Heyo!!!
Did you know that bread is the quintessential gift???
It’s true! Baptisms, anniversaries, Christmas, bridal showers, —there’s simply no occasion where a loaf of bread doesn’t make sense. To prove my point, I gave a loaf to my 6 year old niece and nephew. Just look at their excited birthday faces!!
Pure elation. Imagine being a kid and getting your first loaf of bread. And on your 6th or 7th or 8th birthday or whatever!!! I’m crushing it as an Uncle.
The move this week? Give somebody a loaf of bread. Present a special person in your life with a good hunk of rye, or some fully developed pumpernickel and say, “Hey, I fucking love you. And I love bread. And you love bread, and well, here’s some bread. OK, see ya!”
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This Bakery in Eastern Ohio is Worth The Drive
I’ve been going out of my way to procure fresh bread from The Bread Chef in Youngstown, Ohio for over a decade now, and I wouldn’t do that if it weren’t some exceptional stuff. Good bakeries in this area are just hard to come by. Occasionally you’ll find a decent local one, but mediocre grocery store bread abounds and there’s just nothing as extensive as The Bread Chef. Their selection is vast. Their technique is wonderful. I hate to use the word artisanal here, but it is, and the price is incredible.
The Bread Chef is located in a strip mall, which is exactly the type of situation that makes me miss Los Angeles. Strip malls are where all the best food resides in L.A.—every “hidden gem” somebody yaps about usually ends up pointing you towards a strip mall. The strip mall is mighty, even outside of Los Angeles, and this one just off of Western Reserve Road on the edge of Youngstown is quite notable. While the Italian restaurant (Carmella’s) isn’t a place I’d advise anybody to go to, Ely’s is a strong vegan take-out restaurant and The Bread Chef makes the best bread outside of Pittsburgh. These two carry the weight and make this unassuming, Ohio-as-hell shopping center a destination.
Mike Landgraff, the owner and motherfuckin’ Bread Chef himself, grew up in the South Hills of Pittsburgh and used to work at Mediterra Bakehouse. Naturally, given his Appalachian roots, Mike makes and sells dope pepperoni rolls for $7.25, and the rolls alone are worth the trip. These soft, tasty, scored bread rolls packed with deli pepperoni and mozzarella cheese are top tier.
I wrote about pepperoni rolls in Western Pennsylvania a while back, and Mike’s minimalist approach is a breath of fresh air. Too many pepperoni rolls feel cheap and thrown together. But Mike’s roll isn’t jam packed with horrifically inexpensive, how-the-fuck-is-this-even-made Hormel pepperoni, no. Instead, Mike emphasizes his pepperoni roll on the bread. It’s soft, tasty, and even without the surfeit of deli meat, downright delicious. The pepperoni provides justtt enough fat to make this roll sing. Take it home and microwave it for 15 seconds, or throw it in the oven if you want a crustier ‘roni roll experience.
Mike’s bread is phenomenal, and picking up a loaf or two on your way out is required. This loaf of 100% Rye is fermented, sour, and without caraway seeds. It’s dense as all hell, delightfully chewy, and packs a pungent, earthy taste that I just adore. When toasted, the stark contrast between outer crust and soft interior makes for a sensational textural experience. Make sure you have a good bread knife at home—this loaf needs sawed like you’re a serial killer on cleanup duty. Your dull serrated knives simply won’t cut it.
Mike told me to slice the rye thin and eat it with a piece of cheese, which I kindly obliged with some perforated Lorraine Swiss. This bread, though, has been my vessel of choice for creamy scrambled eggs and Hellmann’s-based chicken salad. Rich, luxurious things fit comfortably with this rye.
I know everybody has a preference for cooking their eggs, but man, why on earth would anybody hard fry fuck up some fresh farm eggs? I purchased some gorgeous eggs from this retail farm stand in my hometown called Apple Castle (another place that makes a dope pepperoni roll.) The creamy, rich, deep yellow yolks were the perfect partner to Mike’s delicious and crusty rye.
The semolina loaf goes for $5.50 and is dense, chewy, reliably sturdy, and comes littered with sesame seeds on its outer rim. My brother used this bread at his now-closed restaurant, Sia’s, and customers loved it. Mike doesn’t ship his bread to restaurants—he’s not interested in the cash grab. You won’t find The Bread Chef’s bread in any restaurant anywhere, but it’s damn sure good enough to be featured in every sandwich shop within the vicinity.
I have found the semolina loaf works best for a grilled cheese. That’s the move here. Cook it in a pan with slow melted butter and watch the dense bread absorb the delicious fat. The deeply golden color, dark crispy edges make for an unbelievably satisfying and crunchy grilled cheese.
I also picked up a flatbread baked with mozzarella and pickled banana peppers for 6 dollars. One thing about the Mid-Atlantic/Midwest that I love is their cunning use of hot banana peppers. Though the pepper’s true season isn’t until August, they get pickled year round which produces a delectably spicy and piquant condiment. The bread was tangy, cheesy, and soft—the type of thing you can easily rip with your hands. Bring this to a dinner party.
The pretzel bread ($6.50) is awesome, too—predictably salty and soft and delicious. It makes a great ham and cheese sandwich. I don’t know many people making fresh loafs of pretzel bread; it’s more common to see pretzel rolls. A loaf of whole pretzel bread is insane, but then again you have to be kooky to own and operate your own bakery. One time I asked Mike how he was doing, and he said, “Oh, you know, just sitting on top of my empire of bread.” He’s a charming, funny fella.
Mike also features a wide array of pastries to purchase. The spinach and cream cheese croissant is $3.75, fresh cinnamon rolls for the same price, and there’s plenty of tender, crumbly scones to go around, too.
I was surprised to learn that one of Mike’s employees worked for Thomas Keller at Per Se in New York City. The fact that he’s attracting chefs from such esteemed restaurants tells you all you need to know about his talents. This place is sneaky good, and I’m confident nobody knows about it.
Bakeries always make me feel like some sort of sexual deviant. As soon as I walk into a bakery, I start sniffing and ogling and softly muttering to myself. Right as I laid eyes on the banana pepper baked flatbread, I let out a hedonistic whisper, “God Damn.” The woman working the counter gave me a look which I can only describe as, “OK, this guy seems to like croissants a little too much.”
Anyway, a good bakery implores the customers to eye-fuck the bread. And you’ll be doing plenty of that when you visit The Bread Chef.
The Bread Chef
850 E. Western Reserve Rd. #5
Youngstown, Ohio 44514
Thanks for reading The Move! A very dumb, dumb edition of the newsletter today. Did I have a brain injury recently? Maybe.
I’m in Detroit now! Holla! I’ll be writing about Italian sandwiches next week!
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