For 34 years my sister, Jo Anne, and until 2014 our mom, and I have been taking a fall trip (well, a couple of times we went at other times of the year). We started this tradition the year we lost our sister, realizing that time spent together must be intentional. This year our trip is a Bake!-Cation at Zingerman's Bake Shop in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
In 1992, Frank Carollo, together with Zingerman’s Delicatessen founders Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig, opened Zingerman’s Bakehouse to improve the quality and flavor of the sandwiches at Zingerman’s Delicatessen with full-flavored, artisan bread. The bakery was the second business in Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, which is now a collection of over 10 mainly food-related businesses all based in and around Ann Arbor, MI.
Their mission—“the relentless pursuit of being the best bakery we can imagine”—was strong in the beginning and is very much alive now. They are true artisan bakers, which means they use traditional recipes, time-honored processes, their hands, and flavorful ingredients, many locally sourced, to make their bread and sweet treats. Their baked goods, all hand made from raw ingredients, are rooted in age-old American, European, and Jewish traditions. Many of the recipes now include freshly milled regional grains processed on their own stone mills.
There is a whole list of things we will bake over a period of several days, but we will also be exploring the area around Ann Arbor, hoping for beautiful fall colors, in our spare time. We are so excited and it is only 52 days away.
