South Union bread tour

(Credit: Eric Rowley/Metromix)

South Union Bread Cafe

If Des Moines designated an official city carb, we think it would be South Union bread. What downtown worker hasn’t squirreled away a wax paper bag overflowing with hunks of garlic focaccia from the soon-to-be-expanded flagship lunch spot, 1011 Locust St., to enjoy long after the last gooey drop of potato pepperjack soup?

A restaurant expansion is planned for South Union in January, obvious proof of the bread’s popularity. We got a behind-the-scenes look at how the popular bread is made. Sorry we couldn’t make this a scratch-and-sniff article, because the bakery smells amazing.

In the early days, Formaro’s bread-making was an inexact science. “I made the recipe work to a bag of flour,” he said. He’d add two olive oil buckets of water, a chicken base container of salt and measure out a few teaspoons of yeast and mix it, trying to re-create the taste of a bread he ate during a trip to Italy. “I wanted the bread to last longer than a day — without preservatives,” Formaro said. It was a lot of trial and error. “When we started, this artisan bread movement hadn’t gotten underway.”

Now, the operation’s moved from 1701 South Union St. to the basement of Gateway Market’s downtown location.

“We generate pretty much 24-7,” said head baker Melissa Bowker, 30. Four shifts, starting at 2 a.m., cover different parts of the process from mixing to baking. It takes a staff of 30 to make and ship the 1,500-2,000 loaves they bake each day for grocery stores and restaurants.

We stopped in at the beginning of the second shift, around 10 a.m., and watched as bakers cut and hand rolled dozens of loaves of country Italian.

“For the most part, everything is done by hand,” Formaro said. “'Cooking’ and 'baking’ and 'fast’ shouldn’t be used in the same sentence.”

After the dough is mixed and shaped, it’s cooled for upwards of 36 hours, then fermented (heated) before it goes into a steam oven.
The steam of this French oven, which was built on-site, replicates the effect of a wood stove.

The newest addition to the almost 20 different varieties South Union produces is a French baguette with a crunchy crust and soft middle. “I’ve been off white flour for a year,” Formaro said. But this new baguette’s ruined his diet. Formaro recommended it with some of their new Boar’s Head deli meat and Boar’s Head mustard for a simple lunch.

“(Bread-making) requires labor, space and time,” Formaro said. “It requires somebody who walks the balance of sanity and insanity to do this.”

Other places to eat South Union-style
Ciabatta buns: Star Bar
Try it on: Southwest Burger with pepper jack and avocado salsa, $7.99

Italian bolilos: Something Italian, 400 Walnut St., Suite 2
Try it on: A selection of sandwiches, like the Steak Luigi with shredded Italian beef, sauted peppers and onions and mozzarella, $6.50

Garlic focaccia: The Funky Pickle, 625 Grand Ave.
Try it on: Order a deli sandwich, like the popular turkey bacon Swiss, $5.75, at the Funky Pickle and enjoy it at the address of the original South Union lunch spot.