If you said that Nashoba Brook Bakery was founded on a friendship you would be partly correct. If you added passion, artistry, and a smidgen of vision you would almost have captured the essence of our Bakery. The final ingredient though is a local one, our own homegrown yeast. Yes, that’s right. Think of it this way: our breads are powered by “Slowrise.”

Slowrise is one way of saying that the doughs we mix and the breads we bake owe much of their glossy, web-like texture to the mellow leavening action of the sourdough starter created from local, wild Concord grapes by Stu Witt, a co-founder and co-owner of Nashoba Brook Bakery. Our breads take almost 24 hours from mix to cooling rack, and that long slow development has important health benefits. During the long slow rise, complex carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugars, protein is broken down into amino acids, and our natural yeast breaks down the bran in the flour. Simply put, all this breaking down enhances the nutritional value of the bread and makes it easier to digest. Also, healthy enzymes develop during the slowrise which are not lost in baking since the center of the loaf remains at a lower temperature than the crust. Finally, the good bacteria in our homegrown yeast helps restore the health and good functioning of your digestive tract.

Slowrise has another meaning to us though which is less practical and more philosophical. We like to think of slowrise as a symbolic counter point to the culture of instant gratification. The old saying that anything worth having is worth waiting for resonates with us.  In the course of busy days that sometimes overwhelm us all, we try to remember to breathe deeply and not rush always to the next thing. Come sit by the Brook and watch the dough rise and see if you don’t know what we mean…