HUDSON VALLEY CHEF’S TABLE

Bread: It seems like a perennial product, but when Dan Leader founded Bread Alone Bakery, the world of regional bread would be unrecognizable to anyone familiar with today’s scene. Says Leader, “Thirty years ago there were basically all of the commercial breads and then the old-school Italian bakeries in New York like B and G and Vito’s—all those old brick-oven places. I think Au Bon Pain had opened their first store in New York.”

Says Leader, “I’m going to say something that’s maybe unbelievable, but we didn’t have a plan, initially. The plan was to make bread and then try to sell it. We were in at the beginning [of the popularity of artisanal bread], so we were able to get into a lot of farmers’ markets. This helped build our wholesale business—we’ve been very lucky that one part of the business fed another.”

Though he introduced his bread through farmers’ markets, it’s Leader’s wholesale business that kept him afloat. “There are a very limited number of farmers’ markets. So of course it’s better to have the cash sales, but you can’t rely on it within a fifty-two-week business model. The farmers’ markets go to sleep in the wintertime; if we didn’t have our wholesale business, we’d be out of business.”

Leader was relentless. “I’m a very hardworking guy, and I was out constantly looking for customers. I met distributors and I met stores. Believe it or not, up until last year we never had a salesperson—I was the sales force. My son is now in the company and he’s taking over most of the sales, but I’m a good networker. I would just go out and meet the distributors, meet the supermarket people.” The big break came when Leader cracked into two major supermarket chains. “We were lucky to get in Whole Foods and Fairway.”

In the thirty years of Bread Alone’s lifespan, the artisanal bread market has become frighteningly competitive. “Now in every supermarket in America you can get this par-baked frozen bread—whether it’s Ecce Panis or LaBrea. Every supermarket takes it out of the freezer, warms it up, and calls it artisan bread. It’s changed dramatically.”

While much of Bread Alone’s sales are in crowded downstate markets, Leader’s roots, bakery, and three restaurant/cafes are all upstate. His original bakery, located “out past Woodstock in Boiceville,” is still operational, though Leader is building a much larger bakery in Lake Katrine, also in Ulster County. Leader’s decision to open in the Hudson Valley, as opposed to, say, Long Island City, was about as strategic as his initial business plan. “I had a weekend house up here, and I just thought that it would be interesting to have a business in the Hudson Valley. I liked it up here; I went to school here.” He adds, “I like being close to New York. I like both—being up here is a good way to have a business in New York without living in New York.”

BRIOCHE FRENCH TOAST

If you are adventurous, you can make the brioche at home (recipe follows). Most of us simply buy the best quality brioche loaf available.

For the French toast:

7 large eggs

½ cup sugar

4 cups milk (or milk substitute--almond milk is lovely)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of cardamom

Pinch of salt

12 slices of 1-inch thick Brioche Slices (buy a loaf or see Brioche Dough recipe, opposite)

For cooking:

¼ cup clarified butter (or unsalted butter, see Note below)

For serving:

Confectionary sugar for dusting

Fresh fruit (blueberries, strawberries, peach slices--whatever is in season or on hand)

Place your brioche slices in a large shallow pan and pour the egg mixture over. Allow to soak in 3–4 minutes, then turn slices over (you will most likely have to do this in two shifts).

Heat your pan, add the clarified butter (see Note 1), and, when it is hot, add the first slices. Avoid having the slices touch each other. Once the first side is set, turn the slices over.

Note: The clarified butter will keep the slices from getting burned, but if you like the nutty browning flavor of full cream butter, you can add a few pats of unsalted butter as you are turning the slices (of course if you do not have clarified butter, simply use the butter you have on hand, being careful not to burn the butter—using clarified butter helps to avoid this problem).

BRIOCHE DOUGH

For the brioche dough:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 teaspoons dry yeast

¾ teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces

2 eggs

2 tablespoons milk

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Add the butter and blend until the butter pieces are pea size and coated with the dry mixture. Add the eggs and milk and blend on low until a dough forms. It should be cohesive and shiny.

Remove the dough from the bowl and shape it into a loaf by first rolling the dough out to a rough 8 × 11-inch rectangle and then rolling the rectangle up. Place in your buttered loaf pan. Cover with plastic and let rise at room temperature until double in volume, 1½ hours or more. When the loaf is ready to bake, it will be airy and light to the touch. Preheat oven to 350°F and bake for 35–40 minutes. To check if the loaf is fully backed, knock on the bottom of the pan––it should be hollow. Remove from the pan when just cool.

BREAD ALONE

BRIOCHE FRENCH TOAST

BRIOCHE DOUGH