Daniel Hodson
daniel@newsroom.byu.edu
Since April, Hearthstone Bakery on University Ave. has been the sole provider of panless, hearth-oven style bread in Utah.
BYU graduates Steve Pitts, who graduated in exercise physiology, and his wife Gina, an elementary education graduate, founded Hearthstone. Pitts said although Hearthstone is also a restaurant they want to be known as a bakery.
A hearth oven is an open oven on which the bakers place the dough and let the bread bake in natural shapes -- the most common being round. Jim Cummings, a promoter for Hearthstone, said the French imported hearth oven is the main reason the bread tastes so good.
Bakers at Hearthstone work from 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. to provide the days fresh bread. They also don't use any yeast. Pitts bought a 150-year-old sourdough starter from San Francisco that provides the leaven for all their bread.
The bread-making process takes over 24 hours.
Pitts said good bread is like good wine - it gets better with age.
'In fact, our best bread is probably Monday's bread because it's had all weekend to rise,' he said.
Their head baker has had 15 years experience, and their head patissiere (pastry maker) was trained in Seattle by an Austrian master chef.
'We want to be known for producing the highest quality foods--everything we make is from scratch. Even the vinegar-based salad dressings are original,' said Pitts.
Hearthstone provides bread for restaurants and stores around the state, including The Skyroom Restaurant and Restaurant Roy.
Hearthstone opened a second store in Springville in November of '99 on 315 E. Main St. The Springville store is in a Nauvoo replica-style building and provides the same menu as the Jamestown store on 3376 N. University Ave., Provo.
Prices on bread range from $2.78 for wheat and white bread to $5.00 for their specialty breads.
Bread can be purchased over the phone and picked it up using their drive-through window. Customers can also walk in and eat at the restaurant next to the fireplace.
Hungry students will find coupons for Hearthstone in future editions of The Daily Universe.
For more information, call Steve or Mark at 818-1000.