bake - June 2019 - 17

"It is an incredibly intimate, soulful craft that
immerses all of the senses. I love the smells of all
the delicious things baking, the grains fermenting."
Greg Wade, James Beard 2019 Outstanding Baker Award winner

"At Publican Quality Bread we focus on naturally

are able to overcome a lot of hurdles that most of us

fermented, whole grain breads," Wade says. "Our

wouldn't be able to accomplish working alone.

country sourdough, multigrain and honey-oat porridge
I think are very indicative of our program and mission.

"We have a pretty dynamic relationship with our

Right now, I've really been digging making these Rye

farmers," he continues. "We get together before the

Kouign Amann, they're lightly perfumed with fenu-

growing seasons and talk about how much wheat,

greek and just really something special."

rye, etc. I reasonably think we can go through in the
year, then they plan accordingly. Other times they are

Specializing in whole grains and fermentation, Wade

trying out a new technique, such as poly-cropping,

was honored with a 2017 and 2018 James Beard

or doing a test plot of a new variety of grain. They

nomination for Outstanding Baker and was featured

won't get much yield out of test plots, so we can't

in the documentary, "Sustainable: A Documentary on

use them in our main production, but they make a

the Local Food Movement in America," on Netﬂix.

welcome addition to a special product for a weekend
or two. I think the last product we made like that was

Small grains are integral to biodynamic, regenerative

a sorghum blondie, the buttery ﬂavor of the sorghum

agriculture, Wade says, because they work amazingly

worked really well in that application."

well in crop rotations, also serve as fodder for livestock on pasture and they work well as a winter cover

Wade considers the biggest food trends impacting

crop in the Midwest.

their business to be the way in which consumers are
incredibly concerned with transparency, "something

"I would love to see a movement to take back rural

that I am incredibly excited to see. Transparency

America, re-regionalizing our food systems to support

and clean labeling has always been important in our

and celebrate what we produce locally," Wade says.

mission, we are happy to tell people our story of

"For me, the future of bread does not come from

working with local farms."

a factory. The future of bread is becoming reacquainted with our product and our process, with the
knowledge, passion and skill that no machine can
reproduce."
Advancing the appreciation of grains
Wade says they work with multiple varieties of wheat,
rye and oats now. Publican is a founding member of
the Artisan Grain Collaborative in Chicago, a group
whose reach has now spread to most of the Midwest.
It is a group of farmers, bakers, millers, plant breeders
and university extensions, all working together to
create a stronger regional grain system.
"We are constantly testing new varieties over different
soil types and climate conditions, performing bake
and ﬂavor tests among other programs with the end
goal of more grain being grown and used in all culinary
and even beverage applications," he says. "By working
together with everyone in the grain value chain, we

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bake - June 2019

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