Twin Bears Bakery

TWIN BEARS BAKERY

Uniting farmers, millers & communities through bread.

Nothing is like the smell of freshly baked bread.

Made With Love & Care

Have your bread freshly baked for you every Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday!

Sometimes we make specialty items like cookies, focaccia, and other baked goods. When we do, it could be any day of the week, so check back regularly!

Check for Specials

twinbearsbakery

The Single Origin is looking particularly good tod

The Single Origin is looking particularly good today. Thanks to @migrashfarm for all their hard work to make this beautiful 84% extraction whole wheat available for us to share with our bread community.

I had this interesting moment today. I was looking

I had this interesting moment today. I was looking at this loaf coming out of the new oven and these were my thoughts. “Color needs to be darker” “needs an improved seed distribution” then I stopped mid thought and checked myself. Instead of approaching it with what is wrong, I looked at what I liked and what I needed to do to expand the postive traits. There is definitely a life lesson in there.

70% King Arthur Organic Artisan Select
20% Migrash Farms Oberkulmer Spelt
10% Migrash Farms Bolles Whole Wheat
77% Hydration

#sourdoughlifelessons

Today marks the first day in production with our n

Today marks the first day in production with our new American Baking Systems modular deck oven. I am finding the learning curve to be manageable and I ❤️the fact I can push a button and make 💨 steam 💨. A special thank you to @maurizio and his blog #theperfectloaf . His lava rock bread sauna carried our small bakery for almost a year as we worked our little residential oven nearly to death. We would sometimes bake for 18 hours straight to meet demand. Now we have a dedicated oven room and production area in our small home. I appreciate all the cottage bakers that have come before us. Their willingness to share experiences have helped us grow tremendously. This morning I sit in the new baking space and look at the morning sun spill onto our small suburban farm and I can’t help but think about all the possibilities!

❤️ from our family to yours,
Andrew

Today is the first bake for our friends at @moonva

Today is the first bake for our friends at @moonvalleyfarm . We will be crafting unique loaves every week that will be distributed through their CSA. Creating direct relationships with the local people growing and making your food is mutually beneficial. You get the freshest and healthiest food available and also help support local farmers and makers earn a sustainable income.

It’s very humbling to serve so many amazing peop

It’s very humbling to serve so many amazing people. We have been working hard to finish our new baking space. It’s been a bit much at times as we have continued our normal baking during renovation. We have been receiving a number positive notes and kind emails recently and the small gestures have meant so much to our family. Especially during this time of being TIRED by the end of the day! We appreciate everyone who continues to support us and what we are creating!
❤️🥖❤️

Thank you to our bread community for helping us be

Thank you to our bread community for helping us be able to give back to our community.

Thanks to the love and support of our bread commun

Thanks to the love and support of our bread community we are able to take another delivery of coats, hats, sweaters and backpacks to those in our community facing challenges. These items will be places directly into the hands of those in need.
I am perpetually inspired by people like @chefjoseandres who use their platform to promote good in our world. We will continue to support our local community in needs as long as we have the privilege of doing so.
If you are interested in supporting direct action within our community or know someone who would benefit from food or warmth please DM us.

A very special thank you to @a__judd for her support with this delivery.

I don’t know who needs to hear this today but:

I don’t know who needs to hear this today but:

Stop comparing your bread to photos you see on Instagram and Facebook. Your bread is beautiful and delicious and you are right where you should be on your sourdough journey.

This is the first picture of bread I found on my phone. Long before I had any sort of social media for the bakery. The fun part is I remember this loaf. It was one of the first that wasn’t a frisbee. I remember barely letting it cool and diving in and was over the moon at the light texture and FLAVOR! I didn’t even have a point of reference for these huge ears or wildly open crumbs. I just made bread and it was good! When I finally joined the online bread community I was excited and also overwhelmed. All the gorgeous breads and elaborate techniques made my perspective go from being proud of my bread to my bread being something that needs “fixing”.
Part of the journey is learning to love where you are as a baker. Accepting your mistakes as an experience to learn. Learning to make bread something that is a unique part of you. Loving where you are at this exact moment.

❤️🥖❤️

The Single Origin is by far our oldest recipe. Lea

The Single Origin is by far our oldest recipe. Learning to work with 84% high extraction whole wheat took time and patience. There was never a single “a-ha” moment just a series of small improvements over time.

A single slash scoring has always been the hardest

A single slash scoring has always been the hardest for me. Complex scoring always feels easier. When doing a single slash I want the ear to have density but still feel and look light. I want to see the frills of the tear along the ears edge. I want to see the contrast of the darker area of expansion versus the lighter where the ear pealed away. I want the loaf to show all these different tones from light tan to dark carmel. The beauty of bread lies in its simplicity. Flour, water & salt.
I am still in awe of the complexity that lies behind these three simple ingredients. The single slash feels like an appropriate partner.

#bettereveryloaf

We have been a little quiet on here lately because

We have been a little quiet on here lately because we have been BUSY! We have been working on growing and looking at ovens to help with that goal. The Rofco is great oven but has a pretty long back order. We started to look at other options and had this modular deck oven fall into our lap. It required us driving almost 18hrs one way and hauling it back another 18 hours in the rain. We did all this driving over 48 hours! Once home we had to rent a forklift to get the 1600lbs oven into our backyard. Now we are adding new electrical lines to power it and working in the space to accommodate it.
This is a huge game changer for us!
❤️🥖❤️

Let’s have a moment here. Being a cottage baker

Let’s have a moment here. Being a cottage baker is an experience. Flour on everything, bins of fermenting dough occupying all flat surfaces,endless dishes and sleep deprivation. But when you pull those loaves out of the oven and they are exactly what you wanted to create all the hardwork and lack of sleep makes sense.

For those of you who have tried a loaf or have joined our our weekly subscription we are humbled to be your baker.

❤️,
The Twin Bears Crew
Andrew, Emily & Z

I love the intersection of food and art. I like fe

I love the intersection of food and art. I like feeling the pressure of having a bunch of loaves to score and get in the oven but still taking the time to try and make each loaf unique. When I scored this loaf it was actually a little uneven towards one side because I looked at the unbaked loaf and thought that it was likely going to expand out that way. Baking sourdough is really about learning from your mistakes and also doing dishes.
Lots and lots of dishes.

Website coming soon!
&
We ❤️ ya!

I was so pleased when I took this out of the oven.

I was so pleased when I took this out of the oven. The rise split the scoring! This month we have been working with a strain of wheat called Warthog from our friends @migrashfarm . The flavor is amazing thanks to the hard work of our local wheat farmers and the fresh stone ground milling. The 10% protein definitely was a challenge to work with in our 100% whole wheat loaf. Developing enough structure to get a decent rise took time and paitence to get right. We are really excited to share this bread with our amazing @twinbearsbakery community.

Scored this on the fly and I am pretty happy with

Scored this on the fly and I am pretty happy with it. For how temperamental my residential oven is, with modifications and some understanding we have come to get along pretty well. We might have some very exciting oven related news in the near future so stay tuned!
Pictured here is our roasted seed loaf we came up with after some great tips from @nbeitcher @homebreadhotline. We roast all our seeds in-house and fold them into the dough the same day they are roasted. The flavor is diminished if they are sealed in a jar or put into a refrigerator.

Sometimes things just roll so smoothly in the bake

Sometimes things just roll so smoothly in the bakery. You’re cleaning as you go, thinking ahead and just in the flow of the bakery process.
Other days you’re covered in flour, stuff isn’t rising right and you feel constantly behind.
The bakery is full of both practical and spiritual lessons.
Whether you’re ahead or behind, baking 1 or a few hundred loaves take a moment to be thankful for the opportunity to serve your community as its baker.
❤️🌾❤️
Pictured here are a few loaves we have headed out to our wonderful customers.

We may be opening up a few spaces on our subscription list. Please DM if you are interested.

-Andrew

🌾The Classic🌾 Our first loaf we developed a

🌾The Classic🌾

Our first loaf we developed and brought to a point where we said “This is done”. The original inspiration was classic San Francisco sourdough. We originally called the loaf The SF. During the development process we strayed so far from the traditional approach to SF sourdough we decided we should find it a new name. The Classic felt right as this loaf definitely embodies what we have come to know as sourdough. We keep the crumb about medium, still open and airy but closed enough to only have maybe a hole or two on a 1/2” thick slice. Open enough to have pockets for your favorite toppings to gather, tight enough to hold a sandwich together in a lunch box

Overview

4% @jqdsalt salt

5% @lindleymills sprouted rye

10% @migrashfarm 84% extraction whole wheat

10% @migrashfarm 99% extraction einkorn

75% @kingarthurbaking Organic Select Artisan BF

16% levain

74% hydration

•3 hour autolyze
•laminate in salt wait 30m then laminate in Levain
•3 hours W/ coil fold every 30m
•3 hours bulk
•Preshape & 30 min bench rest
•Final shape & 30 min rest in banneton
•14 hour proof @ 47 degrees

If you have any questions on this loaf or any general Sourdough questions let us know.

❤️🥖❤️

Sourdough is hard.... It takes time, paitence and

Sourdough is hard....
It takes time, paitence and perseverance. I believe this is one of the things that unites the sourdough community. When you see another bakers hard work, when you see the art of their scoring or see the beautiful rise on a loaf of bread full of whole wheats and ancient grains you know how hard that person worked. We have people like @nbeitcher , @thesourdoughpodcast & @maurizio who work tirelessly to help others become better. Everytime I see cottage bakers freely sharing recipes and techniques or established bakers eager to troubleshooting a home bakers build it makes me feel proud to be a part of such a great community.
Pictured here is our bread we call The Single Origin. This bread is wheat in its purest expression. 80% extraction whole wheat, water and salt. We use fresh wheat from our farmer/miller @migrashfarm . Currently we are baking with a strain of wheat called Bolles. The wheat tastes light and creamy with a hint of caramel on the finish.

When we started out, we simply wanted to make the

When we started out, we simply wanted to make the bread with the best ingredients we could find.

•Flour ✅

•Water ✅

•Salt❓

We tried a lot of different salts during our research. Bakers talk about flour and to a certain extent water but salt is often an overlooked element. During our quest @jqdsalt was the most flavorful salt we tried. We were really excited to see that they were based close to us and fit within our mission of connecting local communities through bread. The more we researched the company the more we fell in love with their rich history. Over 7 generations the JQD family has remained passionate about salt and it shows.

If any of customers are interested in trying the salt let us know and we will bring you a sample.
❤️✨🧂✨❤️

Uniting Farmers, Millers and Communities through b

Uniting Farmers, Millers and Communities through bread

This has been our mission from our start. We support our farmers and miller because without local grain economies this bakery and many other bakeries like it would not exist. Our farmer and miller is @migrashfarm located on a beautiful piece of property northwest of Baltimore, MD. When you’re on the farm it’s hard to believe this pristine piece of land you are standing on is only 30 minutes from Baltimore’s inner harbor.

Migrash is run by Ian and he is everything you would expect from a person that is running a mill and a farm. The only time I have ever seen him standing still is when he is talking about flour or wheat. At the helm of the mill is Luke. Luke is a former farm hand and has the build to prove it. Luke also has a smile that would melt a steel beam and rumor is he makes a killer pizza.

Through the hard work of the Migrash team we are able to better serve our community. Without the support of local farmers and millers the landscape of the sourdough community would look very different.

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