It took me five years to get over a brick of bread that yielded thick slices of breakfast while I was an exchange student in St. Petersburg. I said goodbye to those distant morning meals when I first stepped into Brighton Bazaar. A bustling Russian supermarket wrapped around a smorgasbord of prepared foods, the Bazaar could support its own dictionary, in which the bread department – a counter stacked with baked goods and backed by multiple shelves of freshly baked loaves – would constitute one happily distended entry.

The bakers’ “crusty bread” ($4.95) – a heavy loaf with a deeply toasted, beautifully cracked crown and taught, rustic belly – is my new high water mark for the daily slice. Referred to by Russians as “serii” (grey), this type of dark bread is a meeting point between German and Russian traditions. The body of the bread is satisfyingly dense. Its flavor is low on rye, slightly sour, slightly salty and subtly aromatic – as if fresh black tea had been baked into the dough. Taken with high-fat, sweet cream butter and a cup of tea, it’s sustenance of a kind sorely lacking on American breakfast tables.

Brighton Bazaar
1007 Brighton Beach Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11235
718.769.1700

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 28th, 2012 at 12:01 am and is filed under Brooklyn, New York.