downtown.breada.org
Kathleen and Ben Cooper of Forte Grove Bakery.
Back in July I devoted my “Reflections” column to singing the praises of home-baked sourdough bread in general, the baking skills of CR Managing Editor Lucie Monk Carter in particular, then wrapped the whole thing up by disparaging the apparent absence of high quality sourdough bread for sale in Baton Rouge. Shortly after the article appeared, I had the pleasure of speaking with Kathleen Cooper, owner of Plaquemine’s Forte Grove Bakery. With impressive restraint, Kathleen reminded me that she and her husband, Bill, offer multiple naturally leavened sourdough breads at both the Thursday and Saturday editions of the Red Stick Farmers Market. And have indeed been doing so for nine years. Apparently I am the only one who had overlooked this fact, because since speaking with Kathleen, I have received calls and emails from a number of Forte Grove acolytes pointing out the same thing. I regret the oversight and humbly beg the Coopers’ forgiveness. Find Forte Grove’s naturally leavened hearth breads at the Red Stick Farmers Market, from 8 am–noon Thursdays at Pennington Biomedical Research Center on Perkins Road, and 8 am–noon Saturdays at the corner of Fifth and Main streets. Visit downtown.breada.org for a complete list of vendors.
—James Fox-Smith
Read James’ original hot take here: countryroadsmagazine.com/cuisine/Louisiana-foodways/reflections_sourdough
