bready for change

for several years, up until a few months ago, i used to buy large loaves of wonderful lithuanian, baltic, and russian rye breads at my local dominick's and jewel. i'm in east uptown/edgewater, so with the presence of so many east europeans, the bread was in ready supply. the maker was a smallish operation based, iirc, on the sout' side. these breads were heavy enough to hammer nails in and, toasted and brushed with a little butter, awfully tasty.

i am told that for "heath reasons," the the manufacturer was shut down, at least temporarily. in any event, i can't find the bread anywhere. anyone know anything about the bread and the maker's closing or where (ideally in uptown or edgewater) to get similar breads? thanks.

It was Baltic Bakery, and yes, they did apparently get dropped from major retailers due to health violations. A search will reveal some stories about this:

http://cbs2chicago.com/specialreports/l ... 22206.html

I don't know whether they have reopened at all since this report.

Very unfortunate, since their dark, dark pumpernickel is (was) one of the best breads in the city. I guess the one thing we can say is, if you see it in a store any time soon, they will have to have really cleaned the place up to be allowed to reopen.

The supplier might have been the Baltic Bakery. If so, the "health reasons" might have been the health department closing them down with lots and lots of violations.

This happened a few weeks ago, and while they might have reopened, Jewel, et al, might not want to carry their bread anymore.

Baltic Bakery reopened several weeks ago. I have since picked up a few loaves (as good as ever) at my local market and I visited the bakery itself about a week ago. I’m very happy to have their breads available again as I’ve long been a fan of their entire line (well, maybe not all of their pastries). If your local store no longer carries Baltic products why not ask them to restock? Baltic’s breads are definitely available. Meanwhile, you can pick up your bread at the bakery (the 2 pound loaf of Lithuanian rye is $1!). The neighborhood (Back of the Yards, mostly Mexican now) is quite interesting.

Baltic Bakery
4627 S Hermitage Av
Chicago
773-523-1510

As an adherent of the theory that there's no place so clean as one that just reopened after a health department closing, I look forward to my next loaf of Baltic Bakery bread wholeheartedly.

ReneG,

Is this the same location we drove by late one evening? What was it like during your visit?

Baltic Bakery
4627 S Hermitage Av
Chicago
773-523-1510

Regards,

Rene G -- much obliged for the 411. i'll definitely be asking the locals to restock, if my comrades in arms around here have not already.

Mike G -- i completely agree.

Cathy2 wrote:Is this the same location we drove by late one evening?

Yes, where I tried to go in the slightly-open side door until a large growling dog inside convinced me not to. I’m pretty sure Baltic Bakery has only a single location and all the baking is done right there on Hermitage.

Cathy2 wrote:What was it like during your visit?

Clean! I was only in the front salesroom but it seemed brighter and cleaner than I remember it. Part of this was probably because it was afternoon and many of the shelves had no bread or pastries left on them. Several of the refrigerator cases were empty too (refrigeration issues were among the violations). That’s too bad because they used to have a good selection of yogurts, kefirs, farmer cheeses, etc. They still have a small but interesting selection of cured meats.

Baltic Bakery bread is back in the supermarkets (at least in the uptown/edgewater area). as i've made more soup than i know what to do with, i'll gleefully be going through several loves in the next few weeks.