I have lots of friends and family, but most of them are not bakers in the semi-obsessed way that I am. This past week I was lucky enough to spend time with my nephew who is a professional baker. He is even more obsessed than I am. To start out I recommended quite a few books from my collection and he plowed through a big stack of them over the six days he was here. One of his favorites was a book about the science of bread. He does a lot with sourdough at the bakery where he works, so he understands the importance of knowing how and why the yeasts work.
Of course we baked together (see 2/15/26 post) and on his second day here we ate at a local bakery, Sarmentine, where we enjoyed a trio of French inspired baguette sandwiches and a sweet, caramelized kouign amann. The most fun for me was on his next-to last day here when we did what Sweetie called a 'bakery crawl', starting at a bakery supply business in Petaluma, Keith Guisto Bakery Supply. Central Milling is there, a business that mills a wide variety of grains. They even sell 10 lb bags of some of the flours in their retail store, along with select books and a wonderful selection of baking tools. That was followed by a visit to Della Fattoria Downtown Cafe and Bakery, also in Petaluma, where we bought some naturally fermented bread, including a cinnamon twist that we pulled apart with our hands as we sat outside in the sun...it was gone quickly.
After a peek at the pies in the Petaluma Pie Shop and a quick lunch at a wonderful Mexican place on Kentucky St., we headed to Santa Rosa. Our first stop was at Gougette, a French inspired bakery near Memorial Hospital. No meals or beverages here (although they do have ice cream), just amazing bread and pastries. We were able to see production baking as two of their bakers shaped dozens of baguettes, ready for proofing. We took home a selection of brioche pastries with fruit, and a baguette. Next up was Grossman's a restaurant with great Jewish deli offerings. At the back they have a retail area where we bought hamantaschen that had a savory sesame paste filling, topped with apricot jam and poppy seeds, and an everything bagel that filled the car with a wonderful onion fragrance. By the time we made it to Marla's further along in Railroad Square, it was just 3 pm and they were closing, so we were only able to purchase a baguette, but it was a great one and the owner chatted with us about baking, so it wasn't so bad.
The next stop was in Sebastopol at Patisserie Angelica, located near the movie theatre. We bought a flourless chocolate cake for my birthday (above), plus some baklava. The baker also gave my nephew some baguette ends so that he could taste theirs.
All in all, quite a wonderful day!
The following day we also stopped in Freestone at Wildflour Bakery for some of their famous Sticky Buns, three kinds of scones, and a loaf of their Superseedy Bread. Sweetie also purchased their cheese bread, but it wasn't our favorite. Our professional baker was allowed into the back where the baking happens and had a great time chatting with them about the wood fired ovens and such. As you might imagine, we are still working our way through all that bread (although the pastries and cookies are gone...and there is only a bit of the cake left). Unfortunately I didn't take photos as we went along, but check out the links and you are sure to see many of the things we bought and enjoyed.
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