Artisan bakeries have been on the rise in Wine Country for 20 years, and now some are becoming tasty destinations Land of Loaves

DIANE PETERSON
BY DIANE PETERSON PHOTOS BY SCOTT MANCHESTER THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

In Italy and France, every meal starts with a fresh loaf of bread - crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside. It's a staple that most American households lost touch with in the 1960s, as bread production moved from the hearth to the factory.

Here in Wine Country, however, the bread revolution has been on a roll for the past 20 years, thanks to the pioneering efforts of Acme Bakery in Berkeley. Since Steve Sullivan launched Acme in 1983, other artisan bakeries have popped up in town squares from Sonoma and St. Helena to Healdsburg and Mendocino.

Just in time for the holidays, we checked in with the latest crop of Wine Country bakeries - Bouchon in Napa, Della Fattoria in Petaluma and Full Circle Baking in Penngrove - and discovered that the cafe-style bakeries are not only bringing flavor back to bread but becoming destinations in their own right.

"The courtyard is such a great place for people to sit and have lunch," said manager Nicole Slaven of Yountville's Bouchon Bakery, opened by Thomas Keller in July 2003. "People are thinking of us as a breakfast or lunch destination ... people just come and chat."

Kathleen and Ed Weber launched Della Fattoria Bakery from their Petaluma ranch in 1995, but their breads have not been widely available to the public, until now. Since Della Fattoria Downtown opened last month in Petaluma, the bakery is no longer Sonoma County's best-kept secret.

"We wanted a space that was warm, comfortable and inviting, like in France and Italy, where they have the cafes and the bakeries, with little sandwiches in the case," Kathleen Weber said. "We're filling a neighborhood need."

Keith Giusto opened Full Circle Baking Co. in Penngrove last spring as a showcase for the organic wheats he sources himself and grinds in Utah. His wife, Kathy, runs the bakery's Italian deli, where you can order a wide range of sandwiches or dinner to go. But the real focus is the bread.

"People come here and see what we're doing and buy our flour," Giustosaid. "In Europe, that's what it's all about ... you get to know your neighbors again."

Take a peek at some of these new bakeries on the block. You may want to consider them for your holiday entertaining needs or just for a weekend jaunt with the family.

Thomas Keller and his brother, Joseph, opened Bouchon restaurant in the fall of 1998 because, they said, they wanted a casual, French bistro where they could sit down to a simple meal of quiche and salad.

In the summer of 2003, Thomas Keller expanded his Yountville restaurant empire to include Bouchon Bakery, located adjacent to the bistro. Bouchon Bakery now supplies fresh bread not only for Bouchon but also for The French Laundry, Keller's renowned restaurant just up the street, as well as many high-end restaurants and markets throughout the Napa Valley.

For Bouchon bistro, the bakery produces graceful loaves of epi - a baguette shaped like a shaft of wheat. For the French Laundry, it turns out hearty currant-walnut baguettes.

Bread lovers can buy both of these breads - along with baguettes, pain de campagne, herb pain palladin, brioche loaves, nine-grain Pullman loaves and more - seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

In the morning, the bakery serves espresso drinks and a wide range of French pastries. On a healthier note, you can pick up a Bouchon parfait, with house-made granola served over Straus Family Yogurt.

At lunchtime, you'll think you've died and gone to Paris if you order the bakery's ham and cheese sandwich, made with French jambon and gruyere. Other popular choices include the tomato and brie sandwich, cashew butter and homemade jam on brioche, and a green tomato chutney and cheddar melt on pain au lait bread.

"The sandwiches fly out of the store," Slaven said. "We're also selling soups and salads."

In the afternoon, the bakery is the perfect place to savor the traditional "l'heure de goutter" - in France, that's the pick-me-up snack served to schoolchildren.

Bouchon has a host of tempting sweets, including madeleines, financiers and traditional cannele from Bordeaux, which taste like creme brulee. More whimsical are the house-made peanut butter cookies, chocolate sandwich cookies and macaroons, plus the bakery's signature sweet, the bouchon, a Valrhona brownie-shaped like a wine cork and studded with chocolate chips.

Bouchon bakes birthday cakes to order and a wide variety of pies and tarts, from apple tart tatin to pumpkin cheesecake.

For travellers, the bakery sells an AirFare box lunch for $14 with your choice of sandwich, sweet and a drink. And for Rover, don't forget to pick up a bag of Barking Biscuits - "meant for dogs, but the owners like them too."

The Webers of Della Fattoria started out making bread for family and friends and gradually grew their backyard business into one of the North Bay's finest bakeries - providing dense, moist, savory loaves for many of the top restaurants in the region.

Their latest expansion - into a cozy, downtown cafe in Petaluma that serves breakfast, lunch, tea and apperativos - has made them a dining destination in their own right.

"We had been talking about it for a while, but it was always 'Someday, someday,'" Kathleen Weber said of the new cafe. "Bread production at the ranch had peaked, and we had a fabulous crew of strong bakers."

The couple made the leap after walking into the downtown space formerly occupied by 21st Century Bakery, which was up for sale.

"I looked back in the kitchen and it was pretty cool," Kathleen Weber said. "It had always been a bakery, since 1865. We didn't have to think very hard."

The organic Della Fattoria bread, made with natural starter and organic flour, is still baked at the ranch in two brick ovens designed by Alan Scott. Signature breads include Meyer lemon rosemary, pumpkin seed and pane integrale - which is a mixture of whole wheat, pumpernickel and honey.

The hearty walnut-currant bread, perfect with cheese, is only available at the Petaluma bakery. The Pullman loaves, which can be sliced for sandwiches, are only available at the bakery and at the San Francisco Farmers Market, where they regularly sell out.

Della Fattoria Downtown also offers a wide variety of pastries and cakes that are made on-site, plus soups, salads and sandwiches designed by executive chef Kay Baumhefner to showcase the breads.

From 7 to 11 a.m., the cafe serves Petaluma Coffee Co. espresso drinks alongside pastries like cinnamon twists, sticky buns and pain au chocolat. As healthier options, try the oatmeal brown bread or the breakfast cookie made from nuts, grains and fruits.

On Sunday, breakfast is served from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. - with a menu that includes savory bread puddings, roasted potato dishes and flatbread sandwiches.

From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the lunch menu offers salads and soups, plus hot and cold sandwiches made with the bakery's whole wheat, levain and campagne breads. If you're in a hurry, there are continental sandwiches wrapped to go.

Tea is served from 3 to 5 p.m., with savory sandwiches, sweet nibbles and pots of tea holding everything from Mariage Freres teas to house-made blends.

In the evening, from 5 to 7 p.m., an "aperitivo" menu of nuts and olives, cheeses and flatbreads is served alongside wine and traditional aperatifs like Lillet.

"It's a place for people to unwind after their day, and visit and gossip," Kathleen Weber said. "Then, by the time you get home to your family, you're relaxed."

Full Circle's Keith Giusto sources organic wheat from all over the West and grinds it at three mills in Utah that he owns through his partnership with the Central Milling Co.

He provides flour to bakeries like Acme Bread Co. in Berkeley, Alvarado Street Bakery in Rohnert Park and Bay Bread in San Francisco. Now, he also provides flour for his own baking company, which opened in a Penngrove shopping center last April.

The bakery offers a wide variety of breads, from a sweet baguette to a sourdough three-seed and a unique power bread made from sprouted wheat, raisins, almonds, walnuts and raisin juice.

"It's good for breakfast and has complex carbohydrates for energy," Giusto said. "My grandfather baked this kind of bread."

Giusto's ciabatta won best of show bread at the 2004 Harvest Fair Professional Food Competition, and his sourdough baguette won a double gold medal.

"It has a very clean flavor," Giusto said of the sourdough. "It's very mild. As the bread gets older, the pH level lowers, so the sour flavor comes out more."

Giusto's inspiration for bread-baking is Acme Bread founder Steve Sullivan, who worked as a busboy for Alice Waters at Chez Panisse Restaurant when he launched the North Bay's bread revolution.

"We're all about color and flavor," Giusto said. "I try to keep all the breads really simple so you can taste them."

Other breads from Full Circle include Penngrove multigrain, made from a blend of corn, millet, triticale, barley, rye and a hint of blackstrap molasses; a black pepper sourdough, which goes well with crab; and a traditional egg bread called challah, baked at a customer's request.

In the morning, the bakery serves its own sticky buns and croissants with coffee. At lunch, the menu includes vegetarian and gourmet Italian sandwiches, including an Italian sub made with coppa, salame, mortadella and provolone.

Full Circle's roasted garlic and cheese bread could also serve as a quick lunch. The hearty bread, filled with Spring Hill Dairy cheeses, is a meal in itself.

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