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Between baking at a local restaurant and practicing for a national competition, Utah baker Ryan Moore says he "dances with dough" all day.
On Friday and Saturday, Moore, 28, will vie in the first round of the Bread Bakers Guild Team USA competition in Providence, R.I. He is one of 15 artisan breadmakers from around the country selected to compete. Three of them will move on to the finals and possibly earn a chance to attend the next Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie, the olympics of the bread-baking world.
During the competition, which takes place at Johnson & Wales University, he will have one hour of preparation time on Friday and then eight hours Saturday to make and bake 80 loaves — in five varieties — for judges.
Among his offerings will be the Mountain Loaf, a rye and whole-wheat bread with raisins and three types of seeds: sesame, poppy and pumpkin. He also is planning a rustic potato bread and a rye bread with Belgian beer. All will be naturally fermented using a starter that dates back some 30 years.
"I've been keeping it alive" for several years, he said, "and using it in all my breads."
For those who are not bread bakers, a starter is a mixture of flour, water, sugar and yeast that has been allowed to ferment. A portion of the starter is used as a leavener for each loaf. The remaining starter can be kept going for years — even decades — simply by adding or "feeding" it equal parts flour and water after each use.
To be accepted into the competition, Moore had to submit an application and résumé and some of his best bread formulas.
During the past six months, he has been perfecting his craft by making loaves the old-school way, using fresh-milled whole-wheat flour and baking in a wood-fired oven at Salt Lake City's From Scratch restaurant.
Moore — whose last day at at the Salt Lake City restaurant was Tuesday — baked about three dozen loaves every day. His lineup included thin baguettes that are used for an appetizer with house-made jam and churned butter; chewy ciabatta for the lunchtime sandwiches; and his signature sourdough bread.
With Moore's depature, other employees will pick up the breadmaking duties, said owner David Brodsky.
Last week, the owner called Moore "a perfectionist with his bread, always looking to step it up somehow."
The breads at From Scratch, just like the pizza dough, are made from a 50-50 blend of pre-milled organic flour and fresh-milled wheat that has been ground on site in a flour mill Brodsky had shipped from Austria. The fresh-milled wheat "has so many vitamins and minerals," said Moore. Putting in the entire grain, including the outer bran, gives a natural sweetness.
Born in Fresno, Calif., Moore moved to Logan when he was 8. He worked as a line cook at Hamilton's Steak and Seafood for six years before stepping into the bread-baking position. That's when he met Keith Giusto, one of California's top bread bakers and owner of Keith Giusto Bakery Supply in Petaluma, Calif. (a sister company to Central Milling Co. in Logan).
Giusto helped Moore fine-tune his baking skills and even shared his sourdough starter with his protégé.
After leaving Hamilton's, Moore spent three years in Seattle. He returned to Salt Lake City when offered the head baker job at Eva's Bakery, where he's been using the regular ovens to practice for the competition.