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Business & Tech

From Big City to Big Bread

On a Sunday in Piermont, the smell of freshly baked breads and pastries are a definite pick-me-up.

Bread Alone Bakery has quite the setup at the Piermont farmers' market.

The aroma of the just-baked products draws you over to their booth, and the glass displays of bread loaves and danishes keeps you there.

Last Sunday, Bread Alone had a sprawling spread: ciabatta, sourdough, focaccia, brioche and challah (and that's just at one portion of their booth).

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They also had every variety of danish, croissant and scone you could image— and everything offered is made with local ingredients.

(For example: I tried the apple-nut danish, baked with apples from Migliorelli Farm, another merchant at the market.)

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Bread Alone Bakery is run by dedicated baker Daniel Leader. In 1983, Leader decided to move his family out of NYC and to the Catskills; he dreamed of a better, healthier life. He started a bakery in Boiceville, NY and began making deliveries to nearby markets and fairs.

All their breads are organic and chemical free, Leader explained. And he makes sure he knows where—and from whom—every grain comes from, he added. Each bread is baked in a custom wood burning stove, and the pastries are all natural and handmade daily in their main bakery.

There are now two other locations: one in Woodstock and one in Rhinebeck... but the baking continues in Boiceville. Business is great at all their locations, Leader said, and they're now hitting over 40 famers' markets per week. You can find Bread Alone elsewhere in Rockland, in addition too NYC, Long Island and Westchester, Dutchess and Ulster counties.

Leader is so dedicated to making the whole grain products readily available to people that he began the South Africa Whole Grain Project. "Micro-bakeries" have been setup around Africa to promote the health of HIV infected people, and also teach both baking and business skills to the individuals involved.

So, Piermont: if you want some fresh-baked, home-made tasting bread and pastries, this is the booth for you.

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