As a former chemical engineer, Jody Freyvogel learned plenty about yeast. Now he's making his own dough -- and it's not just bread -- from his home-based bakery. He supplies baked goods to local coffeeshops and caters events while he continues to perfect the sourdough bread he makes from scratch.
Question: Why did you quit your chemical engineering career to become a baker?
Answer: At 40, I said the corporate life wasn't for me and decided to return to Pittsburgh. I wanted to do some type of engineering, but there just wasn't anything available for me. So I said, 'What does everybody do⢠Everybody eats.' I really got enthusiastic about making artisan breads and sour doughs and Old World breads.
Q: And you learned about yeast and fermentation through your previous jobs?
A:
I worked for New Brunswick Scientific, and one of their focuses was fermentation. At the time, we did a yeast plant for Budweiser.
Q: Why not open a commercial bakery?
A:
Three years ago, the economy turned down just when I was ready to buy a building and open up a shop. Real estate prices were high then, too, and we've seen what happened with that. I'm really happy that I didn't, because I'd probably be out of business at this time.
Q: What does your kitchen look like?
A:
It's a 400-square-foot facility. It's a wall of ovens. I have two double sets of stacked convection ovens, and I have a stacked deck oven, like the double-door pizza ovens. I have wooden tables, a roll cutter and all the refrigeration.
Q: What is your favorite thing to make?
A:
My sourdoughs. It's not just the mechanical thing of putting flour and water and salt together with a starter. It's the actual creation of the product that you get connected with. If you take flour -- unbleached, unbromated -- and add some water and mix it and walk away, then 24 hours later add a cup of water and a cup of flour and walk away again, when you come back, it's going to have started to bubble. That's exactly how you make a sourdough starter. It's almost like you're part of each other. It's like an artist that gets connected with the music.
Q: Do you bake any organic breads or sweets?
A:
It's difficult to do totally organic products. You can do totally organic breads, but people don't want to pay for that. Right now, I'm paying about 30 cents a pound for on-the-market flour. Organic flour is about 80 or 90 cents a pound. What I like to do is bake wholesome.
Q: What's that?
A:
When I do open the business, it will be centered on health. Nothing processed, no preservatives, no additives. A lot of the stuff you see on the shelves has preservatives, because by the time it gets out of the shop and gets to wherever it's going, it's probably three to four days. Then it has to sit on the shelf. My products are in somebody's hands one to two hours after they're baked.
Q: Have you ever had any kitchen disasters?
A:
I've burned lots of products. It's not fun, but it's mostly because I try to deliver while something's in the oven. I get caught in traffic or am talking to somebody and, all of sudden, don't make it home in time.
Additional Information:
Jody Freyvogel
Age: 56
Residence: Brighton Heights
