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DOUGH BOYS
Long Island City’s Pain d’Avignon quietly stocks New York’s bread baskets
Written by Alia Akkam
IN AUGUST 2003, when New York City was swathed in blackness after the massive power outage, the owners of wholesale bakery Pain d’Avignon had only one concern: saving the bread starter.
The foundation of any artisan bread is the starter, the yeast-laden mother dough that kick starts the fermentation process. With proper refrigeration not a possibility, Pain D’Avignon coowner Teofil “Tole” Zurovac reminisces how the team had to put the starter in a van and pump in an all-night stream of air conditioning. “We took turns guarding it,” adds partner Bane Stamenkovic.
The starter was salvaged. More importantly, the memory underscores the bakery’s impressive work ethic. No matter the circumstances, assures Zurovac, “our customers won’t go without bread.”
When Pain d’Avignon opened its first retail location last year in Manhattan’s Essex Street Market, many heard the bakery’s name for the first time. But the bread, from slender hand-scored baguettes to shiny brioche rolls, was most certainly familiar to the local palate. Pain d’Avignon’s ethereal creations, baked four times a day in its Long Island City facility, are available in approximately 140 fine New York restaurants, hotels and retailers—from Danny Meyer establishments to the Waldorf-Astoria.
Demand for the bread is widespread, but instead of increasing visibility and ramping up production, Pain d’Avignon has no interest in becoming a mega bakery. “We don’t want to sacrifice quality,” says Sales Manager JoAnne Cortese.
The bakery is widely sought after for its devotion to expert craftsmanship. Although they could churn out loaves and rolls faster with the help of efficient largescale machines, Pain d’Avignon chooses the laborious, old-fashioned route: cutting and shaping dough by hand. “It takes us 16 hours to make baguettes,” notes Zurovac. Breads spend quality time maintaining their shape, locking in moisture and slowly fermenting in coarse natural linen cloths. Focused staff fashion elegant little epi rolls in just two snips of a scissor.
This authentic European approach to making bread has been a cornerstone of the company since its inception. Stamenkovic and his friend Uliks Fehmiu first established Pain d’Avignon on Cape Cod in 1992. The two then moved to New York City to open a 5,000-square-foot bakery of the same name in Queens. As Zurovac jokes, “We all decided to get married.”
Émigrés from the former Yugoslavia, they were pushed to succeed stateside knowing they couldn’t hop a flight back to Eastern Europe. “War broke out at home and we had to survive here,” Zurovac explains. Relishing the delicious, from-scratch bread that was a staple in their old neighborhoods, the trio saw a need for a local bakery that embraced quality ingredients and didn’t cut corners. “Good bread wasn’t readily available when we started, and we saw we could do something,” says Stamenkovic.
Cortese, who worked at a competing bakery before moving to Pain d’Avignon, recalls her second day on the job when Zurovac tenderly offered her a sandwich for lunch. “It really is like a family here,” she says. That’s why she happily drives to Queens from New Jersey every day. It’s also why customers, who are supplied with the owners’ cell phone numbers to ensure roundthe- clock personal attention, love working with them.
“Whether a customer calls for five rolls or hundreds of loaves, we treat them with respect,” Stamenkovic says.
Inaugural batches may not have been foolproof, but the burgeoning bakers quickly refined their process and started diversifying their product line to include the likes of mini rye Pullman loaves with caraway seeds, and pull-apart rolls studded with cranberries and pecans. Customers now seek out Pain d’Avignon’s seven-grain, made with organic oats and sweetened with wildflower honey, and the picholine olive with fresh rosemary and sea salt. Yet it’s the somun, olive oil-brushed Balkan flatbread reminiscent of focaccia, that best captures the bakery’s promise to never abandon its roots.
WHERE TO TRY
Brick Café, 30-95 33rd St., Astoria, 718-267-2735, www.brickcafe.com
Cafe Bar, 32-90 36th St., Astoria, 718-204-5273, www.cafebarastoria.com
Rest-au-Rant, 30-01 35th Ave., Astoria, 718-729-9009, www.rarbarlic.com
Sage General Store, 24-20 Jackson Ave., Long Island City, 718-361-0707, www.sagegeneralstore.com
Testaccio Ristorante, 47-30 Vernon Blvd., 718-937-2900, www.testacciony.com
WHERE TO BUY
Essex Street Market, 120 Essex St., Manhattan, 212-673-4950
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