The Stolichnayan Bakery: an Easter Polish delight

Polish Easter Babka

Bringing freshly baked sugar free bread, The Stolichnayan Bakery is a  Russian bakery that is much more than it's humble outward appearance might let on. Before even hearing the sound of oping the front door to enter, the first thing one will notice are the many types of bread literally stacked on top of one another.

The Stolichnayan Bakery, despite advertising in Russian red letters on their front window, is an international bakery with an Eastern European focus. Along with it's selection, the bakery has quite the amount of customers, many of which come from different ethnic backgrounds.

The bakery offers an international taste, ranging from French begets, Polish rye, Italian ciabatta bread and more. Special meat-filled loaves are left toasting in clear oven, ready to sell for lunch. Remeniscent of the Daimond Bakery and a minature Porto's Bakery and Cafe, the Stolichnaya Bakery also presents an assortment of  deserts.

 

However, their most prized bread on the day was their Easter Polish Babka. As celebration of the coming holiday, the babka is only made once a year at the Stolicayan Bakery. It's also quit pricey, ranging up to $10 for a single loaf.


Shaped like a dormant volcano with a gaping gorge, the Easter Polish Babka  is rough and dry on the outside, but stuffed with creamy mixture of raisins and figs and other fruits.

However, not everyone will enjoy the taste of the babka. In fact, my own family was split with opinions. My mother, scrunching her face in disgust, blurted, "It sucks," at the first bite. I disagree. Although the fruit filling is unappealing to the eye for those who haven't grown up with this Polish tradition, it's an interesting mix of moisture and dryness. 

If you're curious, give it a try before Easter passes, or prepare to wait another year.

Little Egg Fance at Downeys towering Porto's Bakery and Cafe

Founded in 1960 by the humble hands of the Cuban immigrant Porto family, Porto’s Bakery and Cafe is one of Los Angeles’ more illustrious chain bakeries.

The one I visited in Downey was so grand that beside the two-story bakery and fountain is a sizable parking structure with available valet parking. Big businesses call for big parking lots.

And boy do they need it. Porto’s is stuffed corner to corner not only with breads, sweets, lattés, and lunches, but with customers ranging from all ages. According to employees, the maximum occupancy is 416 people. Smooth Cuban jazz plays in the stylish white-bricked bakery, though actually challenging though the chatter of all the people.

Customers wait in winding lines reminiscent of theme parks, only the rewards is not a thrill on Splash Mountain, but bread. Porto’s Bakery offers a staggering selection; their fresh smelling loaves are displayed in cupboards on the walls and sweets enclosed in a long glass counter. Their entire menu is available online.



An challa, or "Egg Fancy" is pictured at the right.

 One of the bread I tried was small egg bread called a Challa, though it was labeled as “Egg Fancy” in the bakery. From a distance, it appears to be a thick pretzel in the shape of a cartoon bone, but it’s actually a soft, smoothed loaf of bread with a brown crust that shines in the light sprinkled with sesame seeds.

The inside of the Egg Fancy is soft and white. However, the bread is also thick; there is not a single bubble of air to be seen. Also, there is something of a salty taste to this bread twist, and it goes great with margarine.

The Challa is a versatile bread with a convenient size for the individual great for breakfast, as a side dish, or even as a sandwich.  It’s also comes in long loaves that rival the length of one’s arm. I’d imagine this is one bread you wouldn’t want to toast.

Argentinean and Mexican sweets at La Favorita Bakery

Brillantes de Crema

Once specializing in Argentinean styled bread, La Favorita Bakery in Lynwood now serves mostly pan dulce and other Mexican breads after a switch in owners. However, a glass cabinet at the edge of the red-tiled bakery still holds a few Argentinean loaves.

Photos were not allowed inside the bakery

Brillantes de crema, as baked at La Favorita Bakery, are peculiar sticks of bread, coated in a light glaze with patches of coconut. Like Mexican sweet bread, this Argentinean bread is rather sweet with visible sugar on top. Yet it is layered and flaky, like a sticky croissant.

Despite the look of its soft inside, brillantes de cream take quite a grind to get past their initial toughness.

Unforutnately, this is as much information on La Favorita Bakery I can give. While speaking with the woman at the registar, my father became outraged by a number of things:

• The woman's snark.
• The shift in ownership in the bakery.
• The price of the Mexican bread, which he thought was inflated.

Ultimatly, he stormed off I purchased some sweet bread, insulting the woman and the bakery the entire drive home. "Your courtesy sells more than anything else," he explained, trying to justify his rage for the place.

He has vowed to never return there, and I suspect that neither of us are welcome.

Little bakery with loads of Pan Dulce

Only about a block away from where my home in Paramount is a small South Gate bakery called Lucero Bakery Express that, for years, has made a variety of sweet bread along with vivid birthday cakes is the shape are characters like Winnie the Pooh and Cookie Monster.

Sweet bread, also known as pan dulce, is a popular Mexican pastry that comes in all shapes and sizes. It’s often eaten for breakfast. According to Amaribel Fernandez, cashier and cake baker, the sweet breads are typically prepared in the cold dark mornings. By 4:30 a. m., the breads are rising to the opening of the shop.

These little loaves, light and decorative, are often topped with sugar, some more than others. One of the most common types of pan dulce is the concha, which means seashell in Spanish. It sugary crust, ranging from white to brown to pink, creates a cracked turtle shell over the loaves. While sweet soft and savory, conchas and other pan dulces are not for the health-wary.

There are other, more mysterious sweet breads sitting on the paint-chipped racks of the Lucero Bakery Express. At first site, bread pudding appears to be nothing more than spongy square of dark, damp, raisin-filled bread. 

However, this lumpy-crusted bread is in fact a Frankenstein monster, recycled from the soaking remains of day-old loaves of bolillos, an oval shaped Mexican bread and cousin of the baguette. Bread pudding, moist to the touch, is an interesting combination of salty and sweet with a sugary tingle resonating at the back of your tongue.

Pumpkin bun at the Diamond Bakery

Every crumb is handled with care at the Diamond Bakery, located at the Artesia Oasis Plaza in the city of Artesia. Settled in a neighborhood with a wide variety of Asian cultures, including Chinese, Korean and Indian, the Diamond Bakery specializes predominantly in wedding cakes.

The bakery, sweet and modest in its pastel pink decor, lacks the aroma that one might expect. This is because nearly every confection is individually wrapped in maroon striped plastic and windmill-patterned paper. The rows upon rows of bread, buns and pastries shine under bright lights like a miniature art gallery.

The selection is astounding, especially for buns. There are pineapple buns, pizza buns, cocktail buns and more. They’re like snowflakes: each one is unique. The pumpkin bun, which is missing from the Diamond Bakery’s online menu, is paler than the others buns, resembling an uncooked pie with a pot belly.  Its surface is smooth with the occasional seed sprinkled on top.

I was surprised by how moist the bun’s bottom felt after freeing it from its elegant wrapper, giving only a faint sent of pumpkin. The first bite is chewy and sweet with something of a powdery texture. However, as I made my way to the center, I was greeted into a dark chasm of pumpkin filling.

As the name suggests, pumpkin bun is a sort of sugary pumpkin pie. However, not every bun might be as predictable as the last.

Shepherd's bread: a little soft dome with flour on top

Hidden behind green umbrellas and tall bushes, Giuliano’s Delicatessen and Bakery in the city of Gardena is packed from corner to corner with Italian goods. By the right-hand side of the entrance is the bakery, illuminated by window light. There’s so much bread that not all of it fits on the shelves; sacks of fresh baguettes, sour dough and other breads hang from the walls.

The bread I decided to purchase was a relatively small loaf of shepherd’s bread, which from a distance at the bakery, a resemble beige bicycle helmet with a light layer of snow.

However, unlike the hard headgear, shepherd’s bread is incredibly soft. The outer shell, while bumpy and rough at parts, is surprisingly supple. The spongy white bread almost dissolves in your mouth. 

Crumbs are the least of your worry when savoring this simple loaf. Flour, on the other hand, brushes off quickly from the bread to your clothes, so have a plate or napkin handy.

Shepherd's bread pictured at the top left at Giuliano's Delicatessen

The baking process is extremely simple, says baker “Eddie from Giuliano’s.” All it takes is regular yeast, flower, water, and a little bit of salt baked slowly for fluffiness. It’s during the middle of baking that flour is thrown onto the rising loafs.

Shepherd’s bread is simple, yet savory. In fact, it might be too simple when it comes to making sandwiches. It’s simply too squashy to hold anything together. Much of the bread's charm is also lost after toasting it the oven.