It wasn’t until the 1990s were imminent that bread — at least in Des Moines — started its rise from humble peasant food to an artisan category all its own, paralleling an increasing fascination nationwide with things foreign, things organic and things gourmet. It was the era of rapid Whole Foods expansion and fusion cuisine and bagels appearing outside of Jewish delis.
Some form of bread — grains ground and cooked with water — has been around for more than 300 centuries and has been a part of almost every known culture’s diet. And for all but one of those centuries, it was something made mostly in home kitchens. But by the time commercially made, sliced bread hit the market in the 1920s, the masses were hungry for convenience and shunned the lingering peasant status associated with making your own food.
Like bread itself, Des Moines’ currently thriving market for true artisan — that is, made with actual hands — bread required only a few quality ingredients: George Formaro’s obsession with the European-style breads he couldn’t get here; Michael LaValle’s culinary prescience; and Joe and Steve Logsdon’s entrepreneurial dedication to fine food (Basil’s, Exquisine, Bagni di Lucca, Lucca, La Mie, City Bakery).
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