical mass. And the confidence to present a viable challenge to the industrial bread makers: healthy, wholesome bread that is really tasty!
Note: This loaf contains some honey, so it’s not strictly vegan.