When it comes to artisan baking, there’s always been a battle between the purists and those who believe that strategic automation allows bakers to bring Old World bread to a broader audience. So how do bakers harness the true art of baking and make a living at it? Maybe an analogy might help.

“It’s like the tree that falls in the forest that nobody hears,” observed Etai Baron, owner of Izzio’s Artisan Bakery. “If you make a great loaf of bread and nobody eats it, did you really make a great loaf of bread? It’s important that artisan bakers are making bread that everybody can eat and wants to eat, and that people can afford to eat.”

From a technical perspective, artisan baking is simply complex. Think about the formula with just a handful of ingredients that creates a classic bread with a mosaic of flavors through a natural process that bakers mastered a century ago.

“Our contribution is we’re making breads that are more complex than the bakers who have come before us,” Mr. Baron said. “We’re bringing even more complexity to the flavors to create a better artisan bread.”

Izzio’s process involves seven starters. The bakery developed a synchronized schedule in the beginning and incorporated more automation later in the process to meet the market’s demand.

“We spent years trying to get it right,” Mr. Baron said. “At the end of the day, what matters is the amount of starter that goes into the final formula.”

And, he adds, making affordable bread that consumers crave. That’s how Izzio’s makes artisan bread that everyone can enjoy.