Martin Auer Opens Rye With Austrian Sourdough

Rye

285 Lafayette St. at Jersey St.

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Photograph: Jovani Demetrie

It’s a excellent time to be a bread head. The town is swarming with all method of bakeries and we’re already trying ahead to the pending arrival of Tartine co-founder and dough demigod Chad Robertson’s Altbau in Williamsburg. Beginning tomorrow, Martin Auer — who runs a collection of cafés and bakeries in his native Austria — is daring to current New Yorkers with a singular (and single) proposition: His new bakery, Rye, on the japanese fringe of Soho, presents just one factor, accomplished very properly, however simply that one factor. It’s rye sourdough, and it prices $60 per loaf. And, Earlier than you flip out, be suggested, I’ve tried it and I can report that it’s truly value that value.

Auer’s naturally fermented rye incorporates 4 components: rye flour, water, salt, and, as a result of he insists it qualifies, time. There aren’t any components, no industrial yeast, no mix of grains. That is nothing just like the seeded Danish rye of outfits like Ole & Steen, Smør, or Frø, or the caraway-flecked slices you get along with your pastrami at New York’s Jewish delicatessens.

“The concept was to be humble in addition to pleased with the possibility to ship one thing we’re so mad about,” Auer says. No stranger to this line of labor, he inherited a profitable bakery enterprise from his father, who inherited it from his. Again in his hometown of Graz, Auer’s namesake firm presently oversees a full-range bakery manufacturing web site that features a roastery for espresso and a flour mill for the bakeries and cafés he’s opened all through Austria. There, he presents baguettes, espresso, and croissants, however “there are locations around the globe, particularly within the massive cities the place — not that always — you will discover some nice baguettes and croissants and low,” he says. This is the reason he didn’t wish to open a bakery with these issues right here. “Our origin, that’s sourdough rye bread — that’s our staple,” he explains.

The pandemic emboldened amateurs to imagine that anybody could make sourdough, however Auer’s is a centuries-old, regional specialty that’s not simply mastered. “Why must you attempt to deal with this tough stuff of rye and rye flour?” Auer asks rhetorically. “Since you simply can’t combine flour and water like wheat.” His bread is a descendant of his grandfather’s and is a research in precision; the identical 57-year-old sourdough tradition should be used for each loaf, which is made with a fastidiously calibrated mix of fresh-milled rye flour that Auer ships from Austria.

Even nonetheless. The individuals who cherished his bakeries in Austria and inspired him to arrange store in different international locations grew to become much less enthusiastic when he introduced his single-product agenda. “I misplaced each potential associate,” he says. He realized if he wished to make this occur, he’d must do it himself, and since his grandmother had at all times dreamed of immigrating right here, he set his sights on New York Metropolis.

That brought on its personal issues. “Which landlord needs to offer their premium spot to this no-name from Austria with no observe report within the U.S. who needs to place in a two-ton oven as an alternative of giving it to Chanel?” asks Auer’s 23-year-old son, Tim, who’s gone to work together with his father.

A lot for Chanel. The Home of Auer spans 3,000 sq. ft, and the build-out was a significant enterprise, what with that customized multi-deck oven designed to suit ten loaves per shelf (and don’t neglect the refrigeration and the fermentation cabin).

The loaves seem flatter than typical American sourdough; the crust presents a satisfying crunch. Jovani Demetrie.

All this for a loaf of sourdough? Clearly, Auer thinks it’s value it and no matter your preferences as an eater, you’ll be able to’t deny the bread is gorgeous. Much less domed than your common miche, this flatter disc seems like a large gingersnap. The crumb offers a deeply pleasing chew, whereas the crust is satisfyingly crunchy, substantial with out being too thick. The flavour is surprisingly advanced, with measured sourness and the distinct maltiness of rye.

Now, the Auers must persuade New Yorkers to strive it. Though they know they’ve designed an alluring, refined house to enrich their product (the minimalist inside has the nice and cozy, earthy palette of any fashionable European luxurious boutique), they’re conscious that getting clients within the door isn’t the identical as promoting them on a $60 spherical of bread. An entire loaf is 3.3 kilos, it stays contemporary for days on finish, and it may well definitely feed lots of people, however quarter loaves are additionally obtainable for $15 (Tim says they will present breakfast and lunch for 2 individuals for 2 days), and half-loaves are $30.

“It’s our job to encourage individuals, to make them really feel and style, to listen to the story about it, the benefits, however to start with, style it,” Auer says. He needs New Yorkers to strive it by itself, after all, and he needs them to strive it unfold with varied candy or savory mixtures. To that finish, a dozen “unfold breads” can be found on the bakery’s “On Rye” menu; the applying of toppings is appropriately restrained to focus on their leavened canvas. Early standouts are one with salmon roe and one other with butter and chive (15 butters had been examined, solely Finlandia was authorized). On the candy finish, early front-runners are slices lavished with Staud’s apricot jam from Vienna or with seeded honey.

Rye

EAT LIKE THE EXPERTS.