What do you do with King Cake Babies that fall on the ground?

I came into the bakery this Tuesday morning for a dough shift.  It started like any other… get the I.V. drip of coffee going, crank up some great music, and get dirty.  About half an hour after starting the shift I opened up the fridge to get some yeast for the cinnamon rolls and stopped in my tracks. 

Right below the yeast was a massive keg.

I immediately started wondering (1) what kind of party JP & Michelle had over the weekend and (2) why they hadn’t invited me until I saw the label.  It was a Heiner Brau keg.  That’s when it hit me that it is the most wonderful time of the year: Gouda Beer Bread is back on the menu!

Every year JP & Henryk put their heads together on which beer to use in this bread.  Last year it was a Maerzen.  This  year it’s a Dunkel.  We made our first batch this week and every employee went crazy over it, sampling the bread like you might sample a fine wine.  It truly is a symphony of flavors.  The smoky, creamy cheese chunks have just a small amount of sharpness to them and the kosher salt topping tickles the palette.  The beer really is the star, though.  The dunkel is dark and malty.  When we pour it to prep for the batch of bread it delivers a lovely, frothy head and its aroma fills the kitchen.  It really compliments the honey from Bernard’s Apiaries well!

We’ll have it on Wednesdays and Fridays through Lent.  Stop by around lunchtime and get a slice as an appetizer for one of our sandwiches!

While my wife, Carrie, and I were dating she would often give me a gift when she would come to my house.  A candy bar here, a card there, etc.  I would carve out time to sit with her on the hammock, take a walk around the UL campus, etc.  We were both so confused about why the other person didn’t understand how much love we were giving them until we read The Five Love Languages in our pre-marital counseling.

My wife has a love language of Gift Giving… I can spend as much Quality Time (my love language) with her as I want but she will not feel/perceive my love for her because I’m not speaking her language.  As a result, I have to pay extra attention to holidays because those gifts that mean nothing to me mean THE WORLD to her. 

It can be work loving someone who speaks the language of Gift Giving when you don’t because multiple small gifts mean more than one huge gift.  I can think of one huge gift every couple of months without much effort but five little gifts for a holiday is mentally exhausting for me!  My mind just doesn’t work that way so making myself speak that language is about as difficult as learning Chinese… but it’s worth it for the people we love, right?

If you’re in my boat, Great Harvest is here for you.  The gifts are so good that, even after working here for six Valentine's Days, my bakery is still here for me.  My wife loves our Chocolate Bliss cookies.  She drools over Chocolate Brownie Bread and revels in a warm slice of White Chocolate Berry Swirl.  We have heart shaped Sugar Cookies, too.  So, if you want to add small, inexpensive gifts to your Valentine’s Day package, I’d recommend stopping by between now and Saturday, the 12th... we’ll have something to help you out!

We recently sat down with G. Harvest, the man behind our bread recipes and the adventures that inspired them, to ask him a few questions some of us have been dying to find out about.  Here are some of our favorite parts of the conversation:

What’s your favorite country that you’ve visited?
That’s like asking a mother which of her children she loves the most.  You’re not supposed to do it plus, due to the close relationships I have with Heads of State in different countries, I really should not answer that question.  Some of the dictators would make sure I had an “accident” they next time I visited them if their country wasn’t the one I loved the most.

OK, then what place do you hope to never visit again?
Afghanistan.  My friend Peter and I ran into some Al Qaeda members when we were there in the early 90s.  They thought we were trying to steal some of their opium harvest and we’re lucky we escaped with our lives.

How did you know Elizabeth Gilbert (the author of Eat Pray Love)?
Let’s put it this way: I may or may not have been a central character in one of her books and she may or may not have changed my name in that book.

What’s your most meaningful experience abroad?
During my time in China I visited Beidaihe, a coastal resort town, near Beijing.  One sunrise I hopped from boulder to boulder as far out into the Bohai Gulf as I could go.  I sat on that last solitary rock with nothing but an endless expanse of water between me and the changing colors of the sky as the sunrise approached.  At the exact moment the sun broke over the horizon a street performer started playing his Chinese flute on the road behind me.  I wept openly at the beauty of the moment.  I always look back to that as the moment I truly realized how much beauty there is in every day if you make the time to see it.
Either that morning in China or when the Saints won the Super Bowl.

What brought you back to Acadiana after so much travel?
Well, that’s not how I look at it.  I’m not “back”.  Acadiana is the sun around which my travels orbit but, just like the earth never stops spinning, I never stop travelling.  Also, you never leave Acadiana.  You just begin a very long journey back to it.
However, to answer the spirit of our question, when I sailed around the world I discovered so many types of bread.  I began a love affair with this simple food that sustains so many cultures.  I had a eureka moment in the middle of the Atlantic as I prepared for my return to the USA: Acadiana didn’t have a bakery devoted to wheat.  Beautiful, whole wheat.  My nonk (uncle) worked with bees and would regularly bring me fresh honey.  Combining fresh, wheat bread with local honey was a natural fit.  Once JP & Michelle found out about me and brought me on as a consultant it set me free to get back to the joie du vivre and away from the day-to-day toils of life at a bakery.

So what’s your favorite bread that you’ve made?
Dakota.  The Sioux of the Great Plains were a hospitable and compassionate people to me when I rode my horse across their land.  I made sure to name my best creation after them.  A slice of Dakota right out of the toaster with anything on it is one of life’s simple pleasures.

We bake G. Harvest’s Dakota on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.   His other recipes are available Tuesday through Saturday during our regular business hours.

South Louisiana is a place still ruled by seasons.  Crawfish season is happening now.  So is oyster season.  Satsuma season is over so we have to wait until next Fall for those beautiful citrus trees to yield their harvest.  Blackberries are only a few months away.  All of these seasons follow the same pattern: A love affair with the food in which we gorge until full.  Having more than enough and wishing the season was over.  Thankfulness for what we had followed by anticipation for the next season’s harvest.

We’re in the middle of a different sort of season right now.  It’s ruled by the sun and moon just like all the others but it isn’t as subject to the elements: King Cake season.

For a few months we allow ourselves to feast on these creations.  We know the subtle dread of finding a baby in our slice and the joy of picking on the person who got it when it isn't us.  This oval of bread, icing, and sugar is an encapsulation of our culture.  One the surface it is a small thing but it is loaded with a lifetime of stories.  It’s linked to parades and chasing chickens.  It’s a representation of this season of glorious light and celebration followed by an overshadowed season of contemplation and withholding. 

We can worry about Lent later, though.  Right now it’s time to enjoy the bounty and excess of King Cake season.

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We’ve got King Cakes every day of the week and we’ve got a couple of new varieties we’d love for you to try!  You can view all of our available types here.

January is National Whole Wheat Bread Month.  While it might seem like something we’d make up, you can check it out yourself if you don’t believe us.  We’re honored to share the month with such esteemed causes/organizations/issues as Glaucoma Awareness, Cervical Health, Radon Action, Image Improvement, Cleaning Up Your Computer, and –lest we forget– the Eradication of Colonialism.

As you can see, there are plenty of things vying for your attention once Hannukwanzakistmas is off of the radar.

Someone in my family might need a glaucoma test but I don’t (I probably need hearing aids but I’ll wait until National Hearing Month to concern myself with getting them).  I don’t have a cervix and I’ve got no clue why there is a call to action out concerning Radon.  Each of these things is important to someone but they aren’t important to everyone. 

Whole Wheat Bread is different. I can guarantee you that eating whole grains is a good thing for everyone.  Anyone who follows our Facebook or Twitter feeds knows how often we link to articles about whole grain health benefits (this one still amazes me: Whole Grains reduce stroke by as much as Pharmaceuticals).  What you might not realize is that there is a richness of flavor to whole wheat bread that is lacking in white bread… have you ever had a poached egg over a slice of toasted Dakota?!  You’ll never go back to white after trying it.


Also, Whole Wheat Bread (at least the Great Harvest version of it) is a “Real Food”.  Michael Pollan writes about Real Foods versus Food-Like Substances.  In one of his arguments for Real Food he specifically uses whole wheat bread as his case study: You can take a fiber supplement and all of the vitamins and minerals in pill form that you get in a slice of whole wheat bread but the body will not absorb them as well as it does from the slice of bread.

Come on in... even if you’re scared of bread that’s brown on the inside.  We’ll walk you through a few of the types of whole wheat bread that we have, give you a slice, and tell you how we like to eat it and how you can learn to enjoy it, too!

There’s plenty of us at the bakery who don’t do resolutions.  I’m not one of them.  As a matter of fact I am the exact opposite of that… I am a Resolution Geek.  I make them, I make spreadsheets to track progress on big ones, I set easy ones that I can achieve without much effort to keep me going, etc.

This blog post is for those of you like me.  Here’s some great tips from PsychCentral and The Huffington Post that I started applying last year and they really helped me stick with the resolutions I set:

Focus on the Internal
So many of us make superficial resolutions each year, and one of the reasons they don't stick is that they're just not heavy enough. This year, forget about losing those last ten pounds and make a resolution to make this your healthiest year yet, or instead of resolving to get a manicure every week, promise yourself that you'll do one thing every day that helps move your career forward. If you focus on the bigger and more important reasons for your resolution, you'll be constantly reminded of the importance of keeping it.

Create bite-sized portions
Break goals down to manageable chunks. This is perhaps the most essential ingredient for success, as the more planning you do now, the more likely you are to get there in the end. The planning process is when you build up that all-important willpower which you will undoubtedly need to fall back on along the way. Set clear, realistic goals such as losing 5 pounds, saving $30 a month, or going for a run once a week. Decide exactly how you will make this happen.

Leave Room to Wiggle
Quitting anything cold turkey can feel next to impossible, and the whole "all or nothing" attitude can be dangerous - one half of a brownie and your diet resolution is ruined, so why not eat the whole tray? Now, if we're talking about illicit drugs, cheating on your spouse, or something truly harmful like that, you should absolutely stop it completely, but otherwise you should leave yourself some wiggle room to make this whole resolution thing easier. If you're going on a diet, savor a small piece of chocolate each night, or if you're cutting back on drinking, relish a glass of wine with dinner. Keeping things in moderation will keep you on the wagon for much, much longer.

If you’ve got resolutions related to specifically to the way you eat and your health, we’ve got plenty of products that can help you get going on the right foot: 

Whole grains have been scientifically proven to keep you full longer, so breads like Honey Whole Wheat, High 5 Fiber, or Dakota are great ways to make the calories you take in keep you full longer. 

Real Foods, instead of “modified food-like substances” are another great way to make each bite both more flavorful and more wholesome which is why we make more and more of the food we offer you from scratch every year (like the addition of yet another from-scratch salad dressing) and bake our breads and sweets from scratch every single day.

Healthy substitutions are important which is why any sandwich or salad you order for lunch at our bakery can have any ingredient added, taken off, or switched with something else.

We hope the tips help you last longer with your resolutions (and help you make realistic ones!) and we’re always honored to be a part of what you eat!

As a little lagniappe, here’s a 22 resolutions via our friends at Pack & Paddle.  Bon Anée!

Submitted by Michelle Lafleur MacFadyen
J.P. and I attended the "Music Voyager - Made in Louisiana" Release Party at the AcA last night.  The evening started out with live performances by: Louis & Andre Michot, Roddie Romero & Eric Adcock, and David Egan & Marc Broussard. These guys poured out their hearts on stage -  I could feel the connection deep in my soul. It's still resonating within me. Like when Louis Michot sings, I think I can hear the cry of his ancestors coming through his bones.  Of course, as a piano player, I was especially interested in hearing David Egan play. Talk about playing with soul! If you haven't heard David, he plays at Blue Dog for Sunday Brunch occasionally.
  
Lafayette is so blessed to have such down-to-earth talented musicians, where the "contours of the landscape shape the tonality & spirit of the music".  John O'Donohue can explain it better than I can.  He says about music:  
There is a profound sense in which music
opens a secret door in time & reaches
in to the eternal.  This is the authority &
 grace of music: it evokes or creates an 
atmosphere where presence awakens to
its eternal depth. 

During the planning stages of the bakery, JP & I came up with the Vision for our business:  Building community by feeding the body and soul with phenomenal bread.  When our customers walk in the shop, we want to touch their souls similar to how those guys touched us last night.  Above the kneading table, a sign hangs with the message: "All We Knead is Love".  The crew really does knead with love.  The goal is to treat that bread from the first scoop of flour until it's in our customers hands as a labor of Love.

Come get fed!

I hate Christmas shopping. 

There.  I said it.

Now that it’s out there I’m going to vent a little.  I hate the traffic on Ambassador Cafferey Parkway.  I hate walking around the Mall and/or the large box stores with all of the other lost-looking guys and gals as we’re overwhelmed by all the choices.  I hate trying to find the right thing and the right way to package it.  I hate the mouth that says ‘thanks’ but the eyes that say ‘this isn’t a good gift’ when someone opens what I gave them.

I wish picking out gifts was easier so that I could enjoy the holidays instead of dreading them…

…and that’s where we can help you.

No matter what you want that we have in the store, no matter how you want it packaged, we can help.  We’ve got baskets and bags that are standard so you don’t have to think... you can just walk in and say “Give me the Basket of Gratitude” or we can walk around the store with you and help you customize you gift.  We can do large corporate orders, smaller gifts from you to someone else, and anything in between so come in, let us give you a free slice of bread, and munch on it while we help you craft the perfect gift!

Just like you, all of us are looking forward to our Thanksgiving meals.  And, no, not just because the Saints are going to obliterate the Cowboys that afternoon on national television! 

We're looking forward to Mom's recipes that we've feasted on every Thanksgiving of our lives.  We're looking forward to crispy turkey skin, moist meat, and a rich gravy.  We're already salivating over and talking about the subtle differences in each of our families' recipes for stuffing and/or cornbread dressing and/or rice dressing.  Tangy cranberry relish will make its way onto our plates to balance the flavors and give a burst of color to the plate.  These are iconic parts of the meal and we'll all celebrate them in each of our family's unique ways.

For all of us who work here, we've added a tradition to our family's meals: Great Harvest Rolls.  Wow.  Just typing that I almost drooled on the keyboard as I imagined sopping up generously-poured gravy off of my plate.  I can see the leftover turkey sandwich on a pillowy roll with creole mustard on one side and a little mayo with Tabasco on the other side!


When it comes to rolls, we want to make sure you've got a few different options to choose from so that you can pick the roll that will be just perfect for your big meal:

Honey Whole Wheat
Our classic roll.  Five simple ingredients in perfect balance.  Rustic wheat and honey flavors.

Farmhouse Rolls
Like the Honey Whole Wheat, this is a 100% whole grain roll but we throw in seeds for texture and a little butter to add that lusciousness you're looking for.

Butter Wheat Rolls
I cannot state this strong enough: you are not prepared for the awesomeness of this roll.  It's a blend of wheat and white flours with potato and butter thrown in to add fluffiness.  This is the roll I was talking about drooling over earlier.

Challah
This is a first for us and it seems like a natural fit already.  We're taking our Challah loaves and making rolls out of them, complete with egg wash to give 'em that great brown color we all love.

We're taking phone order through this Saturday.  As always, walk-in customers are welcome through the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  Starting Monday afternoon, we'll try to have every variety of bread and rolls available no matter what time of day you walk in!

Thanksgiving Week we're open Monday - Wednesday, 7am - 6pm.  We're closed Thanksgiving Day through the following Monday so we can all enjoy the holiday and rest muscles that'll be weary after making roll after roll after roll!