Brilliant holiday breads
Natali Harea crafts German, Italian, Romanian treats,
What: Three types of old-world holiday breads, handmade by young Ottawa bread baker Natali Harea.
❚ Stollen: A dense, traditional German Christmas loaf made with almond paste and raisins and dusted with icing sugar. “It’s kind of like a yeasted shortbread,” says Harea. “It has a lot of butter and I used raisins that I soaked in rum.”
❚ Panettone: A less rich, classic Italian Christmas loaf. Harea, who started experimenting with making Christmas breads back at Thanksgiving, even sourced the traditional flavouring Fiori di Sicilia — an extract that combines vanilla, citrus and flower essences — for her panettone.
❚ Cozonac: This is the one you probably haven’t heard of and have to try. Harea’s Romanian grandmother made cozonac, a sweet bread swirled around a walnut-meringue mixture. Her grandmother now has Alzheimer’s, and Harea says wistfully, “I didn’t learn from her fast enough.” But she adapted enough of her grandmother’s friends’ recipes to reproduce the delicacy.
Why: Harea says that ever since she began bread for Gezellig restaurant, a year ago, she’s been contemplating making special holiday loaves. “I think it’s fun,” says Harea, who now makes about 800 loaves each week of her famous sourdough, seed, buttermilk-potato and semolina-sesame loaves for local restaurants and for retail sales. “I like Christmas a lot and I don’t think there’s a whole lot of artisanal holiday breads on the market.”
Where: Some of the shops that carry regular loaves of Nat’s Bread, including Saslove’s in the ByWard Market and Ottawa Bagelshop and Deli on Wellington West, will carry some or all of the holiday breads.
❚ You also can go to The Piggy Market, in Westboro, to place an order for Nat’s holiday breads to be picked up later.
❚ Harea will be selling her holiday loaves at the Locavore Artisan Food Fair, Saturday, Dec. 7, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Memorial Hall, 39 Dufferin Rd., in New Edinburgh.
❚ Nat’s regular loaves are for sale each Saturday morning at a bake table set up by Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy (where her mom teaches) in Ottawa Technical Learning Centre, 485 Donald St. If you order holiday loaves this Saturday between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., you’ll be able to pick them up there Dec. 7. Money will help buy a new bassoon for the orchestra.
How much: $10 to $12 per loaf
More: natsbreadcompany.com