About Chez Belmont
Chez Belmont Bread was born out of a hobby and a discovery that bread, made properly with the right ingredients, is good for you. Through the help of lifetime bakers, good for you bread has become our passionate focus.
Fresh. Three Ingredient. Bread.
The Basic Country Loaf is the staple. This is where everything starts. It is a combination of white, certified organic flour in combination with fresh milled certified organic wheat berries from AB and BC, milled at Chez Belmont just prior to batching to preserve its absolute freshness and goodness.
“Flour, water and salt are all that goes in to Chez Belmont Bread.”
For those special breads, inclusions are added to the three basic ingredients of the country loaf and are only limited by your imagination. Raisins and cinnamon, chocolate, seeds, herbs, cheese, nuts, dried fruit, pesto and fresh garlic are just a few we have used.
Our starter is named Shirley, and she never fails. Shirley has adapted to our schedule and is ready to go first thing in the morning, having been fed just before we go to bed the night before. Fermentation is activated by natural yeast in the air producing an active, living levain, that gives the bread its wonderful lift and open crumb. Over the next four to five hours, your bread is gently brought to a stage of readiness where it can be shaped and placed in a cold environment for twelve to eighteen hours, where it slowly completes its full fermentation and proofing. On the second day after it’s cold overnight proofing, it is baked in a very hot oven on top of preheated stones.
This is made to order bread! Two days notice gives us, and Shirley, the right amount of time to get your bread, baguette, pizza dough, bagels, brioche, or focaccia, just right!
