Best Middle-European Bread
STAFF PICK: Joan and Bill Marum, originally from Tucson, are the bakers behind John Dough, which makes some of the best bread of Middle-European character in town. Bill, a graduate of the California Culinary Academy, and an alumnus of Square One Restaurant and Fog City Diner in San Francisco, makes bread he says "is not a city bread." But it's not uncultivated either. His traditional old-fashioned French bread, called a levain, or rising bread in French, is made from sourdough starter, not from fresh yeast or yeast cakes. This baton of good, dense center and chewy crust is topped with an herbal mix of cumin, poppy, sesame seeds and cracked black pepper. Most of John Dough's bread is found in restaurants around town, like KingFisher, Vivace, B & B Café and Trio. The raisin rolls Marum makes for Canyon Ranch Spa are also available at Green Grocer and loaves of bread from that same dough go to Café Magritte. John Dough's whole-grain rye, which sits overnight before baking to develop flavor, is also available for retail at Reay's, Food Conspiracy and Rum Runner. Try the rye with some of Rum Runner's cheese and sausage. That's a great sandwich.
