As Ron Perlman uttered in Fallout, “War. War never changes.” Accordingly, the fourth major theater of the San Francisco Food Wars stormed on today at Thirsty Bear. Herbs, cheeses, grains, and nuts fleshed out the theme: Yeast Affliction — that’s bread disease to you and me.
Sourdough was, as one might expect of an SF event, a competitive genre. Palo Alto’s Mayfield Bakery had a particularly wonderful sourdough and Jen Rosa took the gold for her Rosemary Sourdough — a well earned victory.
Your correspondents’ personal pick of the show was Wild Yeast‘s Semolina Sourdough with Fennel, Currants, and Pine Nuts. Seriously, that was some amazing shit.
And the enticingly named “Hurricane” (not pictured) totally deserved people’s choice: brown rice and seaweed! The seaweed was intense but with a slab of butter proved perfectly balanced. Your correspondents can’t wait for the recipes to be released.
The Fancy Boyz easily swept up the coveted Mission Mission best-dressed award. Their fermented Pain a l’Ancienne wasn’t half-bad neithers.
It wasn’t all buttery and fluffy, though. While Stable’s yard is large enough to allow for mingling, Thirsty Bear couldn’t really handle the volume. Any time your correspondents tried to stop and enjoy the bread, we were accidentally blocking someone or unintentionally in line for something. While the event was fun, we hope future battles retreat back to Stable.
Photography by Ashleigh Cole
Any of y’all go?
I took those last two shots from the new Mission Mission news chopper.
Oh man, that semolina sourdough made my life. I tried to buy a loaf under the table, but the baker held her ground. Guess I’m just gonna have to learn to bake.
Fancy Boyz, straight, er… right out of Glendale! Baking the Best-dressed Bread Since 2009. They Tasty™
Thanks for these great pictures. The buckwheat pear and hazelnut focaccia photograph nicely.
Hey, thanks for the shout! So glad you liked my semolina sourdough with fennel etc… A fun event to participate in, with some very worthy competition.
Interesting reporting. Where can I get more information on the Rosemary Sourdough baked by Jen Rosa? It sounds so good. Thanks.
[...] by The Fancy Boyz. However, photos and impressions of the event can be found in abundance at Mission Mission, Tablehopper, CHOW, SF Weekly, Local Lemons, and the San Jose Mercury [...]