Flying pigs

[magid]

I've adored When Pigs Fly's six grain and pumpkin seed bread for a while. It's easily obtained at Harvest (as long as I get there early enough in the day). In December I went to a holiday party that someone had brought some breads of theirs I'd never seen, and I found out that they have stores in Maine with varieties not available elsewhere. Obviously, a road trip was indicated.

So yesterday I went to Maine to buy bread. They have two storefronts, in Kittery and York; we ended up in Kittery, having taken an unplanned long cut. It's a simple storefront (the bakery itself being at the York store), with baskets of different kinds of breads, plastic bags and twist ties for whichever you choose on every table. One wall had cubbies with shirts and hats (I resisted, but they were awfully cute; I think the flying pig is adorable, and one had a spiral pig parable on it), and a couple of tables had non-kosher things (jams, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, chocolate bread mix), but the rest were all yummy fresh breads. Some were delivered while I dithered, the smell filling the room. Yum. (It also gave me the chance to talk with the baker, and suggest Russian raisin bread, which is not pumpernickel with raisins. He sounded interested, so there's a chance!)

There's a table where a woman cut slices of whatever kind of bread you'd like to sample. This did not help me narrow down my choices! There were jars of cookies, a number of them vegan (and one of them in the shape of a flying pig :-), but I was able to stay focused on the yeast-based stuff. I was more interested in the loaves I can't get locally, so I ignored the more straightforward types (whole wheat, rye, pumpernickel, etc) to concentrate on the more exotic kinds. I bought a loaf of harvest bread (apples, raisins, walnuts, seeds) for snacking (read: lunch) in the car, and some sourdough rolls that I ate with ratatouille for dinner. The other five are in the freezer: a loaf of orange, roasted pistachio, and cranberry bread; a loaf of bread with green olives and hot and sweet cherry peppers; red pepper, potato and roasted onion bread; a loaf of apricot, ginger, and pecan bread; and a loaf with dried fruit and marzipan. Now to find the perfect uses for them....

It was about five quarters of an hour on the way home (read: the direct route). I suspect I'll be going back some after-Pesach day.

Comments

[pinkfish.livejournal.com]

magid makes a road trip to buy bread. To be brought with the coals to Newcastle, I guess.

Did you come up with new ideas of breads of your own to make?

[magid.livejournal.com]

*grin*

Just because I make it doesn't mean I don't like other bread... especially stuff that's as good as this.

I made a somewhat different sort of bread last weekend; I'm waiting for the photos to arrive before posting about her. Usually, though, my bread is for Shabbat, which means I'm more constrained in what I'll put in the loaf.

[zahzeh.livejournal.com]

Oh yum!!!!!!!!
They all sound incredible.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they make amazing bread :-).

*makes a note for future visit: include bread*

[zahzeh.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah... I'm a total bread freak. If you have bread like that waiting for me, I might have to come up sooner than planned. ;)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Bread like that can totally be arranged!

[alandd.livejournal.com]

Very cool. I've had one or two of their breads (a chocolate loaf, a peach loaf I think) from when I was working in Boston - there were street fairs (Wednesday, I think) at lunch, where the raised part of 93 used to be around South Station... I walked over a few times and drooled over and/or sampled the really cool breads.

[magid.livejournal.com]

They had the chocolate bread, and brought in still-hot loaves while I was there. It smelled amazing, but I resisted in favor of the theoretically-healthier ones... Though it would make amazing French toast or bread pudding, if there were any left over. Maybe next time.

Peach? I wonder if that's only in season. There were definitely flavors listed on the web site or on the bags that weren't available Sunday. (Though there were alos a number of flavors not listed on either; I'm glad they had markers to write on the bags, not just check boxen.)

[queue.livejournal.com]

Chocolate itself is very healthful, as I'm sure you know.

[magid.livejournal.com]

True... depending on what kind.

Perhaps next time I'll get some of that.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Oh, and that's one of the farmer's markets I never make it to, because my farm share pickup is Wednesday, so not only is there less time, but much less impetus to stop. On the other hand, the ones near me have other (read: non-kosher-certified) bakery stands, so perhaps it would be worth walking to South Station on the occasional summer Wednesday.

[alandd.livejournal.com]

I would think that it would make sense, if you have time at lunch; I don't know when they were there (e.g. from-to) or whether they'll do it again in the spring/summer. Hopefully! :-)

If I still worked in Boston I'd meet you there and pick up some bread for myself... (mmmmmmm, bread!)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Most of the farmer's markets are late-morning-ish to about 6 pm, though Newton's starts irritatingly late (1:30), and Brookline's lasts until dusk. Lunch is a good idea, gets me out of the office (though depending on the weather, I may be lurking in the AC-ness of the office :-).

I'd be happy to facilitate bread transfer, if you know you'll be coming into town.

[alandd.livejournal.com]

That would be really cool - I may take you up on that at some point! ;-)