Bree’Osh — Ingredient & Process FAQ
Why did we create Bree’Osh?
Bree’Osh was created from a simple observation: modern baking is not going on the right direction. To us, it’s no longer behaving like food which is supposed to feed our bodies.
Furthermore, baked goods remain one of the least controlled food categories. How come a “butter croissants (even made by artisans)” often contain added vegetable fats, stabilizers, emulsifiers, flavorings?!
There is almost no traceability, no fat standards, no grain standards.
Most bakeries cannot tell you the wheat sourced nor varietals, how it’s been ground and why, the kind of fermentation followed behind their products.
Bread is still sold as a “something white soft, aesthetic with 2 weeks of shelf-life” in grocery stores — not as a controlled food system.
Bree’Osh was built to contribute to change that.
What are our 4 standards?
1. Clean Fat system
All our products are built exclusively on extra-virgin olive oil, ghee, 83% fat butter, and beef tallow. We categorically exclude seed oils except for the challah bread where we use a premium neutral grape seed oil.
2. 100% French Grain Program
Our flour is selected from French grain (Label rouge) and heritage French wheat varietals cultivated for long fermentation and flavor — not yield.
We do not work with (All purpose) commodity flour.
3. Long Fermentation only
Every bread and pastries are designed around controlled fermentation systems.
We do not adapt fermentation to products. We design products around fermentation.
4. Traditional Dairy Code
All cheeses follow traditional enzymatic standards, including animal rennet.
Why are our ingredient standards so strict?
Because bread is a biological system, not a recipe.
Every ingredient we used at Bree’Osh influences fermentation, structure, aroma, and how food is metabolized. We chose to work only with inputs that supports real fermentation and real digestion.
All our Flour comes from Moulin bourgeois, Verdelot (France) :
- T150 Stone-ground wheat flour
- T130 Stone-ground rye flour
- T80 Stone-ground Wheat – Rouge de Bordeaux (Heritage grain)
- T80 Stone-ground Petit Epeautre – Einkorn flour (Heritage grain)
- T65 – Sauvage – Label rouge
- T45 – Puff pastry & laminated dough
For further info :
https://www.moulins-bourgeois.com/en/flour-for-traditional-french-bread.php
Seafood :
Smoked salmon from Cambridge house, Santa Barbara (CA)
Fats :
- Extra virgin Olive oil
- Ghee butter
- 83% Fat Butter
- Beef tallow from California
Greens:
Salanova salad is from Sunrise Organic Farms in Buellton (CA)
Meats:
Ham is from Fra’Mani in Berkley (CA)
https://framani.com/products/rosemary-ham
Apple wood bacon is from Allen Brothers
https://www.allenbrothers.com/
Mary’s (Air chilled) chicken and Turkey (USDA Organic, Animal welfare certified, Non GMO)
Cheeses made with traditional animal rennet (No lab produced enzymes) :
Emmenthal, Gruyere, Parmesan, Cheddar , Tillamok
Even though it means higher cost, more complexity we believe it’s much better food.
Why do we use Grain and heritage grain flours Only from France?
Modern commodity wheat was bred for yield, uniformity, and mechanical tolerance (industrial batch size).
We select heritage and traditional French wheat varietals cultivated for long fermentation performance, mineral structure (nutrient rich), and flavor.
These grains behave differently over time. They ferment differently. They build structure differently. They digest differently.
Our flour is not a (All purpose) commodity. It feeds us!
Why do we use (as much as possible) Stoned milled flours?
High-speed roller milling generates heat and mechanical stress that:
- oxidize lipids
- damage enzymes
- reduce aromatic potential
- shorten flour life
Stone milling runs slower, cooler, and gentler. This means:
- less lipid oxidation
- better fat–fermentation interaction with our starters
- greater aromatic flavor
- improved dough behavior over long fermentation
- nutrient denser (since T80 is the minimum you are looking for stoned milled)
For a bakery built on clean fat systems, we believe it’s essential.
Why is everything sourdough and long-fermented (over days – not hours)?
We use starter in croissant, brioche, all our breads. Fermentation is the transformation step.
Time allows acidity to stabilize, sugars to be metabolized, gluten to reorganize, aromatics to develop, and fats to integrate.
A Bree’Osh our brioche and laminated doughs take respectively 2 and 3 days. Our panettones take 4 days.
Slow fermentation is a biological requirement that needs to be paired with the nutritive flours and sourdough to provide any health benefits.
Why do you use multiple sourdough cultures?
We maintain 3 living sourdough cultures (Rye, liquid wheat and stiff wheat) because no single fermentation expresses the same.
- Country bread culture ≠ brioche / croissant culture
- Panettone culture ≠ croissant culture
Different cultures perform different acidification, leavening or aromatic development.
This is how we build breads that are stable, tasty, and naturally preserved. For instance, we use a liquid starter (enhance primarily leavening) and a rye starter (enhance primarily flavor) for our country bread.
Why do you use traditional dairy and animal-rennet cheeses?
Because we believe that fermentation is not chemistry. It is all about culture.
Milk origin, enzyme, culturing method, and maturation protocols profoundly influence flavor, structure, and digestibility. Traditional dairy systems evolved over centuries to support complex fermentation.
We follow and supports those systems.
Why do your products take so long to make?
Ou brioche and croissant doughs take respectively 2 and 3 days.
Our country bread or baguette take 3 days.
Our panettones take 4 days.
Because real transformation through natural fermentation require time (and cannot be rushed).
What is our approach?
Our approach is simple:
Nutritive bread =
Flour (Stoned milled, organic + high hash rate) + Starter (relevant) + Time
If we miss one of these factors, we believe we miss all point of eating bread !
Why our obsession on panettone?
I discovered traditional panettone in 2017 in Paris – thanks to my friend Christophe Louie.
Because it is one of the most technically demanding fermented products in the world. It’s also the best brioche I have ever tried!
Extreme hydration, fragile gluten, long timelines, natural preservation, and living starters leave no room for shortcuts.
Panettone is not a seasonal item for us. We make it all year round with different flavor (See on bree’Osh.com).
I particularly enjoy the fermentation discipline that the process require.
Who is Bree’Osh for?
For people who care how food is made.
Come spend time with us in Montecito or at our kitchen (de la vina). We’ll be more than happy to tell you more about our vision for food, and why we do what we do.