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LA BREA BAKERY: PIONEERS OF THE ARTISANAL BREAD MOVEMENT
Since 1989, La Brea Bakery has set the standard for artisanal bread in the United States.
Their mission of bringing a great loaf of bread to every table is within reach.
LOS ANGELES – The same bread that had Los Angeles customers lining up in the early morning hours of 1989 is now feeding fans across the country. La Brea Bakery, the #1 artisan bread purveyor in North America according to the AC Nielson Fresh Bread Sales Report, uses the very same starter that went into the first beloved loaves to bring a superior product to consumers nationwide. La Brea Bakery’s commitment to fine craftsmanship, exceptional ingredients, and unparalleled taste is its hallmark. By maintaining a relentless commitment to the original artisan bread baking practices and principles, while at the same time managing international distribution under IAWS, La Brea Bakery brings its unparalleled flavor to food lovers nationwide.
Put simply, La Brea Bakery has revolutionized the way people eat bread. It’s hard to imagine an earlier time when squishy white bread or one-dimensional cardboard wheat was practically all that was available to shoppers. But in 1989, when Chef Nancy Silverton of Campanile restaurant was looking for a bread to match the high quality of her food, she found the offerings inadequate. So Silverton, a prolific and talented pastry chef, set her sights on creating the quintessential European-style bread in the heart of Hollywood. With no local or national experts to turn to, she relied on her own skill, intuition and 18th and 19th century recipes from the European Baker’s Guild, to devise her own starter from scratch. Using just flour, water and the wild yeasts that developed from the skins of organic grapes, Silverton created a living, breathing masterpiece that would ultimately become the trademark ingredient in every single loaf of La Brea Bakery bread.
LA BREA BAKERY IS BORN
Hundreds of test loaves later, the six archetypal breads of La Brea Bakery were born out of that just-right starter: Sourdough Baguette, Country White Sourdough Loaf, Whole Wheat Loaf, Normandy Rye Loaf, Olive Oval, and Rosemary Olive Oil Round. Each was delicious and unique, with a deep, complex flavor, a soft, chewy texture, and a burnished crust. The 1,500 square foot pastry kitchen next to Campanile restaurant had now officially become La Brea Bakery, and the breads were for sale in a tiny shop at the front of the kitchen from early morning until the loaves disappeared. And disappear they always did. Word spread, and soon customers lined up outside each morning before the bakery opened and fought over the last loaf of the day (even today foodies and families line up at the Original Bakery!) The phones rang off the hook with wholesale requests from the most prestigious hotels and restaurants in southern California. Given the nature of La Brea Bakery's bread-baking process, it was impossible to just "bake more bread." Soon enough the bakery was obliged to move their production to a larger baking facility to meet local demands.
DELICIOUS EXPANSION: MAINTAINING ARTISANAL INTEGRITY
How was La Brea Bakery to deal with increasing national demands and create a national distribution network that maintained the quality and integrity of the bread? With a jar of Silverton’s original starter, a team of artisans and engineers traveled the world in pursuit of custom equipment that would allow La Brea Bakery to bake enough artisan loaves for an entire nation, while at the same time remaining true to the proofing and shaping process that was born in the Original La Brea Bakery. Ever mindful of the bakery’s heritage and artisan technique, La Brea Bakery perfected a par-baking process. Instead of proofing its bread, La Brea Bakery actually retards the fermentation process. An unusually slow fermentation process and the personal attention that is required mean that each loaf can take up to 36 hours to make; the time and labor-consuming process is just one example of La Brea Bakery’s fundamental respect for tradition.
Before the loaves travel to restaurants, grocery retailers and a myriad of foodservice operations in custom-built chilled proofing boxes, they are 80% hearth-baked, spiral cooled and flash-frozen. Thanks to the design resources of IAWS, an international food and agribusiness group and parent company to La Brea Bakery, a state-of-the-art artisan bakery on each coast features this proprietary customized equipment. Now cultivated in starter tanks in regional bakeries in Van Nuys, CA and Swedesboro, NJ, Silverton’s original starter is literally inside every award-winning loaf. The famous starter is also inside the fully baked to perfection breads that go out to gourmet restaurants, caterers, and grocery stores from Santa Barbara to San Diego, and to the Downtown Disney District® Café located in Anaheim, CA. Everyday, freshly made La Brea Bakery breads and pastries are delivered by truck to these Southern California customers.
THE TASTE OF TRADITION CONTINUES
What was devised as a solution to the challenge of getting a coveted product into the hands of more discerning diners and shoppers, has become one of the most highly rated breads on the market. In multiple taste tests conducted by The San Francisco Chronicle, La Brea Bakery’s par-baked breads won the competition against fresh, local breads. The Washington Post deemed the bread “exceptional” (the highest acclaim in a comparison of sourdough breads), declaring it “the loaf [that] sets the standard.” In fact, not only do foodies find the par-baked bread delicious, but La Brea Bakery loyalists can’t tell the difference between the quality of the original loaf and that of their par-baked breads.
It’s no surprise that La Brea Bakery was named “Baker of the Year” by Baking & Snack (2007). What started as a single bakery with a loyal chef and foodie following has now become a national favorite, all the while staying true to its heritage. CEO John Yamin cites La Brea Bakery’s roots when discussing today’s market opportunities, “La Brea Bakery was born out of a desire to serve a certain quality and caliber of bread. The uniquely delicious bread was well-received from the start. Things are no different for us now – except that we have the good fortune to be able to offer our superior breads to many more customers.”
La Brea Bakery's creativity, passion and dedication have led to the development of more than 100 varieties of award-winning breads. Whether it's toast for breakfast; French toast or strata for brunch; panzanella or panini for lunch; a sandwich for late afternoon snack; a dinner roll or flat bread with supper; or a specialty bread to go with after-dinner cheese, La Brea Bakery has a bread to fulfill every gastronomic niche and craving. La Brea Bakery’s specialty products such as “better than dessert” granola, a healthy grain, fruit and nut-filled treat, and croutons, a tasty addition to soups and salads, are similarly the best in their class. In 2007, La Brea Bakery launched a line of organic artisan breads, just another new offering from the bakery that lead the artisanal bread movement and forever shifted the paradigm of American bread.
La Brea Bakery Breads are available in retail grocery stores and restaurants throughout the United States.
La Brea Bakery is a part of the IAWS Group.
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