The closest we are able to eat to the source of our food the healthier we as individuals, as well as the planet, will be. Here at Big Wood Bread we take pride in our commitment to buying locally as well as directly from the source whenever possible.

The farmer grows his wheat organically and then harvests and mills the grain after which time we take the flour and make Bread, however not just any bread. The process we use to make our all organic naturally leavened bread has been called for centuries, "Pain au levain." Approximately 6000 years ago we have evidence that in Egypt bakers too used this same process to ferment their doughs for baking bread. This is verifiability the only real method for producing bread with true inherent nutritional value as well as digestibility.

Between the times of old and now the world population has exploded in quite an alarming rate and within this expansion of the population came the industrial revolution and the development of mass production of all sorts of products for consumer use. Food has unfortunately been caught in this process resulting in giant agri-business corporations instead of small, local, family farms. So, you might ask, what is the issue? The answer is potentially quite a long one that would discuss much about the planet, sustainability, and health, however we will simply discuss Bread and how it fits or does not fit into this brave new world.

The process that we call "Pain au Levain" is a fermentation process . It works by capturing local, living available "Yeast " or bacteria that are in the air we all breathe, and allowing them to inoculate our doughs which then in turn slowly ferment for up to 48 hours before being baked in the oven.

This long, slow fermentation is the only process that will develop the inherent nutritive qualities as well as the aesthetic quality of bread. The process of combining commercial yeast into a mix in order to rapidly produce great numbers of bread is absolutely the opposite of how to achieve a true loaf of bread.

The ingredients as well play a critical roll. At Big Wood Bread we use only organic flours and grains, filtered water and sea salt for our breads and of course if we are to add anything to a loaf it would be items such as olives, or pecans and raisins or potatoes and sage.

The other aspect of this very real distinction between Pain au Levain and commercially produced breads is the overall long term health consequences. Today we have many people who claim to have allergies to wheat or simply do not want to eat carbs for fear of getting fat, (or is it all the fat, oil and sugar in commercial breads that make you fat?) and so there is this true misunderstanding and misrepresentation of bread in general.

Because of the long slow fermentation, the breads we make here at Big Wood Bread are, quite digestible in our systems. In contrast, mass produced, yeast laden breads are not and do actually build up over time in the digestive system. Now, commercial flours that contain all of these contaminants are now caked up along the walls of your intestine where over time their toxicity build up in your system, hence, as we now see in our modern (western) societies a large number of food allergies many related to wheat. But wheat is not all the same nor are all breads the same and this is why we here at Big Wood Bread stay committed to the true process of making artisan breads, Pain au Levain, from all organic flours, filtered water and sea salt.

Our ability to stay as close to the source of our food is directly related to our own personal health as well as to the health of the planet and our communities and this is not simply politics, it is common sense and the law of nature. We have choices both as individuals and as businesses to "do the right thing" in terms of what we buy, who we buy from, what we eat and what we produce. By committing ourselves at Big Wood Bread to this process of baking Pain au Levain we feel we are doing our part to contribute to our community, our planet, our staff , customers and to the future.