bagels
"I grew up thinking bread was a health food."
Alex Baldinger said this as we were standing in the almost-ready Razava Bread Co. in St. Paul, which is just over a mile from the spot where his family first launched Baldinger's Bakery in 1888. "Carroll and Western, that's were my dad was born, and his dad was born. They're both still around, which is kind of remarkable, so I have grown up in a family that has always been about bread."
That bakery, though, isn't around anymore. It closed when they decided to put eight lanes of highway through the neighborhood, thanks I-94. "The family moved into the wholesale business, we still have Baldinger Bakeries that are primarily baking for large corporate customers. But even as that was happening, the idea was always to get back to our roots and open a bakery back in the neighborhood at some point." Alex is the head of operations, and he runs the company with his cousin, Steve Baldinger.
"Steve has really been pushing for this. We started visiting bakeries around the country and wondering, what would this look like? We finally figured out what the bakery should look like, and we had in our heads what we wanted to the bread to be like, but then we needed a baker." Yep. A bakery family without any actual bakers in it anymore. It's an unfortunate evolution, but one that can be remedied.
A few summers ago, someone in the St. Paul community reached out to Steve about a guy baking amazing bread in his basement and selling it at the farmers market. Steve and Alex went immediately to try it. "It was exactly like we wanted our bread to be," Alex said. "Here's the thing: You can buy ovens, you can find good proofers, you can get all the equipment, but what's really important is finding somebody with a technique that actually embodies the qualities of really old world craft. Like artisanal, slow fermentation with crusty, dark loaves. These qualities that have moved out of the mainstream bread-making, we want them back. And crazy enough, the first Baldinger back in 1888 was founded by someone baking out of their home."
Enter Omri Zin-Tamir into the Baldinger baking history. He's the head baker at Razava.
outside the building
Under the name Bakery on 22nd Street, Zin-Tamir had been baking artisan sourdough breads in the makeshift bakery he built in the basement of his home. It started back in 2011 when, as art students, Zin-Tamir and his wife couldn't find the breads they loved back in Israel. Later, when he found himself out of work, he leaned into the cottage baking business, selling at the farmers markets and offering a bread subscription out of his home.
Alex grew up hearing about 'zava as the name of a bread, both a style and an actual loaf, that the Baldingers were baking in the 1920s and '30s, "It was something with a whole lot of wholesome, nutritional extra goodness in it. razava was a kind of flour where they left a lot of the bran and grain in the milling, so when you crack open the bread you see it right away." Zin-Tamir found references to razava as an Eastern European bread, and when he called a relative to ask about it, she confirmed a memory of a dark and seedy bread from her past.
And so, maybe this is kismet.
But it's quite something to go from baking in your basement to running a retail bakery with employees and productions schedules, "We're kind of building the plane as we're flying it," says Zin-Tamir, "but we're just doing something that we all feel is important to do. Time is what it takes. Just like with good bread."
It's not just loaves and bagels being made at Razava Bread Co., there is a whole menu of Middle Eastern-Mediterranean cafe plates for diners who want to grab a seat and eat in. "It gives us a lot of room to play with," believes Zin-Tamir.
toasts with relish and tin fish
General manager Loren Bunjes brought this plate out, "This dish started with me making breakfast for the team. They were having a heated discussion about various elements, and I thought they needed some provisions. So I chopped up some relish, put down some ricotta, and a bit of spicy tinned fish. It was so good we put it on the menu." Born of necessity.
jerusalem bagel and labneh
Yes there are bagels, with everything made in-house, including the shmears. And there are Jerusalem bagels with house labneh, above. "If you ever go to like an Arabic restaurant in Israel, or Middle East anywhere," explained Zin-Tamir, "the labneh is smeared over a plate, like a bowl. And the oil is on bottom and the za'atar is on top, but this is flipped. It's so beautiful and it allows you to dip down into the za'atar and it's amazing. You dip in, you make a mess, you spill sesame seeds all over and we feel happy."
shakshuka and bread
Shakshuka is one of the team's favorite dishes. "Bread is the ultimate comfort food," believes Zin-Tamir, "all these dishes pair well with the bread. But also they're very, very simple. They're about dipping. They're about eating with your hands But they are all high-quality. It's good for your gut, it's good for your soul, it's not going to break your back."
tomatoes on bread
Like a simple and sturdy homage to the Spanish pan con tomate. Plush tomatoes, garlic, and fresh flavors on great bread may be all you need to create something spectacular.
the dining room
You can see the remnants of our tasting in this photo, the space is clean and simple so that the bread remains the star.
The Razava team is hard at work perfecting recipes and training bakers and staff so that they might bring some of the old world craft, with timeless benefits, to the corner of Grand and St. Albans as soon as next week!
