We're a Featured Publication!?!
sharing cool news & asking about your fav 🍕
Good morning Bread friends,
For the first time in a long time – as I’m writing to you on a Tuesday morning – I’m actually NOT simultaneously baking a couple dozen loaves of sourdough bread. In fact, I’m writing this on my phone on my way to NYC… so I’d say my bakery’s two-month summer break is starting off well.
Those of you who read last week’s newsletter carefully might be surprised to be seeing another letter from me so soon. I mentioned that I was giving myself permission to not write every single week during these two months of summer break. However, I got some pretty big & surprising news last week that I’m excited to share with you.
The service that I use to host this newsletter is called Substack. I find them to be easy to use and I really like that they try to build a culture of supporting writers as they pursue making a living through their craft. One of the ways that they support writers is through mentorship & grants. A few months back I saw that they were hosting a three-month mentorship class specifically for food writers.
I think of this newsletter as a hodgepodge of food writing, social justice commentary & the operational hub of my little philanthropic bakery… so I thought it’d be worth applying to be a part of this food writers’ class. I found out last month that I didn’t win a spot in this year’s consortium of food writers. However, we must have gotten on someone’s radar, because late last week I learned that Bread & Justice was being featured on Substack’s featured newsletters page.
On their own, newsletters have a bit of a discovery problem. The primary way that this newsletter has grown over time is because those of you who resonate with it in some way choose to share it with others. I’m so insanely grateful each time someone new signs up because I know that someone here is likely directly responsible for sharing it. In a similar but different way, it is a huge honor that we were being featured by Substack, because it is creating a ton of new visibility for this community. As a result, we experienced a little over 20% growth in our subscriber base over the weekend.
So… 👋🏽 Hello to all of you that are new here. I’m so glad you made it to this little corner of the Internet where we believe that real bread & real justice are both worth fighting for. If you’re still getting a feel for what to expect, here are a few links (1, 2, 3, 4) to past issues that may help paint a picture.
I told myself that I’d keep today’s letter short so that I can sleep on this flight… but since I’m on my way to New York, naturally I’ve got pizza on my mind.
🍕 So I want to close with a quick question: What are your top two favorite pizza places and why? The “why” is important because I find that people often have a story or explanation associated with their favorite pizza. You could reply to answer by email or you might answer in the comments section… but I’d really love to hear from you.
Thanks!
Mo
P.S. for those of you who are local in Madison- this is a reminder that there is no bread pickup this week & no bread through all of June and July.
P.P.S. If there are any bakeries or pizza places that you want to recommend I try to visit in NYC or DC this week- hurry up and let me know! 😎 🙏🏽
Congrats Mo, this is wonderful news.
Locally here in Madison I think Greenbush Bar is my favorite (try a sausage and giardiniera). Further afield I love Lou Malnati’s in Chicago for deep dish (I’ve heard all the arguments about whether or not it’s pizza; either way it’s delicious), Pizza Port in/around San Diego (although their superb beers may be a strong influence there), and Woodstock’s in every major university town in CA. RIP to That Pizza Place in Carlsbad, CA, which was a local legend that didn’t make it through the pandemic.
As for toppings: I think fresh tomato is highly underrated (try with garlic or ground beef) and giardiniera is tremendously underutilized.
While you’re in NYC you might try to connect to Miriam Weiskind from The Za Report. She’s pretty amazing and was highlighted in a really good YouTube video from Munchies (Brooklyn Pizza Sold Out Of A One Bedroom Apartment). It’s amazing and I think you two could be very simpatico.
Well earned!