( artisan breads by the oley baker or how to travel to europe without crossing the ocean )

artisan breads by the oley baker

or

how to travel to europe without crossing the ocean

by marian wolbers

take a bite. close your eyes, and you’ll swear on your great-grandmother’s apron that you’re not in pennsylvania anymore but somewhere out in the countryside of france—or germany or holland or slovakia. first, that hearth-and-home scent. then the slight-sweet crusts. teeth tear into grainy fibers, the stomach saying, aha ! you do love me ! (if tummies could talk...)

    

it’s a proustian pleasure every time: whether it’s a slice of rustic multigrain, traditional rye, or  sesame-flaxseed bread, it doesn’t seem to matter. with tom kopel’s bread on the cutting board, you’ve got a ticket to the old country flavors of breads and times gone by.

yup, life is still good. in these loaves, there are no preservatives, no additives. no need to worry either—because these satisfying breads quickly mate with cheese and wine, or soup, or eggs; or they find themselves sandwiching greens and turkey and what have you.

“i try to bake the way people baked 500 years ago—or 1,500 years ago,” kopel laughs as he explains his m.o. (modus operandus). an avid student of all things bread-y, the oley baker can talk from here to tomorrow about grains, ancient and modern, and why wheat and rye keep company with each other on the smartest farmers’ fields (they keep grain-damaging pests away from each other). for kopel’s kneads, he delights in scouring the planet to find sources for the world’s finest seeds for each particular type of bread; he reverences not only dough but the highly protected starter yeasts belonging to the oldest, most delicious breads—and he has even created his own wild yeast, using the springtime air (“when the trees are in bloom”) and water right here in southeastern pennsylvania. he’ll tell you that by tasting a morsel of amazing bread, you can know what’s in the water, the soil, and much, much, much more.

back to the yummy basics: indeed, kopel is truly an artisan baker, a term that technically is what small bakers call themselves but which actually “gives you the license to make what you want,” affirms kopel. at a time in his lifespan when he ought to be taking cruises to bermuda, this former navy-man, aviator, and corporate exec is spending six days a week pounding dough with big strong hands, tending ovens, lifting loaves, and handing his products out the door of his oley home to distributors across the region (oh, and, he was a textile industry exec and financial advisor, too).

“it’s a job. it’s work,” he says practically. he claims that he bakes not because it’s his life’s passion but because in 2002 his sister-in-law, from leipzig (germany) told him flat out, “you make bread as good as anyone in europe.” though he’d been baking homemade breads since the 70s, once he rose up as “the bread guy” at skippack’s outdoor market, his specialty loaves literally flew off of the stand.

popular offerings include:

sesame-flaxseed, crafted with dark flax seeds and unhulled, unbleached sesame seeds;

flaxseed original, ladies love it;

rustic multigrain, with whole grain wheat flour, whole grain rye flour, bulgur, and spices;

kc rye, so named after the kimberton café, which uses this “very traditional” rye bread for sandwiches;

black russian, a dark rye with the signature flavor and color of roasted barley; and genuine sourdough which tastes “cheddar-esque,” kopel says—though no cheese is used in the baking.

other mouthwaterers are marble rye, speltberry bread (by special order), sunflower whole wheat, and genoise cakes.

finally, an addiction caveat: once you’ve realized how completely cool it is to eat bread made by a guy who used to fly b-52s and phantom jets, don’t be surprised when all store-bought breads pale and stale by comparison. hooked !

where: tom kopel is the oley baker, whose artisan breads (yeast breads) are available at such area markets as weaver’s orchard market, morgantown; kimberton whole foods (all stores); merrymead farm market, lansdale; and fisher’s farm fresh produce stand on memorial highway in oley. tel. 1.800.782.6953. also search “the oley baker” on facebook for more information.