I have been talking to a lot of people recently about Sour Flour, and also trying to figure out exactly what it is I am trying to accomplish. One of the key aspects that I have been focusing on is the fact that it is all free. Free bread, free training, free supplies. I still have a lot more thinking to do on exactly why I like that, but this post is not about that aspect of Sour Flour.
Another key objective of Sour Flour is Bread Mastery. The bread that I am making right now tastes alright, and some people find it really tasty. But the thing I like to highlight is that it is constantly improving. Sure, there are breads that come out that are not so great every so often, but that is bound to happen considering the amount of experimentation that is going on. On the one hand I am trying to have some level of consistency, but on the other, I know that the bread will keep changing until it is the best bread out there.
There are many ways to learn about bread, and I am attempting to do as much as I can. There are tons of different bread books, which contain a lot of knowledge. I am currently reading Baking Bread: An Artisan’s Perspective, which is amazing. I am actually thinking of giving out homework assignments to some of my bakers to read parts of it; and eventually I think I should start ordering more copies of it. There is also many great websites and bread communities out there on the web, my favorite right now being The Fresh Loaf (http://www.thefreshloaf.com). I also am trying to explore the many great bakeries that are all here in the Bay Area.
So I use these resources, but really the most important part is practice. The more bread I make, the better I will be at it, and the better it will get. But with Sour Flour, we are also setting up other people to be baking bread. Each of these people will be getting better at bread, and we will all be learning from them. Bread itself will be getting better.
So Sour Flour is not just about free bread. It will be the best tasting bread out there; it just happens to be free.