ABOVE: Wave Hill Bread’s three-grain demi-baguette.
6/5/2009
WAVE HILL BREADS: 196 DANBURY ROAD, WILTON
Food writers Jane and Michael Stern declare Wave Hill Breads in Wilton a “top pick” on their popular site, RoadFood.com. And for good reason.
Though the bakery has only produced essentially one product since 2005, a naturally-fermented three-grain loaf called pain de Campagne, it is so remarkable, so chewy and crusty and so perfect, you wouldn’t dare ask for anything else.
The tiny operation is run by Mitchell Rapoport and Margaret Sapir, a couple who came to baking as a second career. Initially, they offered the pain de Campagne only in what they call a ‘country loaf,’ however, they now offer the same golden, crusty bread in other incarnations like baguettes and boules.
Last year, I started baking bread at home and because it is so complicated in many ways, where minute variations yield wildly different results, I understand their absolute obsession with perfection.
Wave Hill operates in a small space next to a dentist’s office on Route 7, is not visible from the road and keeps weird hours. Complicating matters, in Stamford, it’s only available at Mrs. Green’s Natural Market and according to a delivery driver’s run-sheet I inspected, just a scant six loaves were delivered the day I checked.
If you can get your hands on it, there are countless ways to enjoy this bread. I’ve made steak sandwiches. I’ve toasted it. I’ve dredged it in olive oil. I’ve made French toast. But the best way to enjoy the pain de Campagne is with a generous helping of butter.
Do yourself a favor and reach for some of that European butter – the kind with the higher butterfat content – this is one time when it’s truly worth it.
–CP
LISTEN: To Jan and Michael Stern talk about Wave Hill on American Public Media’s Splendid Table.
