I'm following Zach Golper through his U-shaped wholesale bakery in Sunset Park, learning about how Bien Cuit mixes, ferments, and bakes its bread and pastries, when he drops a recommendation that shatters everything I thought I knew about eating bread. "Don't eat bread fresh out of the oven," he says. "Let it sit and cool, so that the gas dissipates into the crumb and locks in the scent and aroma." Some breads are even better on day two, he says, when the crust is no longer crackly. I press him and his wife/business partner, Kate Wheatcroft, further about how they enjoy bread, and they tell me to tear hunks off the loaf ("Don't slice," says Golper) and eat them with a little cultured butter.
Later, standing over my sink with their miche, a massive, round loaf made with rye and wheat flours that undergoes 68 hours of cold fermentation before baking, I decide that they're wrong on one count — buttering this bread almost seems abhorrent. It distracts from the complex tang, subtle sweet note, and underlying nuttiness. This is a far cry from white loaves, and each bite invites contemplation, like a good wine or cup of coffee. I don't want to taste butter with this bread — I just want to taste bread.
Golper has been obsessed with bread as long as he can remember; Wheatcroft likes to tell people about the time he drew a picture of himself wearing a chef's hat and tossing dough in response to his mother's question about what he wanted to be when he grew up. He was three. His food education started on an organic farm, which is where he began baking; he started exploring the restaurant industry shortly after.
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