Eight years ago, I was cycling with another chef buddy of mine in the northernmost roads of our county when we met a young cyclist at a stop sign. I asked him if he was lost and he confidently responded, “Not at all, just trying to decide which hill to climb.”
Today Julian Loue rarely cycles but he has found another hill to climb. If you know him, you know his dad is French and lives in Normandy, where he makes cheese and brandy, and cooks constantly. His dad taught him that a meal isn’t complete unless you’re able to wipe your plate with a good piece of bread, and Loue has walked through Paris many times to seek out a great baguette.
Surely Loue, a baker of extraordinary breads and pastries who runs Rise Bakery in the Village of West Greenville, has been baking since he could pull himself up by his father’s apron strings?
“I’m an automotive guy from way back. I spent a few years as a service advisor at Century BMW, then a few years as an insurance adjustor with Allstate. I have intimate knowledge of what makes cars work and I’ve rebuilt everything from motorcycles to vintage VWs,” Loue said. “That mechanical knowledge has served me well with the bakery’s commercial equipment. I took a sourdough-baking class for kicks and that started me on that baking path and soon I was baking sourdough at home.”
From there he turned his garage into a small bakery and soon caught the eye of the Travelers Rest Farmer’s Market.
“I went to Travelers Rest’s first Christmas market with 60 sourdough loaves and in the blink of an eye we had sold out. It was then I realized I could do this full time.”
For thousands of years, humans baked bread using a sourdough starter. It was kneaded by hand and the bacteria on one’s hands contributed to the natural fermentation of the dough. For much of the 20th century, large corporations tried to convince us bread should be soft, full of yeast, bleached white and last for a month, and that led to so many health problems. I’ve driven past a commercial yeast factory and it resembled an oil refinery.
Most of what the Rise Bakery team produces is sourdough, a method of capturing wild yeast in a flour-and-water batter, then fermenting the dough with that starter. The fermentation process is purposely slow and that allows those pesky protein strands to be snapped in half or thirds, which creates a gut-friendlier loaf of bread.
When I visit Rise Bakery, I like to start with a cup of the Bridge City coffee and one of the bakery’s sublime fruit pastries or a chocolate croissant. I can enjoy that while watching the morning sun break over the rooftops of West Greenville. After that I’ll bring home a sourdough loaf or a baguette and cook something that is wonderful enough to stand up to a perfect loaf of bread.
Rise Bakery, at 1264 Pendleton St., is open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.
“City Juice” is a colloquial term for a glass of tap water served at a diner. John Malik is a culinary adviser and broker with National Restaurant Properties. He can be reached at [email protected].
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