Nomad Bakehouse - Grace Garay

Since July of last year, I’ve personally made some changes regarding how much of certain foods I eat. Outside of dairy, bread has been one of the biggest things I consume far less of. Not for diet purposes, but as an overall lifestyle change.

Many of us have probably made similar changes as we begin to become more aware of how certain foods affect us. We do our best as willpower and budgets allow, to make better decisions, but in most cases, it’s easier said than done. Especially when something as foundational to our diet as bread is a major component of most meals all while having a huge stigma attached to it.

With barriers, whether it be knowledge and awareness or supply and cost, many of us may struggle to find locally sourced items that come from the hands of people that can actually tell us where our food is coming from.

Recently, I met Grace Garay, a local baker who is committed to supporting a localized food system and getting us to revisit something that she says at its core is good for us if it’s made correctly.

Her small cottage bakery is called Nomad Bakehouse. The name is fitting as Grace has been all over the country in her professional pursuits and her journey into bread making.

After tasting Grace’s bread being impressed by how good it tasted, I noticed it didn’t have the very painful aftereffects that has come from other breads I’ve tried. I sat down with her to learn about her business and why her bread was so good to my belly.

LH: Where did the passion for baking originate from?

“It all started back in San Antonio. I was studying music and business, and I had a hobby interest in baking.  I realized I didn’t want to continue with music or business so I found a program at St. Phillips Community College baking and pastry program.  Cynthia De La Fuente, who taught the program, was amazing. The way she introduced you to food was so passionate and her teaching style was so caring. She was able to critique you in a way that didn’t make you feel awful about yourself, which is rare in this industry.  She’s someone that 10 years later I wish to emulate. What she showed me was passion.”

After her program at St. Phillips, Grace moved to Chicago where she attended The French Pastry School, but found a love for bread during a two-week course in her curriculum. Upon finishing her education she went to work at the Peninsula Hotel in downtown Chicago and worked on everything from scratch pastries, banquets, line service, and afternoon tea.  Over time, her focus eventually started to shift.

“I was interested for a while and then it didn’t have enough depth for me. I wanted more dough work. That led me to Orlando where I worked at Osprey Tavern and Reyes Mezcaleria, but then I went to Miami where I worked at Zak the Baker, which was one of the best jobs I’ve ever had. I had an opportunity to grow there, but personal changes moved me to Vegas where I was a pastry sous chef at a Caesars hotel.”

LH: What was your a-ha moment where you knew you needed to make a change in how you grew in your profession and your personal life?

“I didn’t like the work I was doing out in Vegas. It was very corporate and I couldn’t find the heart in it. That changed my trajectory.

I realized where I had diverged off my path and I wanted to rectify it. I was distracted by things I thought I should be doing and searching for the perfect mentor. I realized I needed to figure it out for myself.

Using online resources and I started making bread when I got back to Orlando.  I had experienced some personal losses and I needed to take a step back and start reassessing and confronting things. Baking was a huge part of that so I could focus on bread solely and not be distracted while the rest of my life figured itself out.”

LH: After taking the time to focus on your craft, what do you now want people to understand about your bread and how it differs from what many of us are accustomed to eating?

“Bread now versus what bread was, say before the industrial revolution, when things started to become more efficient, is different due to the way the grain is processed and milled.

Most of the flour that you purchase at the stores is a roller milled white flour, which means the grain passes through a series of giant rollers that mechanically separates the outer husk (called the bran) layer of the grain and the germ. That is the portion of the grain that houses the majority of fatty acids, minerals, and vitamins vital to our systems, and that makes bread healthy for us to consume. The point of this process is to extract the perfect white starchy center called the endosperm, which produces a flour that results in a more consistent bake and softer product.

That is why everything sold in stores and a lot of bakeries is perfectly fluffy, bouncy, and white. The problem is that it's devoid of any nutrition and most often is packed with emulsifiers, fats, additives, and preservatives. Beyond the milling practices of grain, a huge misconception about bread is what the public thinks sourdough bread is. 

A lot of marketed "sourdough" bread has sourdough powder added to it for flavor purposes but it does not go through the fermentation process that true sourdough bread does. Real dough can ferment anywhere from 12-36 hours resulting in bread that has been significantly broken down, which makes mineral/vitamin absorption and digestion easier, hence the not feeling bloated after eating sourdough bread. For grain to be nutritional for us, it must be fermented.”

LH: What’s your goal with creating Nomad Bakehouse?

“I want people to get excited about eating bread again. It’s important that these vitamins and minerals are available to you.  Bread is expensive in stores, and a lot of health claims are made that aren’t true.  There’s a big issue with how our bread is marketed and you can easily think you’re making a good health-conscious purchase. I don’t want to just sell the bread, but I want to also educate.  I want people to know how to make it and maybe even host small sourdough workshops.  There’s a big barrier right now and I want everything to be transparent.”

LH: What are your upcoming plans to get Nomad Bakehouse out into the community?

“My plan is to do local markets and subscriptions so you can pay in advance for a month and get a new bread every week. I’d love to curate relationships with local coffee shops so I can do bread drops and make it accessible to different neighborhoods. 

There’s a lot of recipe formulating going on right now, so eventually there will be croissants, (hopefully, a 100% naturally leavened croissant) cookies, scones, and other items. I want to use an array of flours so I can offer a variety.”

LH: How has Orlando been good to you? What excites you about starting a business here?

“For a long time, I was interested in doing this in a city that was already doing it well, but I don’t know why I thought that. I started noticing there’s a small group here that is interested in really good food. There’s also an interest in starting small food businesses. I just had a gut feeling when I came back and people have been so supportive. Other small businesses have even reached out to me about supplying them bread. When there are people interested in good food, you can’t go wrong.

A lot of strangers donated to my GoFundMe, and the connection I started to make with people through Instagram was surprising. It’s made me confident and has allowed me to take the steps necessary to reach out.”

LH: What are your plans to add to the localized food community?

“I’m committed to finding urban farms and working with seasonal items. Le Koope, for instance, has pasture-raised chickens and she provides her eggs to the Farmacy. Fleet Farming is going to set up an edible landscape in my yard with herbs and tomatoes that I’ll be growing myself that I can use in my product. My plan is to support other local businesses. I don’t want to purchase things that I can source from local people. It’s not as easy, or cheap, but I would rather support someone that is growing organic. Nomad is a way to support a localized food system and support other entities.”

To keep up with Grace and how you can get your hands on one of her delicious loaves, follow her on Instagram at @nomadbakehousefl.