LOKAL Bread

LOKAL Bread is on vacation from 8/26 - 9/5

LOKAL Bread is off to Maine for a couple of weeks. We need to recharge and refresh our Maine grains! For the next couple of weeks, we are taking limited orders for pick up at the market. We will not be at Williamsburg or East Beach markets on August 31st.

Loving our Farmers Markets

lkjLOKAL Bread is now in two markets, East Beach and Williamsburg. Many have asked why we are in two when I have focused only on one for production reasons. Let me explain the reasons and implications for LOKAL in the future.

First, Williamsburg is literally in my neighborhood, and I have wanted to be in the market since 2016. It is great to have a three-minute commute to the market. East Beach has consistently been our best market, and when I focused on only one market, that was our chosen market. Early this year, the East Beach Farmers Market announced they would add two new sourdough bakers and now have a third who fills in. Because of their decision, I informed the market that we are no longer committed to the market and will review our profitability with the additional bakers. As of August, we have done well enough at East Beach to stay. Justin Mapp is the face of LOKAL at East Beach and is doing a great job. We so appreciate your support for us in both markets and look forward to serving you this year.

Upcoming Markets

East Beach Farmers Market on Oceanview in Norfolk from 9:00 am until 12:00 noon.

Williamsburg Farmers Market from 8:00 am until 12:00 noon.

What does LOKAL Bread do when I am not baking?

People have been curious about whether baking is a full-time job for me. Right now, it is 3 ½ days for me. I am also working at Trader Joe's in Williamsburg. Baking is a solitary process, and as an extravert, I thrive on interacting with people, so Trader Joe's is a great opportunity for me to recharge.

I also enjoy foraging and being in the woods. I will be in Maine looking for mushrooms and wild plants. Here in Virginia, I do the same. Below are some pictures of some of my latest finds.
If you are ever interested in foraging, please let me know. I am happy to share some places in Virginia where edible mushrooms can be found. The season ends later in early fall.

August Newsletter - LOKAL on Vacation Click here for an update from LOKAL Bread!

LOKAL Bread at the Williamsburg Farmers Market as of Saturday, July 14

Hey there! Three years ago, LOKAL Bread started selling at farmers' markets with the hope of joining the Williamsburg market in 2016. Sadly, there were no spots available for bakers back then. However, we've since built a great customer base in Norfolk and Virginia Beach. Now, we're super excited to share that we're returning to the Williamsburg Farmers Market! Starting July 13, we'll be selling our yummy vegan bread and baked goods. Because it's a big market, we'll start with a limited selection to ensure we can keep up with demand. For your favorite items, you can pre-order at LOKALTOGO.COM for pickup at the market. Justin will be managing the booth at East Beach, where you can find our awesome vegan treats and our current bread selection. And if you want something special, don't forget to pre-order! We can't wait to see you there!

Upcoming Markets

East Beach Farmers Market on Oceanview in Norfolk from 9:00 am until 12:00 noon.

Starting July 13, Williamsburg Farmers Market from 8:00am until 12:00 noon.

Featured "Other" Bakery - ALTHEA BREAD!!!

When you next visit Charlottesville, Virginia, stop by the new location for Althea Bread at 120 10th NW. Using stone-milled flour from Deep Roots Milling and Grapewood Farm, their breads and pastries are amazing. I ate a delicious pain chocolate and their porridge bread. Honestly, as much as I like my bread, their porridge loaf is one of the best bites of bread I have tasted in a long time. It is perfectly balanced with a creamy crumb, just the right salt, and only a slight sourness, making this loaf a must-try.

July Newsletter - Coming Home To Williamsburg Click here for an update from LOKAL Bread!

Follow LOKAL Bread on Instagram! We share more content on Instagram related to our daily process and new bread types.

Making Bread Healthful

Continuing our newsletters about the healthfulness of our bread, I would like to focus this one on the use of organic flour. Since the inception of LOKAL Café, we have consistently used organic ingredients whenever possible, including the flour for our breads and baked goods. Organic flour is more expensive and not always easy to find fresh from local bakery distributors. Since 2016, LOKAL has relied on Lindley Mills in North Carolina to provide our flour, the organic millers for King Arthur. Every 3 to 4 weeks during the summer, I drive to North Carolina to pick up fresh flour. This is a more cost-effective solution than investing in a mill to produce all of our flour ourselves, and it is also more realistic, as few organic growers in the mid-Atlantic region can provide the necessary grain. One of these organic growers is Grapewood Farm in Montross, Virginia. LOKAL uses their wheat, spelt, and rye berries to grind into flour for German-style bread, including Dinkelbrot, Mischbrot, and Pumpernickel. Currently on our menu is the Bauernbrot, which uses freshly milled wheat and rye straight from the mill to the mixer.

Beyond the issue of access to organic grains, my primary concern is the use of glyphosate and desiccants in low-till and no-till crop production. In general, glyphosate reduces w**ds before the primary crop sprouts. In genetically modified crops, such as corn and soybeans, glyphosate is sprayed directly on the plants because they resist this w**d killer. Wheat, barley, and rye are not genetically modified. However, the standard practice for farms in the mid-Atlantic is to use pre-emergent spraying to reduce w**d load in fields, resulting in residue on the grain being grown in that soil. There is a significant amount of research on the effects of glyphosate on research animals and humans, and it is pervasive in the standard American diet. Therefore, similar to sugar and soy, LOKAL Bread avoids flour that may be contaminated by glyphosate or pesticides by using organic flour.

My final reason for using organic flour is based on my experience working for a pharmaceutical company that developed and sold oncological drugs for blood cancers. In January, a Philadelphia jury awarded $2.25 billion in damages to a plaintiff who sued Monsanto and Bayer, the two owners of the brand Roundup herbicide, for the non-Hodgkin lymphoma he suffered after using the product for two decades. The World Health Organization has classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans," while the EPA has yet to definitively rule on glyphosate, although ongoing research is being conducted. In short, if LOKAL can avoid glyphosate tainted ingredients, we do.

The Latest Bread...

Last month, we introduced pumpernickel and potato buns to our menu. We have been testing it for a month and will continue the testing for another month before adding them permanently to our menu. We have also been testing a bread called 'soft sourdough' for the past two months, which is a sourdough loaf similar to the one I used to purchase when I lived in Basel, Switzerland. I remember a family who sold only one type of bread at the farmers market in St. Louis, where you could buy sections of a large loaf by the kilo. We are excited to announce that we will be adding this bread to our menu this week. It is now available on the menu online.

Upcoming Markets

Hey there! We're excited to announce that we'll kick off our sales at the East Beach Farmers Market on May 11th! This Saturday, we'll have our final Winter Market at Afterglow Brewing. And for all the people in Williamsburg, don't forget to come see us at 2nd Sunday on May 12th for some delicious bread and baked goods! We can't wait to see you there!

Bread on the Camino del Santiago

In 2014, I ended my eleven years of living in Europe by walking the Camino Francais. You had bread at every meal, made with commercial yeast and inexpensive flour. But there was a wonderful wood-fired bakery in Galicia that I stopped at. The bread was sourdough and was absolutely delicious. I had not planned on staying in the town and continued my walk. As I was leaving, a group of Galician bagpipes and drums were practicing so I was piped out of town eating some delicious bread. Your food should create memories for you because of a place or a time. This was a delicious memory for me.

March Newsletter - Can Bread Be Healthful? Click here for an update from LOKAL Bread!

Do you live in or near Williamsburg? Do you love bread? Order LOKAL Bread before April 15th and get 25% off your home-delivered order. Our organic, European-style breads are made by hand using long-fermented sourdough. For gluten-sensitive people, we offer our sprouted, whole-grain loaves and our rustic boule, which are 95% sprouted wheat and rye flour. Sprouted flour has less gluten and a lower glycemic index. If you LOVE bread, and the bread you eat doesn't love you, order LOKAL Bread before April 15 for a 25% discount on your first order.

Bread Delivery In Williamsburg

LOKAL Bread has been all over social media this month. People are looking for more healthful bread. We offer unique European-style bread and baked goods that are organic, plant-based, and lower in sugar. Order online for free delivery within 10 miles of downtown.

Healthful Bread in Williamsburg at LOKAL Bread Click here for an update from LOKAL Bread!

Making Bread Healthful

LOKAL Café was founded on the concept of healthfulness. Although this created confusion from a marketing perspective in that people expected our food to be "healthy," healthfulness was the basis of our menu because it contributed to the health of the individual who ate it.

One of the unique elements of LOKAL was our house-made bread. Our bread was made healthful by using organic ingredients, leavening with sourdough, including whole grains in all breads, and using, sprouted whole grains flours. People who "never ate bread" would eat our sprouted bread and tell us on their next visit that they had no effects from eating LOKAL bread. Over the next few newsletters, I will focus on these four healthful characteristics of our bread and share some of our customer stories.

Sprouted flour offers enhanced nutritional benefits compared to regular flour. The sprouting process increases the availability of vital nutrients like vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, biotin, folic acid, and vitamin C. Additionally, sprouted grains contain enzymes and lactobacilli that aid digestion by breaking down phytic acid and neutralizing enzyme inhibitors. This process improves the absorption of calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, and zinc. Sprouted flour is also easier to digest as it is considered a vegetable by the body rather than a starch, reducing stress on the pancreas and benefiting those with wheat sensitivities or gluten intolerance. Moreover, sprouting decreases antinutrients like phytic acid and increases amino acids, protein content, fiber, and key vitamins such as folate and beta-carotene. Overall, sprouted flour provides a nutrient-dense alternative to regular flour with lower starch content and higher levels of essential nutrients.

Connecting LOKAL History

LOKAL Café closed in 2021. It was not of our choosing and we looked for a new location for over a year. I certainly miss seeing customers every day and creating healthful food which was unique in Williamsburg and Virginia. In general, transitioning to bread baking and selling at farmers markets, took a couple of years. Many of you saw us at a variety of markets every weekend. Today I am only going to one market and focusing on quality and production. This allows me to diversify my baking and provide unique bread and baked goods not made by other bakeries. This week, we are working on traditional German pumpernickel and potato hamburger buns. The pumpernickel uses rye chops which are a by-product of milling rye. Combined with finer rye flour and some rye sourdough, the dough is cooked in a covered and sealed Pullman loaf pan for 14 hours. This allows the Maillard reaction to darken the bread instead of using food colorings like malt or instant coffee. Our potato buns will be using cooked, organic, russet potatoes.

Upcoming Markets

I enjoy bringing LOKAL bread to the market. It's the highlight of my week when I get to talk about bread and all things related to fermentation. Through the end of March, I will be participating in the Winter Market at Afterglow Brewing in Norfolk on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays from 12 noon until 2:30 PM. Additionally, I will also be attending the Sip and Stroll Market at Benchtop Brewing on the first Sunday of every month.

For those in Williamsburg, we again applied to the market and have not been let in. We will continue to try and until then, please continue ordering for delivery.

Other Bakery's Bread

Organic, sourdough is in every grocery store in Basel, Switzerland. This one is the Migros (https://www.migros.ch/de/category/brot-backwaren-fruhstuck/frisches-brot/frisches-brot?filter_sp.category-level-4=dunkles-brot&filter.product_bio=true) near my old apartment. They have organic, sourdough bread baked in-house every day. A healthful lifestyle with healthful food means that bread, can be a larger part of people's diet and not cause a metabolic issue. In general, people are healthy and have few dietary problems. LOKAL Bread offers more healthful bread that can better integrate into a healthy lifestyle.

March Newsletter - Can Bread Be Healthful? Click here for an update from LOKAL Bread!

LOKAL Bread delivers when the markets aren't open...

LOKAL Bread delivers during the winter when the farmers markets are closed. You can order online at LOKALTOGO.COM for deliveries from December through April and get free delivery for orders over $30. We currently deliver from Virginia Beach to New Kent. Our delivery days during the winter will be Thursday and Friday.

Our bread freezes well, and you can stock up and order when you need to replenish. Several customers have made our bread a daily part of their diet and have us pre-slice it to place directly into the freezer.

During November, we added delicious Germany-style bread with house-milled local spelt, rye, and wheat. I will focus on Italian-style Christmas bread like panforte and pandoro in December.

Website Update

In December, we will begin a revision of our website to support more of the items we bake. People commented about items at the market that are not on our website. We have already begun to fix that and hope to have our website revisions done by mid-January. In the meantime - please order at the button below.

Thank You For An Amazing Year

At the end of 2022, I was done. LOKAL was at five markets a week, supporting a not-for-profit where we did our baking and provided meals for neighbors who needed additional help. It was crazy busy, profitable, and rewarding. I was also burned out. Starting in 2023, I narrowed LOKAL's and my focus to one market, East Beach. I also started advertising delivery to increase sales and support loyal customers in areas where I was no longer in their market. It was a big risk to reduce our volume and overall sales.

Well, it worked. With less to manage and more time to focus on creating new products and improving the old ones, LOKAL has succeeded. In 2024 LOKAL Bread is at the Winter Market at Afterglow, the East Beach Market, and various vegan pop-up markets. If all goes well, I may expand into one additional market if the conditions are right.

November Newsletter - Winter is right around the corner and so is LOKAL Bread delivery. Click here for an update from LOKAL Bread!

Does organic flour matter?

At LOKAL, we founded our business on a few key principles. Firstly, we aim to create delicious and healthy food options for our customers. Secondly, we prioritize the use of organic ingredients, and thirdly, we prioritize sourcing locally. These principles have guided our business since its establishment in 2016.

Recently, I have been asked why organic ingredients are important to us. In the United States, organic food production is on the rise as consumers become more aware of the use of chemicals in highly processed foods. As a bakery, we have seen the availability of organic grain and flour choices increase. But why is organic flour necessary?

The use of organic flour in bread-making is important because it is produced without the use of harmful pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. This ensures that the flour is free from toxic chemicals that could be harmful to human health. Additionally, organic farming methods are more sustainable and environmentally friendly, making it a better choice for the planet.

Organic grain farmers support the environment by eliminating insecticides and herbicides, using no-till farming techniques, and using cover crops to control w**ds and pests. Cover crops provide nutrients to the soil and support insects such as bees and butterflies, creating safe habitats for them. Nutrient-dense soil produces more resilient plants that are resistant to pests and fungi.

The quality of grains depends on the nutrients and flavor they extract from the soil in which they are grown. To ensure the best taste for our flour, we collaborate with Grapewood Farm in Northern Neck and Lindley Mills in North Carolina. Grapewood provides us with rye, while Lindley Mills supplies us with wheat, rye, and spelt for our bread and sprouted whole-grain flour. At LOKAL, we use sprouted flour to reduce gluten and improve digestibility in our bread.

Our sprouted whole-grain flour offers many benefits, including a less bitter taste commonly associated with whole-grain flour. Sprouted flours also retain more water, resulting in softer bread and longer shelf life for sourdough bread. As long as the bread is not stored in plastic, it can last significantly longer on the counter than non-sprouted bread.

We are dedicated to enhancing our baking and bread-making techniques while utilising a variety of flours to create nutritious baked goods with unique tastes. Your support in purchasing our bread drives us to improve our flour selection and baking abilities to exceed your expectations. Thank you for trusting LOKAL to provide you with the bread you crave.

Come see LOKAL at East Beach Farmers Market on Saturday, Aug 26, 2023.

Why do we only use organic flour? Click here for an update from LOKAL Bread!

Share LOKAL Bread with your friends

As someone who knows and enjoys our bread, we hope you are sharing with your friends and family. Here is a coupon to give them so they can try LOKAL's healthful bread and baked goods.

LOKAL Bread creates organic and locally sourced healthful, plant-based food. Our bread is unique because of our focus on flavor and healthfulness for those who enjoy European-style bread.
- freshly milled, organic flour
- sprouted, whole-grain flour
- long fermented sourdough
- reduced glycemic index than most breads
- improved digestibility due to long fermentation and finely milled flour
- lower gluten for those sensitive to gluten
- uniquely flavorful European rye bread with sprouted flour
- Italian regional bread, plant-based pizza and focaccia

20% Off at LOKAL Bread Click here for a free 20% coupon at LOKAL Bread!