Category: - The Bread Monk

Melo's: Pizza in a renovated St. Louis garage

6/16/2017

Whenever I'm in STL with my publisher Josh Stevens of Reedy Press, I can always count on him to find a new pizza joint for us to try, This time it was Melo's Pizzeria (2438 McNair, 314.833.4489) behind Blues City Deli. It's a tiny joint housed in a former garage with a small patio out back. But holds a 55oo pound wood-fired oven that was custom built in Naples, Italy.

Melo's specializes in Italian style pizza with a New York twist. In other words, hand-stretched dough (no rolling) cooked on high heat with simple ingredients *(no Supreme Meat Lover's pizzas here). The New York twist is that the crust is chewy but soft enough to fold the slice in half for eating. (If you want a cracker crust go to Pi). You can find a more complete review by Ian Froeb of the Post-Dispatch HERE. I had "the Dom" (how could I not?) with tomatoes, sausage and basil. I enjoyed the flavors but I must admit I prefer a traditional St. Louis crispy crust. But the outer crust was chewy with just the right amount of char. My only serious criticism is that their hours are listed as "changes daily---see Facebook for details". As far as I can tell, that usually means only Thursday and Saturday. ????

A Donut Day

6/15/2017

Tuesday night I had the pleasure of presenting a bread demo at Operation Food Search in St. Louis. They have a brand new demonstration/teaching kitchen which was a pleasure to work in. The money raised by the event is going to fund a cooking class for food insecure people, and the participants will get both groceries and cooking equipment to take home. The presentation I gave was similar to the one I gave at Missouri Botanical Gardens this past weekend, featuring a homemade multi-grain baking mix.

Since I gave away a large portion of my supply of door prizes (for example, you can see a restored vintage rolling pin in the photo above) I decided to find an antique mall to explore. Google directed me to South County Antique Mall (13208 Tesson Ferry Rd) and further assisted me in discovering The Ex Cop Donut Shop (4584 Telegraph Road)
in Oakville. Frank Loforte and his wife Linda are both ex-cops who decided to open the shop about seven years ago---among other reasons, because "donuts don't shoot at you." Since then they have become a popular neighborhood destination as well as the donut supplier for Dierberg's and dozens of local gas stations (and they have a unique delivery van!). You can read their full story in the articles from Riverfront Times and St. Louis Magazine. After trying their apple fritter and seeing the cookie-topped varieties, I'm sure I'll be back.

Later at the Cardinals game I discovered that they now have a mini donut stand on the upper concourse behind section 450. They use an automatic machine like the one I ran at Illinois Wesleyan back on college---we called it the Dono-Robo. Fresh out of the oil and sprinkled with powdered sugar, these little gems are a genuine treat. If you smile and talk nice to the ladies behind the counter, they will leave yours in a little longer in the hot oil so they come out crispy on the edges). At least that worked for me with Kim and Kimberly last night (and a shout out to Amber, who had the night off!).

Unfortunately there was a rain delay around the 7th and the Cards lost to the Brewers 7-6. I'm going to tonight's game as well, so I'm hoping for a better result. I suspect that no matter where my seats are, I'll take a stroll along the upper concourse behind section 450. I you ever decide to go there, too, tell them Fr. Dom sent you.

Meet me in St. Louis I

7/28/2015

Taking a week of vacation St. Louis, with a "bread gig" on Saturday at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. I'm staying with the Loretto Sisters in Webster Groves as I usually do. The image at left is from the stained glass in their chapel, an illustration of the verse, "As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved" (Song of Solomon 2:2). The text is sometimes interpreted as the voice of Christ professing his love for His bride the Church, and by extension, his love for those women who pledge their lives to his service. I love staying with the Loretto Sisters: they're down-to-earth and yet deeply spiritual, cheerful and funny, and are dedicated Cardinal fans! I earn my keep by offering mass for them every morning, plus a little baking.

Yesterday I visited Josh Allen at the Companion Bakery, one of St. Louis' premiere sources for artisan breads. They have an 11,000 square foot operation, but are soon going to be moving to a 41,ooo square foot facility in West St. Louis that will include bakery, cafe, retail outlet and education center. (We're in discussion about my getting to teach a couple baking classes in the spring). Josh and his operations manager Price took me around the facility and I got to sample a new bread they were developing for a particular client, a sizable baguette with a non-traditional recipe which included oil. I was impressed with how Josh emphasizes the relationships between his bakery and his clients, and his willingness to enter into conversation with them about new products his bakery doesn't make---yet.

Another notable practice at Companion Bakery is that instead having an employee do one assembly line job in the process (e.g., load flour or divide dough) each baker follows his/her batch from start to finish, and is involved with every aspect of its production. The result is more consistent product, better trained employees, and, I would think, bakers with a well-developed sense of pride in their work and personal engagement in the company.

Josh was generous in sending me back to the Loretto Sisters with samples of bread, dipping sauces, and granola. Be sure to check out Companion's full line of available breads and find out where you can get them. If you're out and about in St. Louis, check out their cafe/bakeries in LaDue and Clayton.

Christmas in July with Simply Divine Bakery

7/20/2015

Retailers everywhere are advertising with the headline "
Christmas in July!" an expression which pretty much sums up everything that's wrong with our culture of consumption: the co-opting of religious celebrations for profit, the inability to wait for anything, the trivialization of Christianity---OK, I'd better stop before a rant develops. Besides, I had a little Christmas cheer yesterday when I did some food photography for Simply Divine Bakery at Immaculate Conception Monastery in Ferdinand, Indiana. I was there for the Monastic Worship Forum earlier in the month and got a tour of the Benedictine Sisters' baking operation.

You really need to visit their site, because they have a lovely selection of gourmet cookies. Thanks to Sr. Madonna's generosity, I sampled most of them and I can say that they are exquisite. The Buttermint cookies with the chocolate coating are especially yummy, and their Springerle (anise flavored) and Almerle (almond flavored) are the best I've tasted. They offer a selection of assortment and custom gift boxes, too.

The church at the monastery is magnificent and has beautiful stained glass windows of every monastic saint you can imagine, including St. Hildegarde, the medieval abbess and mystic who also left us a cookie recipe. The sisters offer their version, of course,and I'm told they are especially good with ice cream. All of these goodies, plus a wide range of religious goods are available at the monastery's "For Heaven's Sake" Gift Shop. The monastery isn't far off of I-64 between Evansville IN and Louisville KY, 10 minutes from Saint Meinrad Archabbey (another church with glorious stained glass), and close by Holiday World . . . .where you can visit Santa all year long.

<Sigh>

St. Vincent Gristmill

7/5/2013

This is the basilica of St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe Pennsylvania, which is the motherhouse of all the monasteries of our congregation. The basilica is beautiful, with some wonderful old stained glass windows in the nave of the church and more modern ones in the crypt. The monastery guest quarters are very nice and the hospitality every bit as good as St. Benedict says it should be in the Rule. The archabbey has a college and a seminary, and is also home to the Fred Rogers Center, which house all of the archives from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and the entire career of its creator. But of course, what I was most interested in was the St. Vincent Gristmill.

Boniface Wimmer and his eighteen pioneer monks came to Pennsylvania in 1846 with the intention of building a monastery which we be as self-sufficient as possible. Soon the community had cleared and planted fields, build a sawmill and a brickyard, and constructed a number of buildings, including the gristmill in 1854. Buhrstones were imported from France, the building and apparatus were designed by a local millwright, and the construction undertaken entirely by the monks themselves.

Visitors to the gristmill are not allowed in the upper two floors (although I'm hoping I can get a private tour some time!) but the lower floors include views of the secondary stones and some of the apparatus. There is a 10 minute video depicting the mill's history and its current operation (which I wish they would post in its entirety on their YouTube Channel) as well as a small gift shop. About twice a week they grind wheat and other grains, which are available for purchase. The apparatus still makes use of some of the original leather belts and wooden gears from 1854.

Another fascinating aspect of St. Vincent Gristmill is the wetlands reclamation project they have begun. The wetlands around the gristmill were seriously polluted by the local coal mining operations. In cooperation with the PA Department of Natural Resources, the monastic community instituted a wetlands reclamation program. Native plants were reintroduced and propagated to act as natural filters to purify the surrounding water and soil. There is also an environmental education room located within the gristmill itself.

I recommend the Archabbey and its gristmill as a fascinating combination of history and modernity---can't wait to go back again!

Pizza and Donuts

1/23/2013

K of C events went great last weekend, but I don't have any photos to show for it except the crew from the pizza night at Godfrey and the tables set up with the free goodie bags generously provided by Hodgson Mills. The other photo below is of me with the brothers from the OMI house of formation, which is where I spent the night---beautiful old house (1920's) built on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi.

But on my way out of Godfrey on Sunday morning I took a wrong turn which turned out to be a right turn, because I turned up in the parking lot of the LAST MISTER DONUT IN THE UNITED STATES! Yes, and they still get the same Mister Donut coffee blend from a supplier in Massachusetts, which tastes just like the coffee I used to get on Sunday mornings along with an old-fashioned sour cream donut. The fellow in the picture is one Caesar Blanco, who bought the franchise in 2004. At that time most Mister Donuts had already been bought out by Duncan Donuts, and there were only 9 left in Illinois. Today, he says, his franchise is the very last one left in the U.S., although Mister Donut still has a very strong presence in Asia, especially Japan. (I should note that I don't have any independent verification of the "last Mister Donut" claim, and I'm not sure how I'd go about that anyway, but I can say that I haven't seen one for years.) If you have fond memories of Mister Donut coffee and their giant cinnamon rolls, or maybe want to try a newer product like the croissant with sausage, egg and cheese (I tried it and it's better than a lot of other fast food breakfast sandwiches, IMHO), I recommend you make a road trip to 2720A Grovelin St., Godfrey, IL 62035 (618) 466-6327. Worth it just for the notalgic smell of the place, especially when they're frying the cake donuts. Ask for Caesar and tell him Fr. Dom sent you!

Caesar says he got into the donut business right after retiring from the Navy in '93, and by doing so he was following in a noble tradition. Donuts were not always as universally popular (or common) as they are now. What made them so was the Salvation Army serving them to "doughboys" in WWI and the Red Cross serving them to GI's in WWII--the young ladies who served them were called "Donut Dollies". When the WWII vets returned home, many used their GI Bill grants to open donut shops. There used to be a donut shop in San Jose with a WWII museum attached to it that chronicled this little piece of Americana, but sadly, Lou's Living Donut Museum was closed in 2006 due to family illness. I don't know what happened to all the memorablia, but it certainly was a unique shop and I hope the displays were preserved somewhere.

Cinnamon Bliss in Brussels

11/2/2012

On October 28 I had a bread demo in Brussels, IL for St. Mary's Church. The church building burned last year and they are raising funds to keep both church and school going. The demo went just fine and they served delicious soups along with breads made from my recipes---their honey oatmeal bread was especially good. But before we even started setting up for the demo my assistant Kevin and I went to check out a tiny bakery we saw on our way into town.

Bliss Bakery is owned and run by Ean and Jen Bevel, and although they don't have an extensive selection every day, their cinnamon rolls are every bit as good as mine (I could hav eaten four of them). Their homemade bread bowls are filled with yummy soups like Broccoli Cheddar and Chicken and Dumplings, and they serve salads, sliders and pizzas as well. They are closed for the winter right now, and just had a baby six months ago, so they are looking to sell the business. There's a small but functional kitchen (great ovens) and a very pretty patio out back, so the place would make a nice cafe, coffee shop, bakery, pizza joint, etc. Check out their website here for more info.

I have a rule about travel and food. You can stop wherever you need to when you're on the freeway, any drive-through will do. But once you reach your destination, you can't eat anywhere that you can get the exact same food at a franchise restaurant in your home town. I've met a lot of interesting people and had some memorable meals that way. Oh, occasionally I've stopped at a diner and saw that the soup of the day was "mini-strone" and they had "fresh" fish (the quotes made me nervous) and almost turned back. But I've also had some outstanding patty melts, exquisite onion rings and decadent pie following this method. But mostly I'm happy it gives me a chance to meet people like Ean and Jen, who decided to follow their bliss and open a bakery. I've become friends with Kevin at Pane Rustica in Tampa, and with Paul at That's a Nice'a Pizza in St. Louis, and when Jason bought the pizza place I became friends with him, too. An afternoon at Pike's Market in Seattle will give you a chance to sample a half-a-dozen bakeries at once, including some amazing donuts. Pearl Bakery in Portland produces the best cibatta and pugliese I've ever had, and I only went there because a newspaper reporter made the suggestion.

So, as a general rule, forget the gift shops, mega truck stops, and chain restaurants that are turning the Midwest into Generica. Check out the mom and pops, the local favorites, the diner with eight pickups parked out in front at 6:30 a.m. Chances are, you'll be glad you did.

Jerseyville HCE

10/29/2012

This past weekend I was in Jerseyville Illinois to present "Lessons from the Breads of Christmas" for the local HCE (click here for the page with the description of the program). They sold over 300 tickets to the event, so I was glad to have a projector and a good sized blank wall to be able to show photos of the various steps for the breads. I did a few live demos, too, including fougasse, the bread with the slashes in it, shown to the left. It's a traditional bread for Christmas Eve in Provence. Sometimes it has walnuts or raisins (or both) or it's made as a savory bread with onions or olives.

I also made Bolo Rei, the Portugese bread for Epiphany. It's a yeasted dough flavored with lemon and orange, topped with apricot preserves and orange marmalade, then studded with candied cherries and sliced almonds. Traditionally a bean is hidden inside, and the person who gets the slice with the bean is King or Queen for the day. I was lucky to have my kitchen angel Kevin along for the trip to hellp with prep.

I after I celebrated the 5:30 p.m. Mass at Holy Ghost on Saturday night Kevin and I ate at Tony's North on State Street. Best toasted ravs ever, even better than what I've had on the Hill in STL. Kevin had a perfectly cooked ahi tuna steak, and I had the baked lasagna. (I've eaten there before and the pecan crusted chicken is excellent as well). The pecan caramel upsidedown apple pie serve hot with ice cream was easily big enough for two and utterly statisfying. Overall, excellent table service by our waitress, although we experienced a less than attentive hostess with our seating. I highly recommend this restaurant if you are every anywhere near Jerseyville at lunch or dinner.

If you are in town around breakfast time, don't bother going anywhere but the White Spot, also on State Street, right by the Knights of Columbus. The omelets are cooked to perfection, without any browned eggs but a generous portion of fillings. We sat at the counter and watched the cook turn out four in a row, each of them flawless. Better than average coffee (for a diner), and I would say the same about the sausage, bacon and fried potatoes. Friendly service, too. I suspect they could turn out a decent lunch and dinner as well. The locals confirmed this, but I intend to test the theory myself if I get a chance---nothing like a good patty melt!

About bread knives

8/7/2012

Okay, you've been baking bread more often and now you're in the market for a really good bread knife. Before you drop too much money on a Wusthoff, here's a piece of advice: look for a knife with a wavy blade, not a serrated one with points. The points on a serrated blade can tear some breads to pieces before it slices them, especially if it becomes dull. A wavy blade will cut the crustiest artisan loaf with a minimum of crumbs, and nothing slices angel food cake better. The top knife I bought at Marshalls for about $7 and it's been cutting bread in the abbey dining room for about 10 years now. The bottom knife was made by the Clauss knife company of Fremont Ohio around 1920. It's worth looking for a knife like this at antique malls or on eBay, but don't spend more than $20 and have it professionally cleaned and sharpened.

If you live in or near St. Louis, the place to have your knives sharpened is Berterelli's Cutlery on Marconi, down the street from St. Ambrose parish, right there on the Hill. I have mine done there and as far as I can tell, every chef and commercial kitchen in St. Louis does, too. They just expanded their retail section AND they now carry dough whisks, in both sizes. (Full disclosure: they sent me a couple of samples--but I would have written about them anyway, because it's a great store!)

Lunch at Joe Fassi Sausage and Sandwich Factory

2/3/2012

While we in the St. Louis area, I took my former student and current culinary assistant Andrew Loebach to the Hill so we could get our chef knives sharpened at Bertarelli's Cutlery on Marconi (I also bought a flat-bottomed roux whisk and an extra-wide pizza peel). Nearly every time I go there I see a chef in his whites either dropping off or picking up his case of knives. They also carry Boos cutting boards and butcher blocks, and that Magic Oil Boos makes that keeps my hardwood rolling pins in good condition.
     We of course had to stop at Missouri Baking Company (see December Bread Blog archive) for Gooey Butter Cake and cannoli, and for lunch we went to Joe Fassi Sausage and Sandwich Shop on Sublette.   I discovered this gem with my sister Eileen a couple of years ago, and when I was in STL for a week last June Joe Fassi's became a daily hangout, in part because they have free WIFI. But if the hotspot made me stop, it was the sandwiches that made me stay!
     Fassi's has been on the Hill since 1926, started as a grocery by the great-grandfather of the present owner Tom Coll. The walls of the shop are adorned with memorabilia from the family, and from from Joe Garagiola and and Yogi Berra, local native sons. There are twenty six sandwiches on the menu both hot and cold on fresh-baked bread(so far I've tried nos. 10, 14, 15, 20, 21, 23, and 26, around $6.95), and some excellent salads with nary a leaf of Iceberg in sight (. Their sausage is truly outstanding, and despite the typical STL use of provel, I'd recommend their sandwiches even over Amighetti's, another staple of the Hill. Andrew  had John Carney's Supreme (the pepper cheese and mustard give it some extra kick), but when we traded halves and he tried Aunt Jennie's Salsiccia Stinger he looked at the sandwich and said, "I love you" with a passion usually reserved for desserts. Speaking of dessert, the gooey butter cake cookies are worth the $1.25 price. Check out their website and you can print a $1.00 off lunch coupon, and see notifications of LOTS of other web deals. For example, there's a Joe Fassi customer appreciation gift card program: $5.00 for $7.00 card, $7.00 for $10.00 card, $10.00 for $15.00 card, and $14.00 for $20.00 card.
     And what other sandwich shop has you eating off a marble placemat and coaster?