MediTerra Bakehouse joins a lustrous list of Pittsburgh-area bread bakers. A sampling:
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Where to buy it,
how to find it
MediTerra bread is sold at Prestogeorge Fine Foods and Stamoulis in the Strip, Shadyside Market in Shadyside, the Select Market in Sewickley, the Uncommon Market in Upper St. Clair, and the three Buon Giorno locations Downtown.
The first loaves out of the oven were served at Il Pizzaiolo in Mt. Lebanon. Ron Molinaro, artisan pizza-maker and long-time customer of Ambeliotis the vendor, vowed to debut his friend's bread and did.
Dish on the South Side serves the bread, too.
Bread is sold at the bakery from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Exit the Parkway West at Campbell's Run Road, turn right, go 500 feet, turn left on Glass Road, and a short distance farther on the left is the Parkway West Industrial Park. MediTerra is at 801 Parkway View Drive in Building Eight.
-- Virginia Phillips
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BreadWorks,
North Side.
To celebrate the 10th year of its popular rustic line of breads, BreadWorks has added a new one -- Organic Boule. The loaf, made in a bowl shape, is made with organic flour, sea salt, baker's yeast and water. "We've been refining the bread for three months," says Don Walsh, supervisor of baking. "We think there is a market for an organic loaf. This one is simple and clean-tasting, and it's perfect for dipping and serving with salads and soups. The certified organic flour comes from Rocky Mountain Milling in Colorado."
All of the artisan rustic breads take from 24 to 36 hours to make -- 72 for the sourdough. The process includes a long fermentation period, which gives the loaves their robust flavor. The rustics are made with natural yeasts and are hand-shaped, hand-cut and hearth-baked. Find the new Organic Boule at retail outlets where BreadWorks breads are sold.
Friendship Farm,
Pleasant Unity,
Laurel Highlands,
Westmoreland County.
"Ours are not European-style breads," says Mike Costello, co-owner of the family-owned farm. "We make traditional home-style breads. Of the variety that we bake, there are organic flours in all of the starters. Some breads use organic grains, and we use unbleached, all-natural flour in all of them. Our breads are shaped by hand and baked in the hearth oven. Our most popular bread is Seven Whole Grain." But the most unique is Monastery Bread, made from flour purchased from the St. Vincent's Monastery Grist Mill. The flour is milled from local wheat and the bread has a nutty flavor and coarse texture.
Wood Street Bread Company,
Wilkinsburg.
"We make artisan breads as defined by the Breadbakers Guild of America," says Bill Bartelme, owner of the Wilkinsburg bakery. "That means hand-crafted products made using natural fermentation and natural ingredients. All of our ingredients are organic except for the white flour. We use so much of it that the cost is prohibitive."
One of Wood Street's most popular breads is the Six-Grain. The wheat, corn, rye, barley, millet and oats are all purchased from Frankferd Farms, the small-mill organic supplier in Saxonburg, Butler County. "I got into the bread business as a lifestyle choice," Bartelme says. "I wanted to love what I do on a daily basis. We are as small a bakery as you can get and still be a company."
McGinnis Sisters Special Food Store,
Brentwood and Monroeville.
In addition to their own line of McGinnis Sisters breads, the Monroeville and Brentwood stores are a marketplace for most of the other bakeries in town. "We sell everybody," says Sharon McGinnis Young. " We have Mancini, BreadWorks, Friendship Farms and Wood Street Bakery."
Four months ago, McGinnis Sisters became the sole test market for a new line of Canadian breads. "Stonemill Bakehause breads are sturdy, hearty breads," Young says. "They come to us frozen, and we bake off the loaves fresh in a hearth oven made in Germany."
Allegro Hearth Bakery,
Squirrel Hill.
The small bakery is an off-shoot of the South Side's Cafe Allegro, where busy Joe Nolan is chef, baker and partner. He divides his time between the restaurant and the bakery. The ghosts of Rosenblum's, the former tenants in the Squirrel Hill bakery, must be happy to see the tradition of hearty rye breads live on. "We make three rye breads," says Nolan. "We bake a French peasant seedless rye, a traditional rye and a Russian corned rye."
The variety also includes 22 types of crusty European-style breads made in three distinct styles: two-day bread made from a sourdough starter to yield crusty loaves with a big open crumb such as the Kalamata olive and Tuscan breads; traditional method breads made in a four- to six-hour process such as baguettes; and sponge dough breads where a piece of yesterday's dough is added to today's mixture. "We have a wonderful location here in a European neighborhood," Nolan says. "People come in to buy their bread fresh every day. I think the bread scene in Pittsburgh is getting better and better. And the credit goes to BreadWorks for leading the way."
Marlene Parrish is a Mount Washington food writer.
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