In late spring in Ann Arbor, I wait anxiously for our local strawberry season to arrive. The whole season only lasts something like 10 days, but when we get ’em, those Michigan strawberries are remarkably sweet and tender and delicious. As we enter the final weeks of winter—still cold, with days growing longer but not yet as bright as they will be when strawberries arrive around the Summer Solstice—I wait instead for the annual March arrival of the Bakehouse’s delicious Irish Brown Soda Bread.
As you can almost certainly tell, I love this bread, its history, and the fact that we make such a fine, great-tasting, traditional version of it. I have such an affinity that I’m always anxious for it to arrive from the Bakehouse ovens in the 10 days prior to St. Patrick’s Day. This year, with the Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter on both my mind and counter, I’m especially eager. Some folks get excited about baseball season; I get on the edge of my seat about the arrival of Irish Brown Soda Bread. While we have it for the next few days, I’m gonna eat as much of it as I can! With the Vermont butter spread thickly, it’s over the top.
Although many Americans have heard of Irish soda bread, few know it well, and fewer still have experienced a well-made loaf of traditional brown soda bread like this. The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread says that the first recipe in Ireland was published in 1836, a few years after the farmhouse at Cornman Farms was built. The Society proclaims proudly: “Flour, Salt, Baking Soda, Buttermilk. Anything else added makes it a ‘Tea Cake!’”
Every loaf has some Irish oats and also some Irish whole meal wheat flour—the softness of the Irish wheat (an undesirable thing in most of our hard-crusted breads) is part of what makes the bread so special. The grind for this bread is much coarser as well. Baker and author David Lebovitz says, “Because the wheat is milled in such a way … it remains very coarse, giving the breads their special hardy texture and flavor. Bread made with coarse-milled flour actually crunches when you bite into it. I love it!” Co-managing Partner Amy Emberling adds, “We are also milling grain ourselves for each loaf—soft white wheat from Kischnick and hard red spring wheat from Janie’s Mill—both of these are included as a coarse grind and a fine grind to get that crunchy texture.”
The Brown Eyed Baker blog says, “It doesn’t get better than a warm slice of Irish Brown Bread served with a slather of butter.” I’m inclined to agree. Which is one of the reasons that this year I’m even more excited than I usually am with that Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter on hand at the Roadhouse, Deli, and Bakeshop. I stand by what the late Ivan Allen of Ballymaloe taught me 30 years ago on my first trip to Ireland: “When your teeth hit the bread, your gums better be hittin’ the butter!”
If you’re at the Roadhouse or your house, lay on some slices of smoked salmon! It’s delicious with the Creamery’s Cream Cheese, Goat Cream Cheese, or Manchester. The Irish Brown Soda bread is great with eggs and bacon for breakfast or with jam for afternoon tea. And, I should also say, the Irish Brown Soda bread is a delicious treat when lightly toasted too—in fact, it might be my favorite.
The Irish Brown Soda bread is available through the 17th of the month at the Bakehouse, Deli, and Roadhouse.
In 1982, Ari Weinzweig, along with his partner Paul Saginaw, founded Zingerman’s Delicatessen with a $20,000 bank loan, a Russian History degree from the University of Michigan, 4 years of experience washing dishes, cooking and managing in restaurant kitchens and chutzpah from his hometown of Chicago. They opened the doors with 2 employees and a small selection of specialty foods and exceptional sandwiches.
Today, Zingerman’s Delicatessen is a nationally renowned food icon and the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses has grown to 10 businesses with over 750 employees and over $55 million in annual revenue. Aside from the Delicatessen, these businesses include Zingerman’s Bakehouse, Coffee Company, Creamery, Roadhouse, Mail Order, ZingTrain, Candy Manufactory, Cornman Farms and a Korean restaurant that is scheduled to open in 2016. No two businesses in the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses are alike but they all share the same Vision and Guiding Principles and deliver “The Zingerman’s Experience” with passion and commitment.
Besides being the Co-Founding Partner and being actively engaged in some aspect of the day-to-day operations and governance of nearly every business in the Zingerman’s Community, Ari Weinzweig is also a prolific writer. His most recent publications are the first 4 of his 6 book series Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading Series: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business (Part 1), Being a Better Leader (Part 2), Managing Ourselves (Part 3) and the newly-released Part 4, The Power of Beliefs in Business. Earlier books include the Zingerman’s Guides to Giving Great Service, Better Bacon, Good Eating, Good Olive Oil, Good Vinegar and Good Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Ari regularly travels across the country (and world) on behalf of ZingTrain, teaching organizations and businesses about Zingerman’s approach to business. He is a sought-after Keynote speaker, having delivered keynotes for Inc. 500, Microsoft Expo Spring Conference, Great Game of Business Gathering of Games, Positive Business Conference at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, American Society for Quality (ASQ), and the American Cheese Society. Most recently, Ari and Paul Saginaw were invited to address an audience of 50,000 for the University of Michigan 2015 Spring Commencement.
One of Zingerman’s Guiding Principles is being an active part of the community and in 1988, Zingerman’s was instrumental in the founding of Food Gatherers, a food rescue program that delivers over 5 million pounds of food each year to the hungry residents of Washtenaw county. Every year Zingerman’s donates 10% of its previous years profits to local community organizations and non-profits. Ari has served on the board of The Ark, the longest continuously operating folk music venue in America.
Over the decades, the Zingerman’s founding partners have consistently been the recipients of public recognition from a variety of diverse organizations. In April 1995, Ari and Paul were awarded the Jewish Federation of Washtenaw County’s first Humanitarian Award. In 2006, Ari was recognized as one of the “Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America” by the James Beard Foundation. In 2007, Ari and Paul were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from Bon Appetit magazine for their work in the food industry. Ari was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Cheese Society in 2014. And Ari’s book, Building a Great Business was on Inc. magazine’s list of Best Books for Business Leaders.
Notwithstanding the awards, being engaged on a daily basis in the work of 10 businesses and 21 partners, writing books on business and in-depth articles on food for the Zingerman’s newsletter, Ari finds time to be a voracious reader. He acquires and reads more books than he can find room for. Ari might soon find himself the owner of the largest collection of Anarchist books in Ann Arbor outside the Labadie collection at the University of Michigan library!
