On Tuesday, May 13, Jim Amaral, owner and founder of Maine's famed Borealis Breads, will present a demonstration and tasting "hot from the oven" at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. The 4-5:30 p.m. program will be in the Kitchen Garden Café.

In his talk and demo, Amaral will focus on two artisanal breads, Garden Focaccia and Toasted Oat Bread. Both are great by themselves and make memorable sandwiches.

This program is part of the Kitchen Garden Series of demos and dinners co-presented by Maine Food & Lifestyle Magazine. The fee is $25 for Gardens members and $35 for non-members. For reservations, call 207-633-4333, or visit www.mainegardens.org.

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is on Barters Island Road in Boothbay.

Borealis Breads are naturally leavened with preferment or starter and contain no preservatives. The long (12-16 hours), natural leavening enhances the flavor and increases digestibility. Then, as are traditional European artisan loaves, the breads are baked on stone hearths in steam-injected deck ovens or in a wood-fired oven.

The ingredients are basic and beautiful: flour, water, salt. To these are added other tasty ingredients: olives, apples and cranberries, rosemary and more. Each loaf is shaped by hand by a baker who takes pride in producing bread that is moist, chewy and crusty.

Jim Amaral founded Borealis Breads in June of 1993. He hired his first employee that August and has since grown the business to include 45 employees, two bakeries and 350 wholesale accounts. Since its inception Borealis Breads has baked over 10 million rustic sourdough breads! Borealis Breads are now delivered fresh daily to stores in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Amaral began his career as a baker while in high school and then put himself through Bates College by baking summers and during vacations. In 1990 he moved to Seattle, where he developed his sourdough-bread-baking skills at Grand Central Baking Co. and at the Greenwood Bakery.

Since 1998, in an effort to create breads that are truly part of Maine's foodscape, Amaral has worked directly with Maine farmers and pioneered the use of locally grown, organic wheat. His commitment to using local wheat has led to the establishment of a new milling business at the Williams Farm in Aroostook County.

For five years, Amaral mentored the "Students Baking a Living" program at Fort Fairfield High School, providing production and marketing guidance as the students started their own successful baking business. He also co-chaired the Maine Department of Agriculture's marketing advisory committee and helped develop the "Get Real Get Maine" program.

In October of 2006, Jim spent a week in Turin, Italy where he was invited to present at "Terra Madre," a worldwide gathering of 5,000 farmers and artisan food producers and chefs, all advocates for the slow food movement and the preservation of local foods and sustainable food systems.

The May 13 presentation will be his first program at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.