Ozark village shop turns out artisanal bread crafted by hand
Nestled in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains is a small village with a special bakery: Serenity Farm Bread.
Serenity Farm Bread makes many different kinds of sourdough bread, including Country French, European Rye, Whole Wheat, Walnut Raisin, Whole Spelt and Multigrain. They are handcrafted and baked daily in a wood-fired brick oven.
Photo by Mike Maple
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A half-mile south of Leslie at the Serenity Farm Bread Pastry Shop, Memphis native Lynnwood Hage, 60, rolls out dough for palmiers. Serenity Farm Bread makes handcrafted sourdough breads baked in a wood-fired brick oven.
Photo by Mike Maple
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Sourdough loaves are baked in a brick oven at Serenity Farm Bread, founded in 1993 by Pennsylvania native David Lower.
Photo by Mike Maple
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Take U.S. 65 halfway from Little Rock to Branson, Mo., to find Serenity Farm Bread, where authentic European breads are baked fresh daily.
The autumn sunrise pierces the fog-covered Cove Creek, which runs through the small Ozark town of Leslie, Ark. — on U.S. 65 halfway between Little Rock and Branson, Mo. Bread is made in the old Farmers Bank. Built in 1907, and a bank until 1942, the bank’s old vault is where the dough and racks of bread are stored.
It’s 6 a.m., and the baker has been at work for nearly four hours. There is flour everywhere as the daily bread is mixed, kneaded and shaped. Flat rounds of focaccia bread are baked first — garlic-herb, tomato-olive, or fruit-filled
loaves, with apples, walnuts, raisins and honey.
It was 1974 when Hummelstown, Pa., native David Lower moved to Arkansas with a group of Vietnam veterans to plant trees. “When I graduated from college, there weren’t that many jobs, and we didn’t want to live in the big city,” said Lower, 60. “We all moved to Arkansas — my wife and I were the only two that stayed. The lifestyle just suited us.”
The tree planting business was not doing so well, he said, and “this doctor had built this bakery over there, and he had it only one year. One day I went in to get bread and he asked me if I knew anyone that would be interested in buying a bakery.”
That was it for Lower.
“I was the first person he told, I was looking for something, and I had some money.”
This was 1993. A labor of love was born.
Lower also speaks of preserving a lost art: “If there was so much money in making bread like this, someone else would be doing it. There’s no money in proofing bread.”
It’s 4 a.m., and they are in the bakery cutting, scaling and shaping the loaves. Lower is passionate about his craft.
“This is real French bread. Look at this, a 3-pound loaf, complete fermentation, even in the middle of the loaf.”
Just a half-mile south of Leslie is the Serenity Farm Bread Pastry Shop, serving light lunch and coffee, with a gift shop in an old house above the creek. Here you will find pastries created and baked by Memphis native Lynnwood Hage, 60, who trained in 1976 under the late Guy Pacaud and Andre Ginekis, Frenchmen who worked at La Baguette. Hage mastered the art of pastry making, moved his family to the mountains and began making pastries at Serenity Farm in 2000.
He rolls out the dough on his board, making croissants, pain au chocolat, eclairs, cream puffs, chausson aux pommes — a puff pastry with apples, tartes, palmiers and more to delight your taste buds.
It’s closing time, the big cat that lives at the highway shop is hungry, Lower is off to tend his garden, and Hage is just plain tired. Tomorrow is another day at the bakery. The town is blessed to have such a jewel.
More information
Serenity Farm ships bread anywhere. for more information contact, Serenity Farm Bread, P.O. Box 543, Leslie, AR, 72645 (870) 447-2211.
The Pastry Shop is open Wednesday through Sunday. (870) 447-2210
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