Solid beer @ Twin Forks

Expedition Bread, proofing

If beer is liquid bread, then I guess the opposite is true, too.

I spent the morning visiting David Tannen at Twin Forks Farm in Primm Springs, TN, which is near Leiper's Fork, which is near Franklin, which is near Nashville. David was once a jewelry salesman, who settled down to become a farmer at one point, who then decided to become a baker. He built his own 50 loaf wood-fired hearth oven on the farm and now bakes full time, selling at farmer's markets and delivering twice a week to Whole Foods, the Turnip Truck, Porter Road Butcher, and several other retailers in Nashville.

Raw loaves on the peel & scoring the bread before baking.

He is baking up to 500 loaves a week, which translates to 900 pounds of raw dough, all mixed, kneaded, and shaped by hand. I arrived in time to bake one batch, package other loaves he made earlier, and shape another batch of bread. (I'm so proud to contribute: if you buy a loaf of his Sunflower Wheat dated "Wed 2/8/12", then I personally labeled and bagged that bread for you.)

Everything is done by hand and local. David doesn't use any commercial yeast: the dough is leavened only by a sourdough culture that he grew from wild yeast captured on his farm. He has been feeding the starter for the last four years by constantly making more bread. (Having tasted the bread, I have half a mind to capture yeast from his farm and make beer with it.)

To heat his oven, David actually has to build his fire 24 hours before he plans to bake. The fire is built right on the deck of the oven and burns overnight. Early the next morning he sweeps out all the coals and ash and can begin baking. The oven starts over 600 degrees and he can bake all day on the heat stored up in the brick. In fact, it is so hot and well insulated that he toasts granola in the same oven the day after baking.

Rotating hot loaves by hand

Even watching him bake is interesting...there is a clock in the room, but he doesn't set an alarm or even note what time the bread went in. Because the temperature of the oven changes over time, he has to look and feel when the bread is done, and that can be different for every batch, every day.

The pictures here are somewhat blurry, and I'm sorry I don't have a great shot of David, but it is because he moves fast. In fact, the picture to the left is him rotating loaves by hand after they've been in a 600 degree oven for 30 minutes...I'd move fast, too.

One of my goals is to serve an entirely local menu...I've got a partial cheese menu lined up, I'm hunting for charcuterie, and now I've got a bread supplier. (Throw me a lead if you know someone who is making cheese or salumi locally...I'd love to talk with them.)

Here is the number one thing that sold me on Twin Forks: David is a self-taught baker who absolutely loves what he does. He has made hundreds of loaves every week for 5 years, he still said "holy sh!t, that's good bread" after every slice we tasted. And it is great bread...I bake a few times a week and I thought my loaves were really good, but his bread puts mine to shame.

I'm looking forward to serving Twin Forks bread this summer. Until then, check out his website and Facebook, find the bread in local stores, and go meet David when he sells at the farmers market.

A finished loaf. Shame!

Rip and pour

I tweeted a picture yesterday of workers tearing all the concrete out of the brewhouse area. Why would I do such a thing? (Hint: I like to keep everyone up to date.)

Well, I also need to install floor drains in the brewery, but why not follow the lead of Jackalope (and Yazoo, if I recall correctly) and only cut out and slope the floor right around the trenches? Certainly that would meet my needs and cost less.

Well, the architect discovered (after the lease was signed, obviously) that the floor in the brewery area was only about two inches of very old concrete over bare soil. That isn't nearly strong enough to support the equipment, tanks and all the beer Fat Bottom is going to make. We really need 4 inches of concrete over another four inches of packed gravel.

Since the whole floor has to be re-poured, we have the opportunity to slope the entire surface towards the drains, just like the big boys. All this work, demolition included, is just a few dollars per square foot and will be a big help once we start brewing, so I'm happy to have it done. We also ended up with some savings in other areas: the same pour will create a required ADA ramp from the sidewalk up about 8 inches to the taproom and we get to include curbs (as a water barrier) between the brewery space and public walkway.

Seeing the work done was neat. The crew just drove the loader you see in the pictures right through the front door of the building. The driver had it down to an art, cruising through with about three inches of clearance on each side. The crew around the machine was pretty casual too...the driver would back up and swinging the bucket around, with just a few inches of space between their legs and the bucket, and nobody seemed to notice.

(Side note: If you ever have a chance to rent or drive a landscaper like this one, do it. I rented one while building a driveway a few years ago, and it is probably the most fun I've ever had with a tool. Just don't stand to close when your buddy takes it for a spin.)

The demolition was done on Saturday and rough grading of the soil should happen Monday. Then the plumber can place the drains and pipes and the concrete team can come in to lay gravel and concrete later this week, and we'll be one step closer to opening.