What is Companion Piece?

Hello and Welcome!

Companion Piece is penned by me, Nana Asase, and is an extension of my love for breadmaking in dialogue with all aspects of life. I hope to engage you in topics to inspire contemplation, lighthearted reverie and at times action through this monthly newsletter.

This past winter, I started baking sourdough bread mainly because I was tired of being disappointed each time I wandered to the bakery closest to me (a circa 15 minute walk), only to find that the bread I wanted was sold out. Channeling my disappointment into baking bread, something I had been curious about trying for some time, seemed like a natural way to resolve my frustration.

I didn’t expect to be viscerally moved by breadmaking. And even less so, to start examining my relationship to self through baking and consuming my own bread. But, it has been a deeply grounding activity that rewards me with sharper focus and awareness in the present moment, and lends itself beautifully to contemplation and introspection if I so choose. Making sourdough bread in particular, has also been intellectually stimulating and stirred my creativity in new ways. Mixing flour, water, salt, a cocktail of wild yeast & bacteria and then adding heat seemed so deceptively simple when I began this journey. Not only has it fed my curiosity about the alchemy that transforms basic ingredients into delicious crumbs, it has also sparked a desire to better understand the hyperlocal cultural, social and economic constructs that impact people’s access to nutritious and healthy bread in my Brooklyn neighborhood.

The idea of a market place in which high demand outpaces low supply is the most obvious place to begin when I think about my original frustration that got me into baking bread. But I know there is much much more to learn and unpack. I hope to use this newsletter as a vehicle to question simple concepts that explain away complex societal problems, especially around access to food. I also want to explore future realities in which more people (whether in my neighborhood or elsewhere) are making their own nutritious bread at low price points, if they so choose. Offering an alternative to what's available either at the farmer’s market or an artisanal bakery with some time investment. And lastly, I am interested in cultivating a space for reflection on bread that centers healthful nutrition and delightful flavors.

These concepts are what motivated me to start this newsletter, and I will keep coming back to them as we explore ideas around delicious, nutritious food, community and education together.

Beginning Anew

I baked my first sourdough loaf three months ago, after gathering enough courage to delve into something new. Maurizio Leo’s blog, The Perfect Loaf, has been a wonderful companion that I often reference. I started with his Beginner’s Sourdough Bread, after following his instructions on how to create my own sourdough starter.

Perfectionism and an almost clinical approach to cleanliness in the kitchen nearly prevented me from venturing into breadmaking. It took me several weeks to “assemble the right tools” and put in place a system that wouldn’t turn my kitchen into a sticky mess before I even started baking bread. After a friend described her husband’s breadmaking and the sticky residue it left all over their kitchen, I became fixated on this rather undesirable fact. This was probably the biggest mental hurdle I had to overcome. I have no shame in admitting that I have incorporated cleaning rituals that add a significant amount of time and effort to my baking process, though I am sometimes filled with dread when I think of the task ahead. But those thoughts are quickly eclipsed by the desire to relax deeply into the process by giving it my full attention – and, moreover, to taste the delicious bread that awaits me in the end. My desire for perfection shows up when I start to refine or fine tune recipes. Somehow, that seems more acceptable to me, perhaps even delightful and creative.

Anyone who knows me personally will attest to how much pleasure I get from learning about, preparing and eating food – and bread is no different. I also get tremendous satisfaction pursuing meaning in the seemingly quotidian moments of life. This often happens when I am in a meditative state. In breadmaking, these two worlds mingle beautifully with each other and some of my other passions, and it has been an unexpected source of joy.

Over the past three months, I have leaned into the new ways of seeing and being that beginning something opens up, when we allow it. I am glad you’re here with an open mind and that we get to undertake this journey together.

Now, let's delve into this month's recipe.

Rye, Spelt and Whole Wheat Bread

In the past few months, I have tried several recipes and developed two of my own from scratch. (The first one was a total disaster and the second was actually quite promising. I’ll revisit this topic in a future newsletter.)

For this first edition of Companion Piece, I am sharing my go-to rye, spelt and whole wheat recipe, which was developed by Maurizio Leo. I love it because of its strong, expressive flavor and texture profile. There are many variables that impact flavor, especially when making sourdough bread: flour, water, wild yeast & bacteria, temperature, proofing time and so on. And then there’s how the bread is received by your palette.

I use all organic, and wherever possible, locally sourced flour – my favorite being Farmer Ground Flour from grain grown and milled in the Finger lakes region of New York. I also use King Arthur’s bread flour. I am generally interested in recipes that use whole grains because of the nutritional value and complex flavor profile they produce. My pantry staples include whole wheat, whole spelt, whole rye, bread flour, and a variety of seeds.

A lot of what I’ve learned about baking sourdough bread so far is derived from the free resources Maurizio Leo provides on his blog. His recipes are well-written, technically sound and easy to follow. I generally try each new recipe at least twice. The first time, I usually follow the instructions without any deviation. I then make modifications I believe will yield a more enjoyable flavor profile for me, the second or third time around.

The recipe below has been adapted according to my taste and is meant for home bakers with a basic knowledge for making sourdough bread.

**What is Companion Piece?**

Beginning Anew

Rye, Spelt and Whole Wheat Bread

NANAASASE.COM