Author: Brooke Lucy

Bremerton is abuzz about Saboteur Bakery, as evidenced by social media posts singing the praises of Saboteur’s brioche sucré, swooning over its ham and cheese croissants, and driving two hours to procure some of its panettone. “I can’t believe it,” says owner and baker Matt Tinder. “People are driving from Bellingham to buy scones.”

Saboteur may be a relative newcomer to the Bremerton area, but its products have taken root in the community’s palate. No matter what sweet or savory bundles of baked goodness Tinder puts on the display shelves, supply at both Saboteur locations is reduced to crumbs by closing time at 1pm, sometimes earlier.

So what’s Saboteur’s secret? Nothing, says Tinder, who has been known to share his recipes. “I just want to make food that people want to eat.”

Tinder was raised in Hawaii and developed a palate for fresh and natural foods. “It wasn’t deliberate, we weren’t strict,” he says, “but there was a lot of tropical fruit, an avocado tree in the back yard. It’s just how we ate.” Although he grew up eating carob instead of chocolate and dried fruit instead of candy, Tinder’s approach now is balanced. “I like really good ingredients,” he says. “And I want foods that are supposed to be treats–that are supposed to be a bit sinful–to taste great and be well-made.”

It’s this acceptance of the appropriateness of “sin” in food that makes Saboteur’s cafes such welcoming places. “I don’t preach about ingredients,” Tinder says. “I present the food the way I believe it should be presented, and then we treat people with respect and let them make their own decisions.”

Self-taught through jobs ranging from burger joints on Kauai to Michelin-starred restaurants in northern California, Tinder moved to Bremerton to start a bakery business with his fiancé, Kate Guiggio. Two years later, Saboteur operates in two locations: a full bake shop in Manette and a retail location downtown.

Tinder does all the baking himself. “I like working alone,” he says. For some, a baker’s punishingly early hours are a necessary evil of the job; for Tinder, they’re one of the benefits. “It’s quiet,” he says, “I like the focus.” This preference for professional independence supports the online reputation that Tinder is developing as a “restless perfectionist.” He laughs when I tell him about it. “If you do anything for a living that’s redundant, you’re inevitably going to end up with some things you’re not happy about,” he says. “What I like is being able to go back into the bakery again the next morning and do it all again, and make it better.”

There is redundancy in baking, certainly, when one has customers lined up outside the bakery door at opening time, all seeking a twice-baked almond croissant. Tinder must bake a lot of croissants, dozens of bagels, and mountains of bostock. But Tinder also thrives on doing what few others do, so he has verged into meat pies, and is quietly becoming one of an elite cadre of artisan panettone bakers in the world (read more about panettone–considered “the Everest of pastry”–here). “If it isn’t widely available,” Tinder says of infrequently-baked pastries, “I want to make it.”

Tinder learned of Bluebird Grain Farms when he was working at Coi and The Restaurant at Meadowood in northern California, but it wasn’t until he moved up to Washington that he was able to test it. “When I moved to Washington I got every local flour I could get my hands on,” he says. “I wanted the best performing flours. I wasn’t going to use a local flour just because it was local–it also had to be great. Out of all the stuff I tested, I liked Bluebird the most.”

Saboteur offers whole grain breads using Bluebird’s emmer, Einka, and rye flours. “I like to offer whole wheat as whole,” Tinder says, “I don’t cut it with white flour.” He continues, referring to the cost of some of his loaves, which can run as high as $10 or $11. “If I’m buying the best ingredients,” Tinder says, “I have to charge what I charge. And if customers care about what they’re putting in their body, they’re going to realize why the cost is higher than they’re used to.”

Owning and operating his own bakery, as well as being the sole baker, does not come without challenges. But Tinder faces them philosophically. “The more organized I get, the more product I can make,” he says. “The demand for Saboteur to grow is there, but I don’t want to grow too fast. It takes time to put all the pieces together.” Pieces such as connecting with farmers and identifying sources for his products, developing new products, and–his most recent project–getting Saboteur’s sandwich program off the ground.

Some of the time to figure out new programs and next moves comes during the biannual bakery closures–once in the summer and once in the winter. They travel a bit, visit old friends in California, and then head back to Bremerton to work. “I do a lot of brainstorming in my head and on paper,” Tinder says. “Saboteur is a small business and I can’t afford to just buy a bunch of expensive ingredients and experiment. But I do pretty well with the preliminary stages happening on paper.”

Once the bakery has been closed for a while, it takes a few days to get it up and running again, says Tinder; he has to order in fresh supplies and get his leavening active again. Customers have usually been forewarned to stock up in anticipation of a bakery closure, but for many customers Tinder’s brief breaks represent a time of simply enduring until the next fix of fresh currant scone or almond torte. And then Saboteur’s doors open again and Tinder goes back to the business of doing the same thing over and over, making it better and better each time.

Learn more about Saboteur Bakery on Facebook or by visiting their website.

by Bluebird Grain Farms writer Ashley Lodato

If you’ve been looking for an excuse to visit Reykjavík, Iceland, Sandholt Bakery is the answer. It might seem like a long way to travel for a crusty sourdough loaf or a flaky Danish, but add in the bakery’s nearly 100-year history and you’ve got an educational opportunity on your hands.

The recipes may have changed since the original Sandholt Bakery opened its doors in 1920, but the philosophy remains the same: use the best ingredients and avoid taking shortcuts in order to produce the best-quality breads and pastries for Sandholt customers. These principles have guided four generations of master bakers at Sandholt, as they seek to straddle the line between innovation and tradition.

Iceland has a long and complicated history with grain productions. When the Vikings settled in Iceland in the middle of the 9th Century, a warm period allowed them to harvest rye, barley, and wheat, which were staples of their diet for nearly 500 years. But a cold spell set in during the 14th century and for another 500 years grain farming was not viable and grain consumption was minimal. During the modern era, says Sandholt apprentice baker Aðalheiður Reynisdottir, people in Iceland became accustomed to eating processed flours in bag mixes. Perfectly serviceable, certainly, but lacking both the nutrition and the taste of the freshly-milled flours that Sandholt Bakery uses. This commitment to whole grains and ancient varieties is what has set Sandholt Bakery apart from other, more conventional, bakeries for almost a century. Says Reynisdottir, “We put a lot of effort and thought into our products and I believe the customer can see and appreciate that.”

Sourcing flour in Iceland is, as you might imagine, difficult. Many suppliers are simply unwilling to ship to the country. In Bluebird Grain Farms, however, Sandholt Bakery found not only a willing supplier, but also one who shares Sandholt’s passion for grains that are as packed with nutrition as possible. Bluebird was willing to ship ancient grain flours, yes, says Reynisdottir, but “what interested us even more about Bluebird Grain Mills is the flour is stoneground meaning the flour from the mill is more nutritious.”

Sandholt Bakery features several sourdough breads daily, including einkorn and emmer loaves using Bluebird flours. “We couldn’t be happier,” says Reynisdottir of the flours. “The flour makes the bread rise brilliantly and we have also been experimenting with Einka natural yeast and the results are fascinating. It ferments quicker than yeast from white flour, making it ideal to use.”

Sandholt is on a bit of a mission, according to Reynisdottir, as Icelandic customers are “realizing that bread isn’t just bread.” As more nutritious (and infinitely more delicious) products are appearing in Icelandic bakeries, says Reynisdottir, Icelandic customers are “opening their minds to new and healthier options that for so long have been unavailable in Iceland.” Breads made from as kamut, quinoa, barley, spelt, and bulgar, as well as einkorn and emmer, are mainstays on the Sandholt menu, and are cultivating the Icelandic palate. “This makes me as a baker very happy because that means all our work bringing in new flour is paying off,” says Reynisdottir.

In the future, global climate change may well prove a boon to the grains market in Iceland. Temperatures in Iceland have been steadily rising, allowing farmers to begin growing grains again in earnest for the first time since Viking days. Since the mid 1990s, grain production in Iceland has increased 1000% and the government has begun to offer support to grain farmers. For now, however, Sandholt relies on imported grains.

Sandholt’s current master baker,  Ásgeir Sandholt, holds degrees in art and graphic design, and his artistry is evident in the aesthetics of Sandholt’s breads, pastries, and confections.  While for showy chefs the physical presentation of delicacies seems to take precedence over taste and quality, an impressive list of accolades and awards is testament to the fact that Ásgeir Sandholt remains committed to quality artisanal products. Under Ásgeir’s direction, the bakery staff seek inspiration from old traditional recipes but constantly experiment to find new ways to surprise and delight customers. They enjoy “treading new paths in bakery and food culture,” and this means working with a wide range of “raw, honest materials” to create the tastiest offerings baked offerings possible.

Perhaps due to the scarcity of flour for so many generations in Iceland, baked goods don’t feature as prominently on the holiday menu as they do in North American and European households. Still, Christmas cookies like gingerbread and syrup cookies are popular around the holidays, as are a signature cookie called Lakkrístoppar: a type of meringue cookie filled with licorice and chocolate–a unique Icelandic combination, says Reynisdottir. And for the past few years Sandholt as been experimenting with a spicy Christmas bread, in which “people seem very interested,” says Reynisdottir.

And how could people not be interested in such a Sandholt product, one might well ask? Like everything else at Sandholt, the bread is fresh and made from scratch, using traditional baking methods built on four generations of craftsmanship. And quality, like Sandholt Bakery itself, always endures.

For more information about Sandholt Bakery, visit their website.

By Ashley Lodato, Bluebird Grain Farms staff writer

When he was in high school, Edouardo Jordan decided he would one day write his own cookbook. Now, nearly 20 years later, Jordan still hasn’t written that book but it’s not for lack of material; it’s for lack of time. A seemingly whirling dervish of culinary arts and fine dining, Jordan has hardly come up for air since graduating from culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando in 2005. 

No stranger to cooking, Jordan entered culinary school with a substantial background in cooking for the people he loved. As a child, Jordan’s mother, Velda, and his grandmother, Maggie, “forced him into the kitchen,” telling him that cooking would make him a better man and a more artistic person. During what Jordan calls his “involuntary presence in the kitchen,” Jordan learned the lessons and recipes that would form the foundation for his later success as a chef and restauranteur. Mother, apparently, did know best. 

Later, while a student of Business Administration and Sports Management at the University of Florida, Jordan nurtured his minor in nutrition by feeding his friends and fraternity brothers in Alpha Phi Alpha. When he returned to his hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida, following graduation in 2003, Jordan became an entrepreneur by successfully starting his own online restaurant guide.

After culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu, Edouardo both worked and apprenticed (as is customary for culinary school graduates) in Michelin-starred restaurants such as The French Laundry and Per Se, in Florida, California, Washington, and New York. Around this time Jordan became interested in meat curing and spent time studying under a sixth-generation salumist in Parma, Italy. Pursuing this interest turns out to have been a formative experience for Jordan, and ultimately later influenced the name of the restaurant he opened in Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood in 2015–Salare.

Salare. Say it in Italian–“sah-LAH-ray”–and roll that “r.” The word is almost liquid. It means “to salt” or “to preserve” in Italian, and it so cleverly captures the most critical aspects of Jordan’s philosophy. First, it’s a testament to Jordan’s interest in primal techniques and ancient methods for preserving foods and to his restaurant’s signature charcuterie. Second, the Latinate word is a nod to Jordan’s investment in a diverse food culture, as the restaurant features dishes from the American South, to Africa, to Europe, and the Caribbean Islands. And third, the word embraces the very experience that Jordan wants diners at Salare to have: one that is memorable–“preserved,” in a sense.

Salare is both studiously unpretentious and subtly elegant. “A modern mom-and-pop restaurant,” Jordan calls it. The menu is inventive, but somehow familiar. Items like meatballs and cornbread ground the menu, but diners can find surprises in Pacific octopus, honeycomb tripe, and einkorn.

Einkorn? Did someone say einkorn? Jordan is among a growing number of chefs featuring Bluebird Grain Farms’ Einka einkorn on menus. Jordan is no stranger to Bluebird Grain Farms, having served both emmer farro and Bluebird’s hot cereals at Salare. He even features einkorn ice cream on his dessert menu.

Bluebird Grain Farms‘ products, along with the other Northwest-sourced items on Salare’s menu, are a fine fit for Jordan’s philosophy, as well as for Salare’s clientele. “People in the Northwest want to know where their food comes from and how it’s produced,” says Jordan. “It’s about seasonality, sustainability, locality, and preserving the ingredients’ integrity.” Jordan notes that the area he grew up in was surrounded by franchise businesses. “A lot of them had no soul.” People in Seattle like good food, says Jordan, “and that’s the most important thing I am trying to provide. Beyond flavor and taste, people are interested in trying something different, something just a little unfamiliar to them.”

Salare’s staff seems to be almost deliberately international, but that’s just a happy coincidence, says Jordan. “I love everyone and think everyone can bring something different to the party. I have an open door with resumes and I base my hiring on skill, desire to do the job, ability to do the job, and passion for the industry.” This focus on desire, ability, and passion has served Jordan well, not only from a hiring perspective but even more importantly as elements that have driven the trajectory of his own career.

Growing up as a child in an underserved neighborhood in St. Petersburg, Florida, Jordan says that he didn’t always make great decisions. “My friends were doing stupid things, skipping school, stealing. Some even died,” he says. But a middle school teacher told Jordan “You have potential, but you’ve got to make better life decisions.”

So Jordan did. He started playing sports, took AP classes. In college, he says, “I surrounded myself with people different from me, people who made me feel uncomfortable, in a good way. People who made me push.” He passes this strategy on to kids when he participates as a guest speaker with the DreamFaith Foundation, which is aimed at empowering the country’s underprivileged youth by equipping them with the necessary tools to overcome life’s challenges. “You have to have a dream,” he tells them, “you have to have a goal.”

Jordan has been focused on his culinary goals for nearly three decades now, but that doesn’t mean that he spends all of his time in the kitchen. “The restaurant is a moving force,” says Jordan. “One day I’m the chef, the next day I’m a life coach, the next day I’m a plumber.” Add that to electrician, painter, carpenter, window-washer–not to mention father and husband–and you begin to see that Salare is more than just a job or a project for Jordan, it’s a way of life. Still, Jordan seems to be weathering the challenges of restaurant ownership, perhaps by his channeling of Forest Gump’s philosophy. “Life is like a box of chocolates,” Jordan says, quoting Gump. “You never know what you’re gonna get.”

Salare’s customers, however, know exactly what they’re going to get when they make a reservation: an eclectic menu laced with superb dishes, an elegantly comfortable dining area, and thoughtful, attentive service. Jordan’s stamp is on every aspect of the dining experience–his commitment to the quality of all things Salare. And what Jordan pours into his customers, his customers pour right back. “Seattle and the Ravenna neighborhood have shown a lot of love,” he says.

You can learn more about Salare by visiting their website or Facebook page.

by Ashley Lodato, Bluebird Grain Farms staff writer

Like many a good foodie, Avery Ruzicka fell in love with food in France. “I come from a family that enjoyed cooking and respected food,” the North Carolina native explains,” but when I lived abroad I learned how much amazing food there is in the world. In France I got to eat at a few multi-Michelin-Star restaurants and it opened my eyes. The refinement, the focus–the meal was sustenance, but it was also such a full experience.”

When Ruzicka returned to the States, it was with the intention of being a food writer, so she got a job in a restaurant at the “back of the house” (in restaurant lingo, this refers to the kitchen and all the areas of the restaurant that customers do not typically see), figuring that if she was to be a food writer, she needed to understand how the kitchen worked. It was in the back of the house that Ruzicka realized that she loved working in the kitchen. “It was clear that I wanted to pursue a cooking career,” says Ruzicka. So after finishing her undergraduate degree (in politics, international studies, and creative writing) in North Carolina, Ruzicka headed north, attending New York’s renowned French Culinary Institute, including its bread baking program. The program led to work in the kitchen in one of New York’s most celebrated restaurants, Per Se, where Ruzicka learned from master baker Ben Hershberger.

When Ruzicka crossed paths with Chef David Kinch of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Manresa Restaurant (which was recently awarded its third Michelin star), she felt compelled to work in his restaurant. But there was a hitch–the only job available at that time was in the “front of the house” (the entry, dining room, bar, and all other parts of the restaurant that customers occupy). So Ruzicka took the job and for six months worked happily as a food runner. Still, she yearned to be in the kitchen. Soon, Ruzicka found herself spending her time off–which was mornings–back in the kitchen with the bakers, learning their methods. After a while, Ruzicka says, “I thought that I could help make a better product. I reevaluated how the breads were created and made changes to result in better quality breads.” Six months after she started food running, a job opened up in the kitchen and I had to decide whether or not to take it. “When I thought about someone else making the bread,” Ruzicka says, “I got a pit in my stomach.” The decision was simple; Ruzicka moved to the back of the house.

Fast forward a few years; now, under Ruzicka’s leadership, the breads formerly found only on Manresa Restaurant tables can now be acquired at four additional locations: either of two Manresa Bread bakery locations in Los Gatos and Los Altos, as well as at the Campbell and Palo Alto farmers’ markets every Sunday. The markets are open until 1pm and the bakeries until 3pm, but Manresa’s breads and pastries typically sell out long before the markets close; their products are just that popular. And the more Ruzicka and her team bake, the more the customers clamor for. Whether it’s the weekly staples like Manresa’s levain, sourdough baguette, and monkey bread or the seasonal items such as the pumpernickel buckwheat rye and the tartines, demand is consistent.

Does Ruzicka have a secret? Not really, she says, other than her own curiosity. “We’re not doing anything groundbreaking here,” Ruzicka says, “but I am just constantly trying out new things to improve our products.” Like other innovative bakers, Ruzicka is consumed with the quality of her ingredients. “Big batch commodity flour just does not taste as good,” says Ruzicka. “That was one of the first things I changed at Manresa–where we were buying our flours. We stopped buying bigger brand flour and started buying smaller production flour.” That purchasing decision eventually led Ruzicka to begin milling some of her own grains, most notably rye. “Commercial rye just doesn’t move off the shelf as quickly as wheat,” says Ruzicka, so rye often sits on supplier shelves getting old and dry, resulting in a lackluster bread. Now, Ruzicka can mill just the flour she needs on a regular basis in small batches.

Ruzicka is a huge fan of Bluebird Grain Farms’ Einka™ einkorn flour, which she learned about when a Methow Valley customer visited Manresa Restaurant and brought in some sample bags of flour. “I’m always interested in trying different milled products,” Ruzicka says, “and when I tested the einkorn it was really clear that the flavor would come through, even if I was only using 30% einkorn with 70% of another flour. That nuttiness, the subtle sweetness–that’s not true of all grains.” Ruzicka is partial to Bluebird’s Emmer Flour as well, and enjoys mixing both flours with others in order to achieve depth and texture in her loaves.

Bread has been given a bad rap lately, what with all the low-carb diet propaganda circulating. What does Ruzicka have to say in defense of bread? Like a growing number of grains revolutionaries, Ruzicka believes that the problem lies with the quality of the breads that are most readily available. “It’s a good bread versus bad bread question,” says Ruzicka. “Processed white flour grocery store bread is just not that good for you. There’s no fiber in it. All the vitamins have been processed out of it.” Ruzicka, on the other hand, uses freshly milled flours from small batch producers. Her bread has a long, slow fermentation process (36 hours minimum), which breaks down the gluten, and much of it is leavened with sourdough starter, not commercial yeasts. “All those things aid in the digestion process,” Ruzicka says. She adds, “All of my team is around these baked products and testing them all day long. We all feel great and I don’t think anyone has gained an ounce.”

Of course, that might be simply because they are working so hard. A self-professed night owl, Ruzicka copes well with both the early hours required of bakers and the long days necessary for farmers market sales. Still, the schedule seems punishing. “This is my life!” Ruzicka laughs. “I wouldn’t recommend this job to anyone in the culinary world who isn’t incredibly passionate about it. It’s so much fun, but so much hard work.”

Ruzicka doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, however. “I want to be a part of the food world AND fine dining AND bake bread,” she says. “My time at Manresa Restaurant taught me to pay attention to the small details,” Ruzicka notes, “and that helps set the tone for the bakery.” Although the bakery creates artisan-style bread and pastries and wouldn’t “throw away a baguette that was 1/2″ longer than intended” (implying that this actually happens in some bakeries!), Ruzicka and her team want to understand WHY that particular baguette didn’t conform. “We want to know why one grain or process is better suited for a particular need,” says Ruzicka, “we don’t want to force something to be what it isn’t.” Which sounds a bit like Ruzicka’s own process, figuring out through exploration and discovery what suits her best.

If you find yourself in the south San Francisco Bay Area, stop by one of the Manresa Bread locations.

Are you looking for a place to buy a loaf of Einka bread? Or Emmer shortbread cookies? If so, you need to check out Cereal Box Bakery, a new micro-bakery in Seattle.  Started by Rob Salvino, Cereal Box features many of our flours in its bread and baked goods. Rob has a long history with Bluebird Grain Farms: for years, he helped us sell our products to grocery stores, restaurants, and bakeries. Now, he’s decided to bake with them himself.

Rob sources flour made from locally grown varietal grains like ours and reinterprets favorite recipes to highlight their unique qualities. He specializes in fresh-baked breads and pastries, crisp crackers, breakfast cereals and granola, and many more tasty delights. Cereal Box Bakery doesn’t have a retail space and you won’t find their products in grocery stores. Instead, the bakery operates like a CSA. Subscribers receive a box of fresh-baked goods on their doorstep every week in the morning before work or school. They deliver to most Seattle neighborhoods north of downtown. Right now they are offering a great trial offer—three weeks of deliveries for the price of two. You can also find Cereal Box Bakery at the Magnolia Farmers Market on Saturdays from 10am-2pm.

Visit www.cerealboxbakery.com to sign up. Visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cerealboxbakery to see pictures of their baked goods and read customer comments.