Four Worlds Bakery

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

It’s been more than a month since I’ve bought bread. At first it was a financial decision; the bread I love costs $5 a loaf and the bread I’ll settle for costs close to $4. But then it became more of a challenge. I was driven to conquer the art of yeast breads in my freezing cold kitchen. With so few ingredients, why couldn’t I take the twenty minutes of work and four hours of waiting to bake a decent loaf of bread without all of the additives I spend so much time reading labels to avoid?

It took some practice but now baguettes are easy (though somewhat misshapen) and my sandwich loaves are big enough for sandwiches.  I can make sourdough rise (with the aid of some extra commercial yeast) and I haven’t yet killed the starter created in my kitchen. I’m feeling pretty good about myself. But if I had failed? Screw Arnold’s. I would totally be buying all of my bread from the Challahman. 

Four Worlds Bakery is all I want from a local bakery. Located in West Philly, Four Worlds Bakery makes bread using freshly milled grains. The spelt, wheat, cranberries, butter and milk they use is local, and many of their ingredients are organic. They deliver bread and ingredients to a number of sites in Philadelphia and its suburbs. I just got my first email update and order form today. I plan on buying milled to order flour for my bread baking needs but I may have to add a few babkas, bagels and croissants to my order.

Ordering instructions, pickup and email list information is located here.