minutes during a process called autolysis. “That allows you to
develop gluten without beating the hell out of the bread.”
Soon—after a few more rises—we’re shaping the bread into
boules, which themselves go through another rise before baking in
a 500°F oven. After that, Rodriguez shows me how she uses day-
old bread to make her quirky bread salad (her technique of flicking
the toasted bread with a balsamic vinegar solution is totally
brilliant) and how she turns Hot Bread Kitchen tortillas (made,
painstakingly, in-house) into chilaquiles, a fantastic Mexican
breakfast.
All the while, Rodriguez is managing the office, the kitchen, and
tour groups that come through to see how this all works. She’s a
woman whose charitable nature is not at odds with her extreme
ambition. She’s not here to conquer the food world; she’s here to
help other women get a leg up. And judging by the breads that
come out of the Hot Bread Kitchen, these women are well on their
way.