By Kim Matas
Special to the Arizona Daily Star
When Tucson baker Don Guerra decided to launch a new business, he didn’t look to the latest craze or the newest movement. Instead he sought inspiration from the ancient past and devised his own recipe for success.
With degrees in anthropology and education and a passion for baking, Guerra blended his interests and took his time — eight years to be exact — honing his craft and mapping out a business plan in his mind as he daily kneaded dough and baked loaves from the commercial oven in his garage. He sold 900 loaves a week out of his car, building what he calls his “bread tribe” before opening a brick-and-mortar bakery in midtown last November.
“I try to make a bread memory for everybody. Bread is one of those foundational foods,” he said.
Guerra uses a locally grown soft, white Sonora wheat, one of the oldest varieties in North America. It was introduced to the area in the late 1600s by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, a Jesuit missionary from Italy. Marana-based BKW farm is Guerra’s source for about half the heritage grains he uses to produce 3,500 loaves a week. He hopes, within a year, to buy all of his grains from Arizona growers. The term heritage grain refers to an ancient varietal that is not hybridized.
Using heritage grains is the basis of Guerra’s business. He uses the wheat not just to bake bread, but for “the reinvigoration of the local grain economy” and to educate the public.
“People from all over the world want the wheat that grows here,” Guerra said. “Part of my work is to make a market for farmers here. I want to give people right here a taste of the place.
“With my family history in Sonora, my ancestors making tortillas with wheat grown from these heirloom seeds and making bread with it, it’s not just making bread. It’s the whole education and outreach component. The bread is something I love. It’s really physical, but it’s also the art and science, and lately it’s anthropological. A blend of physicality, science and art.”
Kim Matas is a Tucson-based freelance writer. Email: kimmataswriter@gmail.com
Keys to good bread making
Don Guerra, owner of Barrio Bread, says there are three keys to baking a good loaf of bread. The process relies on:
- A sourdough culture to levain the bread
- A long, cool fermentation
- Baking on a stone tile or a cast iron pot (for a home baker) to get a crispy crust
"The biggest mistake people make is thinking it only takes a recipe,” Guerra said. "It's not about the recipe. The recipe is a guideline. The bread is all about technique. Ingredients are really important, but the key to a good bread is a baker knowing what he is working with. Bread is a living food with the yeast. I'm using these ancient grains, but using the same techniques that have been around forever. It's really about controlling the starter. That's really the life-force of the bread."
Taste, texture and design also are qualities of a good loaf, said Guerra, who speaks of his bread in terms similar to those used by a sommelier to describe wine. The crust should have tans, rusts, blonds and browns achieved from using different shades of wheat and it should be crispy and slightly bitter. When the loaf is broken open, the aroma should be sweet and slightly acidic with a pleasant finish. It should not be too sour at the front.
"Bread isn't just something you make a sandwich with,” Guerra said. “There's a huge array of pigments in the wheat berries. Like an artist using pigments, I want to blend these ingredients together for unique effects. Even though it's flour and water and salt, even though it's three simple ingredients, it should have a multitude of sensations."
Guerra’s approach to baking is as much art as chemistry, sometimes literally. His signatures for certain loaves are stencils placed on the unbaked bread, outlined in flour before placing in the oven.
In addition to ingredients and technique, there is one intangible blended into each loaf: joy.
"I need happy people around because they are the ones touching the bread and that transfers to the bread,” Guerra said. “It's a whole environment created of happiness."
That’s where apprentice baker Kiera Salkowski enters the mix.
"I like the bread and I like the idea of the process. It's nice to create something positive,” she said. “I'm surprised I like it as much as I do. It's great to meet people who are super excited about what we do. Everyone is really happy to be here."
- Kim Matas
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