COEUR d'ALENE - Good bread, said chef James Beard, "is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts."

Agreed, says Jim Hanson.

That's why he rises early, like 2 a.m. on Friday, and heads for Pilgrim's Market in Coeur d'Alene. There, the baker settles into his task of creating the best of breads.

"I love to find authentic recipes and make good, quality bread," he said.

These days, a French Bongard stone deck steam-injected oven is helping him make that bread the way it was originally made and meant to be.

Come mornings, you'll find him in the Pilgrim's kitchen, watching over the breads before, during and after they're placed in the oven.

The offerings, 4-5 varieties per day, range from ciabatta, bagettes, whole grain boule, gluten-free boule, German Korni and calamata olive rosemary.

Friday, he pulled bagettes from the oven, then the ciabatta.

"We're getting them in the case now," he said.

The steam-injected oven bakes the bread at high heat, typically 30-40 minutes at 450 degrees. The end result? "Rustic loaves of bread with deep golden crunchy crusts and soft airy centers. Free of chemicals, preservatives and artificial ingredients, these breads are simple and delicious, and often naturally leavened," a release said.

Call it European style.

"This is where bread originally started - in a good crusty, hard, grainy loaf," Hanson said.

According to a press release from Pilgrim's, "there is a food renaissance sweeping the country, as producers return to their roots with small-batch production of quality, local and artisan foods."

Pilgrim's Market is keeping the pace in innovative and healthy foods with the only authentic European stone hearth oven in North Idaho and Hanson, their award-winning baker.

It was Pilgrim's owner Joe Hamilton who saw the need for premium artisan breads in North Idaho and had been searching for a master baker.

Earlier this year, a resume landed on his desk that caught his attention.

"The resume spoke of Jim Hanson, a baker with 22 years of bread baking experience, who specialized in European hearth breads, trained in San Francisco and Paris and had won 17 bakery awards," a release said.

Hamilton called Hanson. He found he was intrigued by this man of few words and sensed an inner drive and passion in him.

"He followed his hunch, hired Jim and, almost a year later, finally acquired the custom oven and tools Jim needed to truly practice his art," the release said. "The comforting aroma of crusty hearth loaves now smothering Pilgrim's Market is proof that it has been worth the wait."

Founded in 1922, Bongard has become the French specialist in baking and pastry-making equipment, and the acquisition of this European bread oven has brought the warmth of the French countryside to the tables of North Idaho.

Hamilton believes that the current trend in the United States' culinary culture to return to handcrafted, small-batch foods truly began with the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.

This Act established guidelines that prohibited the use of harmful and un-natural chemicals in food production.

"It was a vital step in combating the wholesale adoption of big industrial farming and food production techniques pioneered in the U.S.," the release said. "By creating standards for growing food in a more natural and time-honored manner, a more wholesome food supply was able to flourish."

Today, many chefs and bakers and entrepreneurs are blending the best of modern scientific and technological advancements with time-honored traditions, to create new flavors and experiences.

Micro-brews, unique charcuterie, fermented foods, truly wood-oven pizzas, hearth breads and more are now becoming readily available.

Pilgrim's is part of that move.

Its bakery currently bakes fresh breads, pastries and desserts Monday through Friday, and anticipates adding freshly baked offerings on Saturday and Sunday soon.

Hanson and his wife, Blair, who grew up in the Coeur d'Alene area, and their daughter were thrilled to move to North Idaho.

He got his start in the bakery business when he was living in Texas, and was applied for a job as a baker's assistant.

He didn't have a baking background, but was hired anyway, and quickly took to perfecting pastries.

"I got interested in bread pretty quickly after that," he said.

"I knew immediately this was going to be my thing. I loved this."

When he discovered European stone hearth oven and the breads he could create, he was fired up.

"I thought, 'This is pretty cool,'" he said.

The keys to great bread, Hanson said, are time, patience and paying attention to every detail of the process, start to finish.

It's why he usually arrives by 5 a.m. and doesn't leave until early afternoon.

"It won't let you cheat at all. You can't cheat on the time. You can't cheat on ingredients," he said. "We use organic ingredients, the best we can find, and make bread to the best of our ability."