What kind of bakery is Bread Makery? Russian? American? Both! We bake Russian products and closely follow standard Russian recipes. My wife, eldest daughter and I were all born in Russia, where we have been enjoying breads and cakes since our earliest childhood. At the same time, our bakery is American because I bake with American flour and water, my starters are populated with American wild yeasts, and what is most important, our customers are fellow Americans.
Rye is not very popular today, why do you offer several rye breads? Although production of rye in the United States has been declining in the past century, many Americans love rye bread. This doesn't surprise me at all, considering the history of immigration. Today, many people trace their ancestry to Northern and Eastern Europe where rye is the main crop. In terms of genetics, this means that even after a couple centuries of eating wheat bread, many Americans are still digesting rye bread better than anything else. In other words, for many people rye bread can be a healthier choice. Not to mention, some traditional breads brought to the US by immigrants, like pumpernickel and Jewish Rye, have become American staples.
What is a tea cake? Tea cake is a popular Russian pastry that goes very well with tea or coffee. Drinking tea is much more enjoyable when it is accompanied by food, be it a sandwich, a cookie, or a piece of cake. Everything is better with tea! Of course, tea cakes can be consumed with coffee, lemonade, milk, or any other drink of your choice, but we have been eating these cakes (and we eat them a lot!) mostly with tea, so tea cake seems to be a perfect name for them.
Your tea cakes remind me of fruitcakes, pound cakes and tea breads. Are they the same? There is a certain similarity between these pastries, but the differences are much more pronounced. Fruitcake is made with candied fruit, nuts, and spices, and is often soaked in spirits. It is a festive cake, served in celebration of weddings and holidays. Pound cake received its name from its recipe - it is made with a pound of each of four ingredients (flour, butter, eggs and sugar). It is also very uncommon to use any dried fruits in this cake. British tea bread is made with brown sugar, sultana raisins, and dried fruits soaked in tea, and no butter is used. Even the way it's eaten is different: tea bread is usually served with butter, which people put on their slices. Tea cake, unlike fruitcake, is not festive; it can be eaten any day, all year around, it does not have nuts or candied fruits, and it is never soaked in alcohol. It is also quite different from a pound cake: the ratio of ingredients is far from being equal (there is much less butter and more flour in it), and its signature feature is dried fruit. The only common point is that all of these desserts pair extremely well with a hot cup of tea or coffee.
Do you sell bread online? No, bread has a short shelf life, and it is always better to buy it fresh locally.
Can I freeze your bread? We recommend buying less bread and finishing it sooner, then coming again to buy more when you run out. We can cut our rye breads in half when requested. If you are still not convinced, then yes, our bread can be frozen.
Do you offer any gluten-free products? No, all of my breads and cakes contain wheat flour which has gluten in it. Unfortunately, I do not not know of any substitutes which can result in a comparable loaf, so I do not bake gluten-free products. However, people with a light gluten intolerance may be able to digest rye bread without any problems because compared to wheat, rye grain has much less gluten which goes through certain changes during long fermentation.
Can a small bakery compete with a big baking company? There are three key areas of competition: volume, price and quality. A big company will always be able to bake more bread, simply because of its equipment. And it can offer lower prices. However, any big company loses in quality, precisely because it wins in volume. No bakery can sell locally more than people living in the area can buy. Baking more means shipping, and shipping translates to preservatives and other changes in recipes and ingredients. Small bakeries plan their production differently: they bake only as much as they can sell in a day or two, without trying to extend shelf life artificially.