The oven, built by William Davenport of Turtlerock Masonry Heat in Burlington, Vt., has steel doors and a long hearth with a curved roof. Greenspan is surrounded by the few things he needs to produce his loaves: cooling racks, a proofing drawer, a wood workbench, shelving storage, and a retro refrigerator, in which the dough sits for four hours before baking.
A native of New Haven, Greenspan, 57, has been a jazz musician all his life, playing double bass with his wife, the renowned jazz singer Mili Bermejo, who was raised in Buenos Aires and Mexico City. She teaches voice at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. If you look carefully at Greenspan’s delivery route, you’ll notice that he starts out on a Tuesday to bring Bermejo into Boston, and always delivers on a Friday, to pick her up (the couple has another residence in Massachusetts). Many deliveries are a five-minute drive off Route 2.
The desem loaves use 40 percent freshly ground flour made from wheat berries grown in Vermont, and super fine whole-wheat flour from Southern Quebec, which gives the bread a sweet nutty flavor and a chewy consistency that makes great toast. Salt comes from Maine Sea Salt Co. The starter for the bread is made with flour and water that is buried in flour. “It selects yeast and bacteria naturally present in wheat,’’ says Greenspan.
“The desem leaven is known for its flavor and leavening power,’’ says the baker. “It’s unique among sourdoughs, sour but not super sour.’’
He began making the starter last February, when he used two clay pots called cloches in his own kitchen oven. The couple were making additions to their house each year, assembling a music room, a sewing room, cold storage and food prep area, building a barn and an outdoor clay beehive baking oven, and creating multiple gardens.
