Méli-Mélo - March 2023

Daily Bread
Louay Ben Messaoud’s sourdough starter dates back to 1999, the year after he immigrated to Canada from Tunisia to study economics in Montreal. It was the first time he had left home. “Even in those circumstances — adjusting to a new society and a new country — I still had to feed myself,” he recalls. Bread was one of the things Messaoud’s family either bought fresh daily from the bakery or baked at home, so he was used to making his own loaves. Throughout his degree, he worked at a pizza place in downtown Montreal, and though he found himself working with a lot of dough (“not money!” he jokes), at that point in his life he didn’t think he’d ever be baking full time.

After several years in the banking industry, he knew he was ready for a change.“I’m a hippie at heart,” Messaoud says, “I never settled with office work.” He moved to Ottawa in 2006 and found himself baking at Bridgehead, and then went on to work at La Bergerie des Sables, a sheep farm outside of Ottawa. It was at the farm that he began selling his loaves, and, in 2017, he became a vendor at the Cumberland Market. Now, he sells his bread under the name House of Pain — a play on words for the French word for bread, and a nod to the hip-hop trio — at the Ottawa Farmers’ Market every Sunday.

From that sourdough starter, he takes inspiration from seasonal market ingredients and his own pantry to make loaves with additions such as pear and miso, muhammara or Jerk chicken spice. “Anything you can think of, I’ve “breaded” it,” he says. He does all his mixing by hand, making about 200 loaves per week for the market. Though his regular customers at the market would call him a sourdough expert, he is quick to rebuke the label. “I fell in love with sourdough because of the lack of control,” he says, “I know where to start, and I know where I want to get, but in between it’s never the same, it’s humbling.”

Though he may not have predicted a life revolving around bread when he first came to Canada, Messaoud isn’t surprised by the development. “Food is always the thing that brings people together. Keep eating your bread and be kind to each other. Life is too short.”

House of Pain
Ottawa Farmers’ Market | consciousbaker@gmail.com

Sweet Sadie Bean's
While spending his days at the helm of the kitchen for Ten Toes Coffee House, Tim Alleway spends his time “off”making ice cream. Though ice cream-making has been an interest for about a decade — during which he worked at the Wellington Gastropub and the now-closed Holland’s Cake & Shake, places where he dabbled in ice cream and whimsical flavour combinations — it wasn’t until 2021 that he bought an ice cream machine.

Since then he’s quietly amassed a small following on Instagram, where he announces six to 10 flavours per batch every couple of weeks. Not long after he started working at Ten Toes, the team began talking about a third café location, where Alleway was offered a home for Sadie Bean’s Ice Creams. He is now selling his pints from the new café on Somerset Street, calling it a“permanent pop-up” within the coffee shop. “This is a stepping stone to me opening my own brick and mortar spot that’s absolutely the plan,” Alleway enthuses, crediting the support from the Ten Toes team for taking his sweet side hustle to the next level.

He has yet to repeat a flavour from batch to batch, though he admits to having an affinity for breakfast cereals and anything citrusy, especially key lime or yuzu. The names — things like Borat Voice, Humiliate Your Enemies, Late Night on the D-Train — often come to him before the flavour (and may not have anything to do with the flavour in the end.) “There are a lot of 80s and 90s pop culture and music references, or little jokes just for myself,” Alleway says. Ever since his daughter, Sadie, has become old enough to start registering what he posts on the Sadie Bean’s Instagram account, there’s only one rule — no expletives in the names. “She rightfully doesn’t want her good name associated with my immaturity,” Alleway laughs. Luckily, she’s very on board with the ice creams.

Sadie Bean’s Ice Creams | @sadiebeansicecreams
Pints sold at Ten Toes Coffee House, 837 Somerset St. W.

Milling It Over
“Our whole mission has really been to try and resurrect what’s been dormant for quite some time,” Gabrielle Prud’homme says, and that means everything from working with local farmers growing their grain to setting up their own millstones at Almanac Grain.

The stones themselves — granite from Vermont — had actually arrived at Almanac before the pandemic, but their space needed to be renovated to make room to install the mill. By the time pandemic hold-ups ended and cleared the way for renovations, travel restrictions meant that the stonemill-maker was unable to travel from the United States, and so milling wisdom was passed on over a Zoom call.

Properly cared for millstones can last a lifetime, and part of that care involves “dressing” the stones; roughening the lands and sharpening the furrows. The head miller from Brodflour, a mill and bakery in Toronto that shares Almanac’s ethos, came to town for a day to teach Prud’homme how to dress and maintain the stone herself. From there, Prud’homme was ready to get back to milling, as she does about five days of the week. The flow rate of the grain into the mill, the proximity of the stones to one in another, and even the growing conditions of each grain along with their distinct characteristics all affect how they’ll be milled. “Each grain is different to mill. There’s a real art to it,” Prud’homme says.

Much like wine reflects the terroir of the grapes, fresh flour finishes uniquely and reflects the growing season and region. It won’t be the same from harvest to harvest like a commercial flour is. “Real food is never going to be perfectly consistent,” Prud’homme muses, “real fresh flour is always a little different, that’s part of its beauty.”

Almanac Grain
Unit 9, 5510 Canotek Rd. | 613.229.1133
almanacgrain.ca | @almanacgrain