As a college student studying anthropology, Andy Meltzer used to bake so much bread in his apartment kitchen that he and his roomates would take the extra loaves out to Philadelphia bars at night and dispense to any and all takers. A part time job at a local bakery soon turned into a full time job as the hours he spent in the bakery began to exceed his hours in class.
Over the past eight years, he has traveled the country, learning to bake in Santa Fe, Las Vegas, the Napa Valley, and Portland before finding his way to Seattle. He has apprenticed and trained under people he considers the best bakers in the country - from Seattle's own Leslie Mackey of Macrina to Peter Conn of Il Fornaio. When asked to define what qualifies someone as a world class baker, Andy replies "Great bakers are the ones who are purists in some way - they have a very specific vision of the bread baking process and they devote themselves to perfecting that method. I've been able to learn from many different types of bakers and my own style is an inherited blend of all their techniques."
The Palace Kitchen's kitchen serves as the central bakery for the three restaurants. "My job here at the Palace is very unique for bread baking. There is no established product line and Heather Kutil (assistant baker) and I have the opportunity to make whatever we want, limted only by our imaginations." Working closely with the chefs of our restaurants, Andy assists them in creating new breads for their new menu ideas. The soda bread accompanying the corned beef at the Palace on St. Patrick's Day, the Christmas panettone, a special hot dog bun for a sausage sandwich, a special English muffin for brunch at Etta's; all these breads were the result of a particular chef request. Andy researches the bread, tries different recipes, and sometimes tries the recipe five or six times until it is refined to his and the chef's satisfaction.
Andy describes baking bread as a very different experience to cooking. While a chef will spend a good portion of his or her day sourcing the highest quality ingredients to create a fabulous dish, a baker's ingredients are much more limited - flour, salt, water and yeast being the elemental ingredients. Added to those ingredients are three stages in the process - mixing, shaping and baking. Andy describes the baker as simply a facilitator for what is naturally occurring when those ingredients are combined. "This has always been the most magical aspect of bread baking for me; that you begin with essentially flavorless ingredients but can combine them in an infinite number of ways to achieve different flavors and textures."
The flavors and textures in bread are effected by changes in heat and humidity, or even fine distinctions in the ingredients. Even a small change in the quality or consistency of flour can dramatically alter the end result. For example, the wheat grown on a farm one year can produce a very different taste compared to to the previous year's crop. The milling process can also alter the taste. "While bakers have a reputation for being tempermental, it's only because bakers are at the mercy of Mother Nature and the miller for our flour."
A naturally levened or "sourdough" starter is used to raise most of the breads made at the Palace. This starter, or "mother" as the bakers refer to it, is actually nurtured as if it were a child. Fed flour and water at least twice every day, the mother is maintained to keep it's leavening power strong and the acidity level of the bread low. As with wine or cheese making, flavors may also be encouraged or altered by the fermentation process.
Our breads are made by a slow, cold fermentation process. First, the flour, water and yeast mixture ferments about 18 hours to develop flavor and aroma before it is incorporated into a dough. The dough then rises (or "proofs") before it is formed, and then put in the coolers overnight. This process results in a fully developed flavor in the bread, as well as making the bread stay fresher longer.
Andy is nothing if not passionate about baking - ask anyone who has accidentally changed the postion of his baking racks! But his passion is infectious and his appreciation for bread has spread to the rest of us. We hope you enjoy Andy's breads as much as we do.
