Carrying on our family legacy, one loaf at a time.
Pictured above: Grandpa Richard Bredeken at the beginning of his farming career.
When Roscoe started experimenting with baking bread in 2014, he had the wild idea of grinding some freshly harvested wheat to use in his sourdough recipe. I definitely had my doubts (was it really that simple?) as I had grown up on a grain farm and never seen anyone actually utilize the wheat, it was all sold on commodity markets. But over to Grandpa's we went, Roscoe climbed into the bin and scooped his bowl into the mound made up of golden kernels. When we got home, he emptied his heaping bowl into our new countertop mill, sure enough it exited as flour. Just two other ingredients to complete the dough: water and salt. After the initial mix, a series of stretch and folds, and hours of letting the dough ferment to ensure a perfect rise. Roscoe lowered the dough into the Dutch oven lined with parchment paper and performed one long score down the center. Another series progressed, this time of him carefully adjusting the temperature, lifting the lid from the cast iron, and more fine tuning before the house was saturated with that "fresh bread" smell. (Is there anything more nostalgic?)
We brought the creation over to Grandma and Grandpa's, the loaf looked biblical and exactly what you'd picture real bread to look like. Grandpa took a slice, slathered it in butter and we watched him taste the fruit of his labor for the first time. In all 65 years of his farming career, he had never tasted his own grain.
Pictured: Roscoe with a fresh baked Legacy Loaf. Photo by Jess Hunter Photography.
We still make this loaf today, it's called our Legacy Loaf, and it's one that often gets overlooked. I think when people hear "whole wheat bread" a dense, tasteless, brick comes to mind. I promise you; this is anything but tasteless. The natural sweetness of the fresh milled hard red wheat complements the slight tartness of the bread. The crust is nice and hardy, the inside crumb spongy soft. What would I recommend eating a slice of Legacy with? A fat slab of vibrant yellow butter.
We named it the Legacy Loaf because we recognize that we're not the only ones to put our hands to work to make this bread happen. As we get more immersed into the farming side of our business, it becomes more and more apparent how we wouldn't be able to do what we do without family that has come before us to pave the way. This bread is part of their legacy too.
