Bread and Salt Bakery Gives us a Taste of the Old World

If you weren’t looking you might miss this humble Bloomfield bakery. Nestled in a simple white brick building on Pearl Street, Bread and Salt Bakery produces baked goods and naturally leavened breads using a small variety of high quality ingredients.

Owner and creator, Rick Easton, has been cultivating his skills as a baker for well over a decade. Originally from the Pittsburgh region, Easton spent 12 years in Charlottesville before returning to open up this Old World style bakery. Easton trained as a baker primarily in the US but also spent time in France and Italy, two locations whose techniques are evident in Easton’s rustic approach to bread making.

The dark crusty loaves of bread all start with a delicate process that involves experimenting with different wheat crops. Easton works with a farmer at Weatherbury Farms in Avella, PA to attain the wheat that will be turned into the stone-milled, high-extraction flour he’ll use for his bread throughout the season.

Bread and Salt Bakery produces three different types of bread: pane antico, pane casereccio and pane locale, all of which are sold for $5/ pound rather than by the loaf. This enables Easton to produce larger loaves which in turn makes a higher quality bread. Each loaf is created using a slow and natural fermentation process uncommon to most professional bakeries. Because the bakery doesn’t use any commercial yeast, each loaf of bread takes 24 hours to be processed.

Although the flavorful loaves of bread may steal the show, the bakery also offers a selection of equally delicious fare throughout the day. Toast with a choice of toppings: ricotta and honey, chocolate, olive oil and sea salt, or Italian cured pork fat; and Pizza al taglio (Roman style), adorned with rotating toppings including braised lamb and broccoli rabe. Pastries can also be found during lunchtime and include some of the softest and most decadent donuts you’ll ever taste.

Earlier this year, Bread And Salt was featured in New York Times. The article praised the bakery’s arduous process that enables them to produce breads that capture the true flavor and texture of wheat. The centuries-old traditions being applied in this unpretentious Bloomfield establishment have created a bakery that is putting passion back into food.