Feature loaf
Miche · №01
Miche de campagne
Weight2.0 kg
Ferment48 hrs
Hydration82%
Milled onStone, whole
Serves10 — 12
Price$26
Forno is a stone-milled, naturally leavened bakery on Rue de la Farine. We ship nationally on Tuesday and Friday and still know every regular by the name of their dog.
Four breads, milled from grain grown within a hundred and twenty miles. Pick what you want and we'll wrap it in kraft paper tied with linen string.
We didn't invent this. Bakers have been doing it for five thousand years. We just refused to speed it up.
We stone-mill heritage grains — Red Fife, Rouge de Bordeaux, Turkey Red — in the basement each Monday. Warm, dusty, a little musical.
Flour and well water rest together for four quiet hours. The bran softens. The gluten begins to think for itself.
Eight folds over sixteen hours at 24 °C. The dough doubles, breathes, and starts to smell of wheatfield and wild yogurt.
Loaded onto a 380 °C stone deck before dawn. Dark crackling crust, 24 minutes of steam, then silence and cooling racks.
The only metrics we trust are the ones that let the bread taste of the place it came from.
natural ferment on the miche — no commercial yeast, ever.
stone deck. We bake everything on brick, like the old rue Saint-Benoît ovens.
milled on-site each week from farms inside a 120-mile circle.
on the floor between 3 am and sunrise. Most days we sing.
Red Fife, Rouge de Bordeaux, Turkey Red, Rouge du Roc, spelt, einkorn — grown by three farms inside a hundred-and-twenty-mile circle and delivered in paper sacks on Mondays.
We use well water drawn from the building's original 1912 line. The mineral profile is what gives the crust its amber color and the crumb its slight sweetness.
A four-deck brick oven, built from salvaged firebrick by a mason named Ezra in the fall of 2014. It holds heat like a memory and takes four hours to warm in the morning.
They arrive at three, sing a little, argue with the fire, and walk out into the morning smelling of toast.
Head baker
Trained in Lyon. Believes every bake should teach him something.
Miller & levain keeper
Runs the stone mill. Names the starter each season.
Pastry & viennoiserie
Quiet hands, loud butter. The croissants are hers.
Ovens
Night shift. The only person who argues with the fire and wins.
“Forno's miche arrived still warm under the kraft wrap — I held the loaf for a minute before I could cut it. It crackled like a campfire.”
If you don't see yours here, write to hello@forno.bakery. Rémy reads every note over the first espresso.
We bake Tuesday through Saturday at 4 am, wrap in kraft, and hand the boxes to overnight carriers by 10 am. Most of the country has bread on the counter the next morning. West coast orders get double insulation and ship Monday.
Yes — a single stone mill in the basement, run once a week. We use Red Fife, Rouge de Bordeaux, Turkey Red, and a handful of heritage ryes from three farms within 120 miles. The mill is loud and dusty and we love it.
Please do. Pick the loaves, pick the day (weekly, fortnightly, monthly), and we bake them the morning they go out. Cancel any week in the account page — no penalties, no forms.
Every loaf we sell — from the miche down to the baguette — is naturally leavened with our house starter. No instant yeast, no dough conditioners, no shortcuts. The ferment takes as long as it takes.
We don't do gluten-free — it needs its own clean kitchen to be done honestly and we don't have one yet. We'd rather say no than pretend.
We'll bake your loaves the morning they ship — Tuesday or Friday, your choice — and wrap them in kraft paper tied with linen. Cancel any week, no questions.