How it all Started
Let’s put things straight first. I am not a professional baker; I have never followed a serious program to become a baker nor have I ever worked in a bakery. I am purely a full-blown amateur bread nerd that has gone a “bit” out of control...
Bobo!
Today I actually can look back at 40+ years of far above average desire for good bread. I have always loved bread, so much so, that I had periods as a child where I would not eat anything else, except bread ... and milk... to the worry of my mother and some others around me. My first “word” was: "BoBo". And guess what. I used it, standing next to my mother’s, back then fancy bread cutting machine, in order to make clear what I wanted: bread! Ever since then bread was and is the most important element in my daily food intake. Don’t worry, my nourishment variety has improved since, while milk has disappeared altogether from my menu...
Experimenting
I have been experimenting with flour, water, yeast and salt pretty much since I remember. Growing up in Switzerland you get in touch with bread traditions as a child next to (of course) the Swiss Fondue, there is the much loved traditional “Grittibenz”. While the Grittibenz was probably the first time making a dough all by myself at an early age, the first free-style attempt has been after pinching some grains from a field behind our house and bring them to my mother to get them “milled”... in a coffee grinder, if I remember correctly. Finally resulting in a brick of healthy, not really good... but very satisfying bread!
Over the years there was fresh bread here, there and everywhere. Not always but more and more regularly in the most adventurous settings on stoves, campfires, BBQ etc. and always resulting in the that little extra that made the „la tavola“ a delight.
Oslo
During my time in Oslo, around 10 years ago, some friends noticed my desire for good bread. They gave me a baking class in the most amazing bakery in Oslo: «Åpent Bakeri». That was probably the turning point when I went from a low level amateur baker to a next level - with it the obsession to create that perfect bread. While visiting Copenhagen several years back I was served a Sourdough bread in an Italian restaurant. That bread has imprinted itself in my mind as The perfect loaf and it has been haunting me ever since. I am not quite there yet, but one day I will be able to reproduce that bread - getting closer with every batch.
At least I have figured out by now how to make a beautiful artisan bread: sourdough, the best quality organic flower, water, salt and the time for the sourdough to do its magic. No stress, no additives, nothing else; flour, water and salt are the only ingredients to this wonderful product.
Pappa Brød
So... why "Pappa Brød"? firstly you might have noticed, "Pappa Brød" is written in Norwegian (Danish). It simply represents the period of my life in Norway that has had a crucial impact on my perception on how bread should be. Scandinavia, thanks to its focus on simplicity, general authentic food traditions, is in many ways a role model for food enthusiasts all over the world..
Finally. Finding a name for this "project" took not as long as you might expect. A simple question posed by my best friend to our daughters: "girls, what do you call daddy's bread?"
The Girls all at once: "Pappa Brød!" (= daddy's bread)
Enjoy!
& Remember:
life is too short ...
...to not primarily do what you love
...to drink uninspiring wine
... and definitely to eat poor bread!
SF Mark,
the daddy behind «Pappa Brød»