flour power-baking bread at fire

Last week we talked about our made-from-scratch ethos. Real cooking with real farm fresh ingredients is both our signature and our mission. Whenever possible, we prefer to “make it in-house.” This philosophy includes many of the baked goods we serve. Baking our own burger buns, sweet rolls, flatbreads and English muffins is part of a process of creation rather than assembly to which we ascribe. Hamburger buns and English muffins are sometimes little noticed foils to other components on the plate. Yet  baking these items in-house makes our food taste fresher and just plain better. We bake every day. Last week when I wandered into the kitchen (camera in hand) Aaron was busy baking English muffins-which I learned, is a pretty interesting (and time consuming) process. After the dough is mixed it’s set aside for it’s initial rise. Next the dough is shaped then set to rise under  weight to achieve the classic flat top and bottom shape. Then the muffins are browned in a skillet and finally baked in the convection oven. The two step cooking process creates the lovely browning, and also the luscious chewy texture. We use these muffins in our “fire benedict“, piled high with house-made ham, poached farm fresh eggs and our house-made hollandaise sauce. Many folks are surprised that we go to the trouble of making our own English muffins for this dish. With so much goodness piled on top who would notice a store bought muffin? Well we would. We think once you taste this dish you’ll notice the difference made from scratch makes too. Fresh wholesome breads are such a wonderful addition to a meal.  We feel serving them is worth a little extra work. Here a a few photos of Aaron crafting our English muffins.   We invite you to come on in and taste the difference for yourself.

Post and photos by Amy Viny