by Bob McClain
(www.wordsmithbob.com)
6-06-05

Ferman’s Featherstone Farm French Bread

That’s what it says at the top of the recipe sheet I have attached by magnet to the front of my refrigerator. I normally don’t collect recipes but Ferman’s French bread is an incredible place to put cheese, cream cheese, olive oil, or even butter and jam.

Funny thing is, I’ve had the recipe for three years and never made a single loaf. Not because it’s hard to make, which it isn’t. And not because I wouldn’t love to have a few slices every day. It’s because of the wonderful experience that surrounds the consumption of Ferman’s French bread twice a year when we make the pilgrimage to Featherstone Farm for their pottery sale.

Featherstone Pottery is about ten minutes outside of Red Wing, Minnesota. There on their 81 year old Uncle Ferman’s farm, two brothers, Tom and Jeff Larkin, practice one of the most ancient of all art forms, pottery.

Several years ago, my wife and I traveled to Featherstone Pottery on a lark, based on a blurb I’d read in the paper. We expected to find pottery. What we didn’t expect was to be immersed in a gentle and charming culture of art that dates back over a century in Minnesota.

When you step out of your car, you begin to feel it. Your muscles start to loosen. Your bones rearrange. The tension surrounding your heart and mind slowly leach into the earth. You don’t hear any traffic. None. Birds offer song, the old windmill squeals and strains, and a tiny cat scrabbles in the corner of the yard, rustling the leaves.

A short walk across the yard brings you to the studio and gallery, converted from an old chicken coop. Behind that lies the climbing, wood-fired kiln. It’s massive, half buried in the ground and covered by a rustic, Asian-inspired structure. If you’re ever lucky enough to be invited to one of their kiln firings, it’s a forty-eight hour ritual of huge amounts of wood being fed to a roaring fire, incredible food and wonderful company. You can even just sit and watch the flames glow and dance.
 

Your attention is drawn to the quiet voices you hear coming from the coop. You walk in and there’s pottery everywhere. Rich, smoky glazes sputter and flow across the rough texture of Goodhue County clay. Platters and plates of food sprawl across Tom and Jeff Larkin’s worktables and potting wheels. And people are stacking and piling pottery on a table, admiring their discoveries, hoarding their treasures, paying for future family heirlooms.

Their next pottery sale is November 5th from 10am to 5pm, November 6th from 12am to 4pm and November 12th & 13th, same times. For more information about the brothers, their kiln, or their pottery, please visit their website at www.featherstonepottery.com. For Uncle Ferman’s bread recipe, see below.

Ferman’s Featherstone Farm French Bread

1 ½ c. course rye flour
1 ½ c. steel cut oats
1 ½ c. unbleached white flour
1 tsp. active dry yeast
1 12 ounce beer plus 12 ounces water or 3c. water

Mix, cover and let stand 3 days to a week

Add:
1 c. water
1 heaping tbsp. yeast
1 heaping tbsp. salt
6-7 c. unbleached white flour

Preheat oven at 450 degrees for 30 minutes
Bake 400 degrees 20-25 minutes

Makes 4 incredible loaves. Serve with organic butter or seasoned olive oil, cheese, fruit, and your favorite wine. Relax.
 

© 2004 - 2011 Twin Cities Dining Guide, LLC, Minneapolis, MN 763-591-9087 | Built by Net Dynasty | Designed by Blue Over Blue