Breaking Bread:Stillman Ave Bread
Ian Trager, proprietor of Stillman Ave Bread, is a man of many talents. A graduate of the University of Redlands in classical guitar performance and a former head roaster for a local coffee company, Trager has taken his years of training in both disciplines to fine tune his new venture with an astute attention to detail while bringing out the subtle nuances of each loaf that taste great on its own or spread with our seaweed butter.
We spent a morning with Ian to find out more about him and Stillman Ave Bread.
How did Stillman Ave Bread start?
Stillman Ave Bread started during the pandemic. I had been baking sourdough for a couple years already just for myself, but when I was laid off from my coffee roasting position in March 2020, I decided to try and sell some bread to friends and family to make some income.
Our daycare had closed, we had a new baby, and my wife was teaching online from home so I decided not to go back to my old position when the opportunity arose. Slowly the menu and customer list grew and I started selling bread at the farmers market in downtown Redlands and then branching out into wholesale for Gerrard’s and a few coffee shops.
I started baking for R-O-C after Emanuel had my pastries at Landmark. He reached out about bread for the restaurant and now uses my Country Sourdough for all the bread items on the menu.
What inspires you to bake daily?
Baking naturally leavened (that’s just a fancy way to say sourdough) bread is very rewarding. The dough is affected by humidity, temperature, and the general environment so no two bakes are quite the same. I enjoy the challenge of it and the tactile hands in the dough nature of it.
It requires constant adjustment of temperature and tweaking of flour blends and water content to get the result I want. Though there are only three ingredients: flour, water and salt (and starter which is just fermented flour and water) it is never the same, and I enjoy the challenge!
What tasting profile does your bread tend to lean towards?
I aim to make sourdough bread with a moderate sourness and a lot of depth of flavor and complexity. I like to bake to a deep color for extra flavor and shoot for a thin crispy crust with a little chew and a crumb that is light and almost creamy with holes that aren’t too big so the good stuff doesn’t fall through. I like to incorporate lots of locally grown whole grains in everything I bake which provides lots of flavor as well as additional nutrition.
Other than bread, what other pastries do you do?
Each week I make a couple different breads and a handful of pastries. I always have croissants and chocolate croissants on the menu and rotate a couple other pastries using flaky croissant dough as the base. I also make Swedish style cardamom buns and chocolate chip cookies. My wife and oldest daughter were both diagnosed with Celiac disease a few years after opening, so I have had to adjust and now also make gluten free sourdough and am always working on expanding what gluten free pastries I make.
Where can people find SAB?
The best way to find me is through my email list, or on Instagram. For the widest menu selection I offer pre-orders for pickup every Friday afternoon. I also make pastries for Landmark Coffee Roasters and Wild Goose Coffee Roasters that get dropped off fresh a few mornings each week. I drop bread at Gerrard’s Market on Wednesday and Friday afternoons.
Follow along with @stillmanavebread