She Wolf Bakery

She Wolf Bakery was born in 2009 out of the wood oven at Roman's. After dinner service, a fire would be made and early in the morning, baker Austin Hall would come in, rake out the coals and bake off bread for the day. Soon the in-house baking operation expanded production to its own space in Greenpoint. Now She Wolf Bakery supplies the bread served at Marlow & Daughters, Roman's, as well as at 10 NYC Greenmarkets. Almost all She Wolf breads contain some portion of natural leven (or sourdough culture). Every day, a portion of the levain is reserved and used to build the levain for the next day's breads. Natural leavens and the long fermentation times that they require result in an almost entirely different product than breads raised with commercial yeast. In essence, the yeast and companion bacteria have time to pre-digest the flour, making available a variety of B vitamins and minerals, enhancing flavor and assisting digestion. The acidity resulting from fermentation offers naturally leavened breads their signature sourness and acts as a natural preservative.