06 August, 2008

Local Food: Borealis Breads, Wells ME

There is an amazing little bakery tucked away next to the Aubuchon Hardware store on US Route 1 in Wells, Maine. They make a wide variety of breads the old-fashioned way - no dough conditioners or preservatives, just "bread ingredients," time, and a stone hearth. Their bread is truly "staff of life" stuff in ways that plastic-wrapped grocery store white bread can never hope to attain. At a time when the term "artisan bread" is losing it's meaning because of the flood of gimmicky, expensive baked garbage in supermarkets, Borealis is baking true artisan breads, and doing it without the obnoxious, condescending attitude bigger players display.

Delicious breads and high standards aside, Borealis deserves special recognition in the Local Food category. They use over 80,000 pounds of whole wheat flour a year, and every bit of it is grown and milled in Maine - At Aurora Mills in Linneus. This is the type of committment to local agriculture that helps prevent sprawl and keeps small New England farms operating.

If you're traveling in Maine this summer - or anytime - hop off the Maine Turnpike in Wells and make a detour to Borealis Breads. It's well worth the extra half-hour or so you might incur on your way to where you're going, and you may find that the bakery is worthy of being a destination in its own right.

Click here to go to Borealis' website.


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