The Occasional Blog

Nixtamalization is the process of soaking and cooking dried corn in an alkaline solution, usually water and calcium hydroxide, also called slaked lime. It softens the outer hull of the kernel, unlocks nutrients that would otherwise pass through the body unused, and transforms the corn into something it could not become on its own. That something is masa, the foundation of tortillas, tamales, and countless other foods that have fed people for thousands of years.

Meaders Moore Ozarow evaluates every restaurant she walks into the same way. She looks at the bread. Not as a supplier checking whether her product landed on the table, but as someone who has spent more than three decades believing that what a kitchen puts in front of you before the meal begins tells you everything about how much they care about what follows. 

On South Polk Street in Oak Cliff, the DART rail runs every few minutes. It connects the corners of Dallas- Uptown to Deep Ellum, the suburbs to the city's edge. Set back from the tracks, tucked inside Tyler Station, a converted industrial complex, you'll find the bakery, Oak Cliff Bread.