Winner Winner, Bread for Dinner
Chefs are thinking outside the bread basket and composing vibrant courses built around flavorful loaves.
Even the simplest bread courses have more going on than meets the eye. Through composed dishes, Nashville chefs and bakers serve personal bread with intention and passion. These slices are paired with components that amplify their inherent flavor, not overshadow it.
Chef Benjamin Tyson of Butterlamp Bread & Beverage
White Anchovy, Fermented Onion Chimichurri, Lemon Aïoli, Shiso Vinegar Jelly, Honey Butter, Anadama Bread
Chef Benjamin Tyson has an entire section of the menu at Butterlamp Bread & Beverage dedicated to "stuff on bread," and looked to Anadama bread for his next addition. The New England-style loaf is a nod to his upbringing, made from a base of cornmeal, molasses, rye, and whole wheat flours. "It has this kind of tang to it, as well as the sweetness from the molasses, and that depth of richness from the cornmeal, rye, and whole wheat flours," says Tyson. Looking to find its perfect pairing, he reached for anchovies and butter as the supporting actors. "I was thinking how I could use the Anadama bread because I really loved it, but didn't have a way to utilize it in a toast," he says. "And a really classic pairing is anchovies and butter." After the bread is toasted, Tyson pipes honey butter onto the bread and drizzles a chimichurri made from fermented onions, soft herb stems, olive oil, dill oil, and fresh dill over top. The bread is then finished with vinegar jelly, anchovies, and an aïoli made with lemon oil. "I think it's really surprising for people," says Tyson. "It's one of those things that we think is kind of greater than the sum of its parts." Though the base of the flavor combinations is classic, it's the brightness from the jelly and aïoli, the sweetness of the honey butter and bread, combined with the umami from the anchovies and chimichurri, that keeps guests wanting more.
Baker Wesley Barrington of Folk, Junior, and Rolf & Daughters and Chef Brian Mejia of Junior
Farro Verde Porridge Bread with Cultured Butter
The bread course at Junior gets just as much care as any other dish on the menu. "We were already creating a product that we felt like was really, really good bread," says Chef Brian Mejia. "We just knew we had to find something that would kind of match the same intention, and we are committed to making or sourcing the best product." That "really, really good bread" is Baker Wesley Barrington's Farro Verde porridge bread. The dough highlights Anson Mills' Farro Verde grains, which are harvested green. "They burn the crop and it leaves behind just the wheat berry, and then they sift that from the ashes," Barrington says. "You get tons of smoky flavor, which is really awesome. It's part of why we chose this grain." The cracked grains are made into a porridge and incorporated, toward the end of mixing, into Barrington's sourdough base. "You're adding in this additional starch, like creaminess, into the dough that you wouldn't get from just regular bread," says Barrington.
Looking for a butter to pair with the smoky and nutty bread, Mejia looked north to Kentucky and found an Amish community making just what he was searching for—a cultured butter that's almost cheese-like in its richness. "It's just good butter done in a very old-school way," he says. "It creates a better texture. It's a lot creamier. Like with anything that's not necessarily machine-made, there are going to be some inconsistencies, but there's obviously lots of beauty in that." The bread at Junior is a canvas for other pairings like their house coppa, which gets sliced thin so it melts into the delicate crumb of the porridge loaf, bringing a robust, fatty flavor to the nourishing bread.
Baker Jennifer Latham of Mama Bread
Soft Egg, Housemade Cultured Butter, Chile Crisp, Herb Salad, Sprouted Seeded Rye Toast
After years of searching for the bread she ate for breakfast as a child growing up in Germany, Baker Jennifer Latham eventually decided to make it herself. "It's a cornerstone bread for me, something I've been eating my whole life," she says. "It's really what I crave first thing in the morning; it just has a ton of nutritional density." The dough is mixed, fermented in the refrigerator overnight, and then baked the next day. The hearty sprouted seeded rye bread is filled with sprouted rye berries, rye flour, spelt flour, and lots of seeds, and is the ideal base for the soft egg and cultured butter dish at her bakery, Mama Bread. Along with the butter—which gets cultured with crème fraîche—and jammy eggs, the toast is topped with chile crisp and fresh herbs that let the bread and butter speak for themselves. The composition of the dish itself is inspired by smørrebrød, the Danish open-faced sandwich, using bread as the foundation for the simple and delicious ingredients on top. "It's honestly just a really selfish dish," Latham says. "It's everything I want to eat."
