​The Pleasantville Farmers Market, one of my favorite county markets (along with Hastings), opened a few weeks back, and I was excited to see a new bread bakery vendor among its 56 or so booths (it’s my Italian heritage kicking in). The no-additives, made-by-hand Orwasher’s Bakery, established in 1916 on 78th Street in the Upper East Side Yorkville neighborhood in Manhattan, was once an exclusively Eastern European-style loaf bakery.
The Eastern European immigrant population base in the neighborhood may be long gone due to gentrification, but the wood-fired, built-in brick ovens remain, pumping out no-nonsense seeded rye, dense raisin pumpernickel, walnut raisin, and challahs, but also artisan breads from other cultures including baguettes, ciabatta, Swiss health bread, and an original line of wine breads created with a wine grape starter in collaboration with Channing Daughters Vineyard in Long Island (e.g., Cabernet Rustica). They also make a mean strawberry-filled donut, but for those, you’ll still have to trek to the bakery in Manhattan.
Orwasher’s Bakery at Pleasantville Farmers’ Market
Memorial Plz (next to the train station)
Saturdays 8:30 am to 1 pm, May 23 to Nov 21
