Saint Paul Bread Club
We knead to bake!
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A bit of history
Founding and Purpose
The SPBC was founded in 2003 by Dan “Klecko” McGleno, as a way for him to give something back to the community. He created the club to bring together people interested in bread and bread baking to share information and their passion for bread and bread making. The SPBC may be the biggest bread club in the United States (not there is a lot of competition). It’s not like bread clubs associated with bakeries where you can pay for a bread subscription or you get a free loaf after you’ve bought a bunch of loaves over time.
2003 – The First Year
For the first year, we met quarterly at the community meet room at the Mississippi Market Co-op at Selby and Dale in St. Paul. People brought samples which we critiqued. We typically had 6 to 8 people.
2004 – The Year of Change
Starting in 2004, we started meeting at Saint Agness Baking Company, where Klecko worked as production manager.
2005 – The Year of Growth
Starting in 2005, we started getting more publicity, and recognition around the Twin Cities. This led to increases in the number of people showing up at quarterly meetings.
2006 – The Year of the Cookbook
The Minnesota Historical Society published a cookbook written by Kim Ode based on interviews with members of the SPBC.
The October quarterly meeting had about 100 people because of all the publicity we got from the release of the book.
2007 – A Year of Diverse Events
We continued to meet quarterly at St. Agnes. Another interesting bake-off. A lot more interesting people showed up.
2008 – Another Year of Diverse Events
We continued to meet quarterly at St. Agnes. Another interesting bake-off. More interesting people showed up.
The “Bread and Soup” meeting of 2008 showed up in the February, 2010 issue of Relish magazine, which is a food magazine inserted in a number of newspapers all over the US. The main story appeared on page 8 of the print edition as a story named The Gospel of Bread with a link to some pictures of the 2008 bread and soup meeting.
2009 – Master Classes
Quarterly Master Classes
2009 was a year when you had to participate in order to show up.
Klecko set four meeting topics as master classes, where everybody had to bring whatever was the subject of the master class.
Croissants
# French Breads # Sourdough # Quick Breads
2010
There was no bake-off in 2010, and the December meeting was canceled because of a record-setting snowfall. These were the meetings we did have:
- Saturday, January 30, 10:30 a.m. - Soup du jour
- Saturday, March 27, 10:30 a.m. - Other Breads
- Saturday, September 11, 10:30 a.m. - Delicatessen Meeting
We also had a nice picnic at Silverwood Park on August 8, 2010; we were able to use the new brick oven there.
SPBC on Facebook
Taking advantage of social media, in 2010 I created a Facebook group for the Saint Paul Bread Club. It provides an alternative (though not definitive) way to communicate with both official members and Facebook-only members.
SPBC in the Media
2009
There was a video feature about our work building ovens broadcast by our local television station, KARE-11 on August 18, 2009.
It is on-line thanks to their archiving of their “Extras” segments.
This link provides access to the feature itself. (Some browsers haven’t wanted to display the video.)
2010
Relish
The SPBC was featured in the February issue of Relish magazine, which is a food magazine inserted in a number of newspapers all over the US. The main story appeared on page 8 of the print edition as a story named The Gospel of Bread with a link to some pictures of the 2008 bread and soup meeting.
About a half-dozen people around the US have contacted me about starting bread clubs because of that article. (See below for information aobut starting a bread club.)
New York Times Magazine
There was an article ?ref=dining in the New York Times Magazine called, “The 36-Hour Dinner Party,” written by Michael Pollan, and published October 6, 2010. (You might need to register with the NYT to view.)
The article referred to “The Community Oven” as one aspect of the gathering. In the comments to the article, comment 15 (by “Food Snob”) contains this question, “Why not have this event in an actual community oven, in a community, so that more people can participate than just a select–elite–few.” Then it mentions a web site for a community oven in Cambridge, New York, and then (drum roll) it mentions the Community Oven page on the SPBC Quest for Ovens web site.
Saint Cloud Times
The SPBC was mentioned in the Saint Cloud Times in a D’lish column article dated 8/25/10 about quickbreads. (There is an on-line version of the article, but it is behind a paywall.) Recipes were included by SPBC members MaryJo Boyle, Julie Jensen, Darlene Lewis, Danny McGleno, and Ron Miller.)
The SPBC was also mentioned in the Saint Cloud Times in a D’lish column article dated 10/27/10 about muffins
Radio KASM
David S. Cargo was interviewed on an Albany, Minnesota radio station, KASM (for all of about 15 minutes), coincidentally also on 10/27/10.