Wave Hill Breads

Posted By Michael Stern on January 5, 2012 3:02 PM

Hail Mitchell Rapoport and Margaret Sapir! They have brought good bread to southern Connecticut. Admittedly, I am a bread fanatic -- I could live on it, and did so one full week a few years ago in Paris -- and there is no complaint I voice more relentlessly than my belief that so much bread is mediocre. In this category I include nearly all New York bagels and delicatessen rye, for which there can be no excuse, not to mention all the sub-par Italian rolls on which hero sandwiches are made hereabouts.

The three-grain pain de campagne that Mitch and Margaret make shuts me up good. It is a gorgeous loaf with a rugged, muscular crust and dense insides that provide just the right tooth resistance for complete bread enjoyment. It is great with cheeses or as the basis for a sandwich or simply spread with soft butter; and there are plenty of times, coming home from the bakery with a hot loaf, that I eat half of it a capella, with no companion other than water.

According to the bag in which it's packed, the loaf is made from flour, water, spelt and rye berries, sea salt, and yeast. The spelt and rye berries (organic, of course) are stone-ground daily on premises; and loaves are baked each morning (except Tuesday). They are available here at the bakery as well as several local markets.

Note: the Wave Hill repertoire has expanded to croutons -- huge, gnarled, crusty things that make any salad deluxe, available plain or infused with curry or lemon and thyme -- and an item called "just crust," which is a buff chip for crust lovers. In addition, since moving to a new, larger location in Norwalk, Wave Hill now makes a full repertoire of breakfast pastries ... and plans soon to offer sandwiches at an on-premises cafe.

Pain de Campagne (bread)

Just Crust

Triple Nut Glazed Brownie

Croissant

Muffins

Pastry Snail

Ciabatta

Bialy

Sticky Bun