Philadelphia, Pa. – Whole Foods Market is partnering with The Bread Lab at Drexel University to create flavorful, fresh-milled breads made from recipes by Chef Marc Vetri and Vetri Head Baker Claire Kopp McWilliams that utilize locally sourced ingredients. The breads are now available for purchase exclusively at Philadelphia’s newest Whole Foods Market location at 2101 Pennsylvania Avenue.
This unique collaboration with The Bread Lab at Drexel University utilizes some of Philadelphia’s best culinary resources to create bread made with long-fermented dough from fresh-milled wheat. Chef Marc Vetri and Vetri Head Baker Claire Kopp McWilliams created the recipes with flour from Castle Valley Mill in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Castle Valley Mill flour is processed slowly and at cool temperatures on antique buhr mills to ensure that the flavor and nutrients of the grain are preserved.
The breads, offered as either a batard or baguette, are made from scratch by Whole Foods Market bakers. As with all other products sold at Whole Foods Market, the bread meets Whole Foods Market’s rigorous quality standards and is free of artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, preservatives and hydrogenated fats.
On Sunday, July 16 from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. customers are invited to sample the bread and talk with Vetri Head Baker Claire Kopp McWilliams and Alexandra Zeitz of The Bread Lab at Drexel University.
“I am honored to be a part of The Bread Lab at Drexel University,” said Chef Marc Vetri. “The recipes we created for this project are all about the quality of flour produced at Castle Valley Mill and bringing out its natural taste and nutrients.”
“The Bread Lab at Drexel is an exciting new partnership with the Bread Lab at Washington State. Our Culinary & Food Science department along with Nutrition Sciences will work on how to integrate whole grains back into the diet,” said Rosemary Trout, head of the Culinary Arts & Food Science department. “They taste great, and the nutritional benefits are there too. Where Washington State has land and expertise in growing varieties of wheat and grains, we have high population density to distribute recipes, freshly-milled whole grain products and cooking techniques to many people in the city. Taking an idea and translating it into a delicious and nutritional product is what we do best.”
“We are thrilled to partner with The Bread Lab at Drexel University to create this new line of fresh-milled breads now available in our store,” said Anastasia Sotiropulos, Whole Foods Market regional bakery coordinator. “All involved in this unique collaboration – Drexel University, Chef Marc Vetri and Castle Valley Mill – are devoted to finding more flavorful, natural foods and, together, we created breads that draw out the inherent features and tastes of the high quality flour.”
About the Bread Lab at Drexel University
The Bread Lab at Drexel University focuses on product development, nutrition and issues of health and access surrounding whole grains and our communities. In conjunction with master chef Marc Vetri, Stephen Jones, PhD, distinguished visiting fellow in Drexel’s Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation and director of The Bread Lab at Washington State University, and key academic units throughout Drexel University, the lab conducts cutting edge research on the culinary, sensory, nutrition, flavor and chemical aspects of promising varieties of grain. The lab focuses on nutrition analysis, recipe and product development, fresh local milling, and natural leavening in order to resolve business and social challenges of the food industry and to address issues unique to a major urban center. The lab also works with eastern PA farmers and local millers to bring value back to our communities. The Bread Lab at Drexel University is the east coast’s urban extension of The Bread Lab at Washington State University.
About Drexel University
Founded in 1891 in Philadelphia, Drexel is a comprehensive urban university of more than 26,000 students, consistently ranked in America’s top 100 by U.S. News & World Report. Drexel is a leader in experiential, technology-infused education, enriched by the nation’s premier cooperative education program. The University’s recognized excellence in translational research is supported by the Coulter Foundation through the Coulter-Drexel Translational Research Partnership. Drexel advances its culture of innovation by encouraging multidisciplinary collaboration, technology commercialization and entrepreneurship — an approach exemplified by the ExCITe (Expressive and Creative Interaction Technologies) Center, the interdisciplinary A.J. Drexel Institutes, Drexel Ventures, the Innovation Center @ 3401 Market Street, the Close School of Entrepreneurship and the Baiada Institute for Entrepreneurship. Drexel is also committed to becoming the nation’s most civically engaged university, improving quality of life in its neighborhood and the city through the twin engines of community partnerships and innovation-based economic development.
