I've been wanting to visit Barrio Bread, a local bakery that features Sonoran white wheat and red fife wheats, since I read about it last spring. (Trust @FauxPas to be an excellent guide to food and food sources in the Tucson area!) Last spring I made it to a co-op where I bought some excellent bread but couldn't find the wheat. I wrote about it here. Yesterday, we went looking for Barrio Bread itself.
It was a fraught and overwrought journey. Tucson traffic isn't bad, as city traffic goes, but our pickup is larger than most and not ideal for maneuvering through crowded streets. We updated our GPS just before we left, and have been rewarded with more than one wrong turn. The GPS led us to what looked like a parking lot entrance for a strip mall. There was no street sign. There was a small street that looked more like a pedestrian mall just ahead. "Where the heck is it?!" demanded my darling, the driver. "I don't know!" I countered, let's look!" "Well, I can't keep holding up traffic!" he said. (He wasn't holding up anyone; we were in a turn lane.) He continued apace down the street, demanding that I tell him what to do. I was trying to get Mr. Google to help us out on my phone. The upshot was that we went around several blocks before finally coming in toward the bakery from the back way. There was no place to park. We still didn't see the bakery, but we could see addresses. I got out while he looked for a place to park. Feathers Were Ruffled.
I looked again at the addresses. He'd let me out in front of the bakery!
The store front is small. The staff greeted me cheerily, asked how I was doing, and I laughed about the difficulty we'd had finding them. At 12:30 p.m. the stock was already low. Oh, dear!
Bread was rolling out of the ovens at a regular pace, but the cashier explained that everything was spoken for - even the loaves you see here. Oh, double dear! Could I at least get flour? Could I take some pictures?
It was fine to take pictures. The owner explained that the holiday baking season was upon them and they're crazy-busy just trying to keep up with orders. Shelves I didn't photograph were full of bags labeled by the restaurant or store name, ready for pickup.
He evidently took pity on me and said one of the fresh loaves of Pan Rustico could be spared. Oh, lovely! My two bags of wheat mix came. As I was paying, the owner said, "Here, take this out to your hubby as a sweetener!" The bag contained several "ears" from a pain epi. Check out the seed coat on this! This bread has a chewy texture and the seeds are wonderful. My darling was touched.
The pan rustico has a very open crumb and delightful flavor.
All told, here's the haul from Barrio Bread.
I'd like to have had some of their bread for our Thanksgiving dinner, but it won't last that long. Guess I'll have to get baking...and see what differences I can tell by using these flour blends.
