Community Corner

Meet Mission Viejo's Bread Winner

After winning Best of Show at the OC Fair for sourdough bread, Mission Viejo's Daniel Sauerwald describes his passion for baking. Want to know his secret?

Daniel Sauerwald bakes great bread, and now he has the prizes to prove it.

On his first time entering the Orange County Fair's hand made yeast bread competition, the Mission Viejo resident took Best of Show for his sourdough.

He also took first place for his French bread. Even his rolls won an honorable mention.

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Sauerwald decided to enter the contest last year.

"When I looked at the breads that had won, I thought, 'Hey, I can do that!'" he said.

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The baker on Noll Lake in the Painted Trails community said French bread is his favorite—it's both easy to make and tastes great plain or with butter, he said. And when he can, he eats his French bread with gumbo.

"One of my favorite things is to make a gumbo and have some nice crunchy french bread to go with it instead of rice," he said.

So what makes this graphic designer who works from home produce such amazingly tasty bread?

The sourdough, he said, takes good starter and careful timing.

"I think it's mostly the starter that I use, and just getting the proportions right," he said. "When you make sourdough bread in particular you have to pay attention to the timing of the different stages like rising."

Luckily for those around him, Sauerwald's not opposed to sharing his crusty creations.

"When new neighbors move in across the street, I'll bake a loaf of bread and take it over there with some cheese to say hello," he said.

But unless you are a neighbor or get a dinner invitation, you won't be able to try Sauerwald's bread. He's not planning on selling it anytime soon.

"It's something I've thought about, but with a home oven if I worked all day long, I can make 12 loaves," he said. "That would have to be some pretty expensive bread to pay the rent."


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