All the Answers (hopefully)

When Adam Thalenfeld moved back to The Wyoming Valley in 2018 after living in Brooklyn, he realized there was something he couldn’t get anymore — really good sourdough bread. A natural baker, Adam had always made bread himself in the past, and worked with friends in their kitchens and bakeries over the years, learning about sourdough cultures and commercial kitchens. When he moved home, he began baking bread regularly for himself, and friends and family, making chocolate babkas at the holidays, and rye bread when he craved a good Jewish deli sandwich.

When Covid-19 hit and the world shut down, neighbors started asking for bread for regularly, and Adam started a daily bread basket at his house, where neighbors could grab a loaf of bread without running to the store. With the success of that, he partnered with a local restaurant to utilize their facilities, scaling up the bakery. Towards the fall of 2020, working with a friend, they realized it was time to move to a permanent home. Partnering with Fancy Parsley Architecture, Adam envisioned a ~900 square foot commercial kitchen with multiple ovens, workspaces, and equipment. The construction finished in April 2021, and, passing inspection, bread production was relocated (in one day, without any pause in deliveries) to the new kitchen at the beginning of May 2021.

We are now a full service bread bakery, producing dozens of styles of breads, with heavy Jewish influence, stemming from Adam’s childhood.

At its core, bread is 4 simple ingredients: flour, water, salt, and yeast. This means every distinct flavor is amplified, and we try to source the highest quality grain for that reason.

Our water is sourced from a 500 foot deep well by Lake Louise, in Dallas, and purified.

Our yeast comes from our sourdough starter, which has been past down and is over 80 years old.

And our freshly milled flour comes from organic farms in Illinois and New Jersey that only grow heritage grains that have never been genetically modified or sprayed with pesticides.

For our enriched doughs, all our butter comes from grass fed cows in Vermont, and our eggs and milk from Forks Farm.

All other ingredients, including fruits, seeds, and more, are sourced from the highest quality purveyors we can find. To read more about our flours, head here:

https://www.janiesmill.com/collections/shop

As a sourdough bakery, everything we produce takes days to make, from start to finish.

For example, bread this is baked and delivered on Friday follows this journey:

Wednesday afternoon: sourdough starter is bulked, oats are cooked, tangzhong is made, etc.

Thursday morning: dough is mixed, and begins autolyse, where it rests and allows the flour to fully absorb water. Later, the sourdough starter is incorporated, and it begins a several hour process called bulk fermentation. During this period, we handle the dough several times, folding it to create strength and to help equally incorporate any mix-ins.

Thursday afternoon: Most doughs at this point are cut, weighed, and shaped into their final form. Some require two shapings with a rest in-between. Babkas are rolled out, filled, and shaped as well.

Thursday night: The dough is now ready for an overnight cold fermentation, where it will develop more flavor.

Friday morning: Ovens are turned on around 2:30am. Bread is baked, and ovens are shut off around noon.

Friday afternoon / evening: Bread is delivered to your door!

We’re a bit different from other bakeries; we don’t have a retail space of our own, just a production kitchen.

To get your hands on our bread, you need to order in on our website ahead of time, either for home delivery or pickup.

Despite not containing any preservatives, the sourdough starter will help your bread stay fresh and mold free for longer than you’d imagine.

For crusty artisan breads: unsliced, these can remain in a paper bag or unwrapped for a couple of days. Once you’ve sliced into your bread, we recommend wrapping in plastic wrap and storing in a cool, dry place. We also suggest slicing and freezing bread, as it’ll toast up fresh.

NEVER store your bread in the fridge.

If you have a crusty loaf (such as country) that feels stale, toss in the oven to reheat and warm. Stale bread does NOT mean it’s dry (it’s a chemical reaction where bread absorbs MORE water, actually!), and warming the product up will release moisture. If that doesn’t work, you can run it under some water and cook at 350 for about 5-10 minutes. (totally serious!)

All bagged items stored in plastic should be well wrapped, and vented every day or so to help steam accumulation build up - that’s the fastest way to get bread to mold. Again, everything can be stored in a freezer if well wrapped.

https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/how-to-revive-a-stale-baguette-sourdough-boule-or-other-crusty-bread-article

Primarily, to deliver the highest quality bread you can find in (or out!) of the area. Ultimately, we make what we make because it’s what we want to eat, too. We will never produce a product that compromises on ingredients, taste, or quality just to fit a category.

Everything we produce is hand shaped, and is a true labor of love.

We also want people to understand that bread can be healthy and nutritious. By using organic, heritage grain whole wheat flours, we can infuse our bread with vitamins and minerals without using additives.

Because our process is so labor intensive and how we source our ingredients, we know our products are expensive, and our area suffers from poverty and food insecurity. To that end: we offer two products (our country sourdough and The Good Loaf) at reduced cost. We also donate dozens of loaves every week to Meals on Wheels and The Food Pantry at Family Service Association.

Additionally, our home delivery drivers serve as pickup personnel for the FSA pantry, and will deliver dry goods our customers have set out.