When bread or other baked goods are made by an artisan—created with only a few pure, high-quality ingredients; mixed and shaped by hand; and baked in a hearth oven—every last crumb has soul.
The artisanal baking trend of the past few years left many large baked goods companies wondering how to hurdle all the obstacles in creating mass-produced items that achieve artisan-style quality.
“The aim of early artisan bakers in the U.S. was to recreate the qualities of European breads and pastries,” says Greg Tompkins, director of culinary research and innovation at La Brea Bakery. “The feeling was that a lot of the artistry in baking had been lost with the shuttering of small bakeries and the rise of ‘commodity’ baked goods manufacturing plants.”