More time at home combined with the initial panic buying that left aisles temporarily empty has resulted in the revival of one of the world’s oldest manmade foods: bread. Uma Iyer, owner of Plano’s Tart-a-licious, joined the national bread-baking movement as a way to respond to the uncertainty of her business and the unpredictable future caused by the pandemic.
After experimenting with a variety of recipes, Iyer paused production of her specialty bite-sized tarts to focus on a new project called Bread for All. The pivot is a small-scale program that delivers artisan bread to doorsteps around the Dallas area for under $10. All proceeds go toward Heard That Foundation’s newest project called Farm to Home, a system that will allow unemployed service industry members to select products of their choice from Profound Foods, a farm-to-restaurant distributor that’s also pivoted by fulfilling the new demand for farm-sourced foods directly to consumers.
Iyer likes to frame the project as an experiment and wants to keep it simple, like bread: “We are giving something as basic and essential as bread, delivered to people’s homes, and at the same time giving them a channel to do good.”
The variety of bread offered in Bread For All changes every week. The first week was sourdough, the recipe Iyer first attempted like so many others, and then ciabatta and brioche buns followed. She even mastered airy Japanese milk bread in time for last week’s orders. This week, she’ll return to sourdough since it’s an obvious obsession, and the program will end with a bang the last week of May with brioche doughnuts and bagels filled with Jammit Jams, the whole fruit spreads known for the “splash of libation” they contain.
The order form on Tart-a-licious’ website opens Tuesday each week and closes Thursday for Saturday morning deliveries. Every week thus far has sold out, partially due to the small batches with which Iyer started. As she considers extending the program past May with deliveries throughout Allen, Plano, Richardson and Dallas, she wants to keep the offer under $10. “Bread is such a basic thing,” she says. “I don’t want it to be [financially] overwhelming for people at this time."
Iyer became inspired by Heard That Foundation’s mission to improve the working conditions of service industry members when she participated as a vendor in last year’s HagFest, a fundraiser organized by friends of one of Dallas’ most high-profile chefs, Reyna Duong. The pop-up market raised funds to help Duong, who had temporarily closed her restaurant for a week as she underwent surgery for a perforated intestine.
Now that the service industry needs more help more than ever, Iyer reached out to Heard That in mid-April with the Bread for All idea. After Heard That’s Family Meal program tapered off at HG Sply Co. when the restaurant reopened, they created another way to help service industry members by coordinating with Jeff Bednar of Profound Foods to start offering farmer’s bags.
The new initiative will start this week with the goal of giving unemployed workers a choice of healthy local products to choose from rather than a pre-packaged one-for-all to-go box. The first pickup is scheduled May 21 at Community Beer in Dallas. To register for the first week of the program, click here.
As for when we can get Iyer’s speciality tarts, financiers and mousses, she is considering re-opening Tart-a-licious after Memorial Day. But for now, she is busy with her new passion — baking bread for a good cause.
Visit Tart-a-licious at tartalicious.com.
