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!