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This is the Breads Page,
Saint John Valley Bread
Edited 12 May 2015

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''The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight.'' M.F.K. Fisher (1908-1992 Food Reference.com

<<pain de labeur,
pain de saveur>>

(proverbes et dictons
de pain)

PANDARUS. Well, I have told you enough of this; for my part,
    I'll not meddle nor make no farther. He that will have a cake
    out of the wheat must needs tarry the grinding.
  TROILUS. Have I not tarried?
  PANDARUS. Ay, the grinding; but you must tarry the bolting.
  TROILUS. Have I not tarried?
  PANDARUS. Ay, the bolting; but you must tarry the leavening.
  TROILUS. Still have I tarried.
  PANDARUS. Ay, to the leavening; but here's yet in the word
    'hereafter' the kneading, the making of the cake, the heating
    of the oven, and the baking; nay, you must stay the cooling too,
    or you may chance to burn your lips.
Act 1, scene 1, before Priam's Palace, ''Troilus and Cressida'', William Shakespeare, 1602, electronic edition, http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1790/pg1790.html


Give to me the life I love,
 Let the lave go by me,
 Give the jolly heaven above
 And the byway nigh me.
 Bed in the bush with stars to see,
Bread I dip in the river -
There's the life for a man like me,
There's the life for ever.

 R L Stevenson, stanza 1, ''The Vagabond''




Pains de tradition françaises   |  Pain complet  |  Pain brioché Egg bread



Saint John Valley Breads on oven loader 2004dSaint John Valley Breads baked

Saint John Valley Breads. The baker is Dustin Cutler, who appenticed in the bakery, before  going on to establish his bakery,"Normal Bread", in Geneva New York. Upper left: cutting the loaves on the loader; upper right: unloading the left aisle of the top deck. Photos  28 August 2004 by Richard Rice
Full rack Saint John Valley breads on freezer orders
Full rack of Saint John Valley breads for freezer orders, 1 November 2011



SJV Breads cooling 25 July 2012
Saint John Valley breads on cooling rack, 25 July 2012


    The Saint John Valley Bread is the bakery's signature loaf, popular alike amongst Islanders and people from away. Created for the first time, at about three o'clock in the morning, in July of 1990, this loaf was meant to  take advantage of the fine, organic grains the baker had stumbled upon in  Saint John, from the then recently established Speerville Mills, located above Florenceville on the western slope of the Saint John valley: hence the name of the bread. By type,  this is a pain de maison, made  in the spirit of a pain de campagne; it features flour that approximates a stoneground flour texture, a mixture of unbleached all- purpose white, stoneground and organic wheat and rye flours.  The dough invariably incorporates a significant pre-fermented portion, and bulk fermentation is on the long side.  The grain mixture varies according  to what is on hand, and has almost always comprised organic cereals. The main components are flax seed,  corn meal, hulled millet, and heavy doses  of cracked wheat and rye meal. Other grains we use from time to time are cracked barley, buckwheat meal and oatmeal.  We continue to use Speerville grains.


Speerville Mill with founder in foreground

Speerville Mill with founder in foreground, Stu Fleischaker, in the  beginning days,  probably before  1990.

© 2015 North Head Bakery, 199 Route 776, Grand Manan,NB, E5G 1A4 506-662-8862