Those who know food, in Madison, WI, know Madison Sourdough. Whether you know them as your croutons in a Forage Kitchen bowl, or holding together your Fox Heritage Farms bacon and Vitruvian greens on a Longtable Beer Cafe sandwhich, you’ve likely enjoyed the fresh distinct flavor cultivated in their mill and bakery. If you aren’t enjoying a variation on their bread at one of the many establishments across town, you might be having a hot cup of coffee or tea in their cafe on Willy Street. Either way, we are grateful for the amazing flavor, consistent quality, and nutrition that Madison Sourdough has gifted our community.
We love featuring this locally iconic brand and establishment on our app because we get to list it as so many of our favorite restaurants and grocery stores. You can bring it home from Metcalfe’s market, Willy Street Co-op and several other grocery stores, and you can taste it at so many restaurants we don’t even have the space to list them. You’ll have to download the Maize app for that.
Keeping the Process Close
Aside from the distinctly fresh flavor of their bakery items and bread, Madison Sourdough manages and run’s it’s own mill. They note that about 40% of the flour they bake with is milled in house. By doing this Madison Sourdough can work work directly with local grain farmers to specify their wheats and understand and recognize seasonal patterns while staying up to date with harvest notes. Bakers can immediately gauge wheat quality so they can make any necessary order adjustments and continue to maintain baking quality, freshness, and flavor.
What Makes Madison Sourdough Different
Madison Sourdough maintains the complex living system that is necessary to make grain healthy. Specifically, they do not sift out the most nutrient-rich part of the grain – the germ. The germ is densely packed with healthy fats and proteins, but the reason it is often sifted out in industrial flour processing, is because it is not long-term shelf stable. Madison Sourdough notes that it’s flours should be used within a month of purchase, or stored in the freezer and used within 4 months. At Maize we love food that doesn’t last forever, because it means it contains true organic matter that is built to sustain us.
