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Food Box

Food Box
She sighs for Sy’s.
Image: Jamie Noguchi

The Ambitious Loafer

Chris Sy’s bread
by Jamie Noguchi | Dec 26, 2012

Food Box / This is not your supermarket sliced bread. “Parents have actually said their kids like my bread . . . better than, you know, the Love’s bread they usually get,” admits Breadshop baker Chris Sy. A chef with extensive experience and a baker who has turned a hobby into a business, Sy laboriously crafts dough into artisanal masterpieces, such as his City Bread (a white loaf, similar to Italian deli-style bread) and Country Bread (a mixed flour loaf of wheat, white, rye and spelt). His background extends to cooking at high-brow restaurants such as The French Laundry, Alinea and Cru. But when it comes to bread, whatever Sy does with his dough, results in crumb magic.

Breadshop, as it has no brick and mortar bakery, seems to be sort of a myth. “My car is my bakery . . . I’m constantly driving dough and bread back and forth from Prima to where I need to sell.” Sy’s product is sold at businesses he’s partnered with, all of which share his vision on the need for quality, fresh bread–Prima, The Pig and the Lady and The Whole Ox Deli. Batches sell out quickly and Honolulu’s response has been demanding for Sy, he says.

In order to feed the fire, Breadshop will soon launch a CSA (community-supported agriculture), a subscription service for their bread. Monthly orders of $30 will allot subscribers one loaf per week ($7.50 a loaf). Recipients then arrange a day for pick up at any of Sy’s partners, but they’re still working out the details.

“I wanted to make sure the people [who] really wanted good bread could get it . . . It would be smarter to do wholesale . . . from a strictly business point of view. But it’s not the most important thing, to make as much money as I can.” Sy’s passion for bread is as strong as the substance on his slightly charred, kiawe-wood honed, perfectly chewy bread.

Breadshop, sold at The Pig and the Lady at farmers’ markets (KCC Sat. and Tue., Blaisdell Wed., and Kailua Thu.) and The Whole Ox Deli Thu. and Fri., [breadsbybreadshop.com]

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