Orwashers Bakery

History

An Eastern European immigrant himself, Abraham Orwasher opened the store in 1916, and lived in a small apartment in the back. Orwasher "used family recipes for the high-quality rye, black, and grain breads of their homeland, baking them all in a basement brick oven and delivering the loaves by horse and carriage." It soon became a thriving wholesale business with deliveries being made by horse and buggy. Abraham's son Louis would go on to take over the business from his father, owning the building the bakery was housed in. Louis would go on to perfect the formulas of his father, while reinventing the breads sold. It is claimed that it was Louis who invented raisin pumpernickel bread, at Orwasher's during World War II.

Abram Orwasher, Louis's son, later took over the business, using the same brick ovens and sourdough starter that was used in 1916.

In 2007, Mr. Orwasher sold the bakery to Keith Cohen, who stated plans to expand the bakery's offerings beyond Eastern European breads, adding artisanal breads from Italy, France, Ireland and the United States. Cohen has also expanded beyond the original store opening additional outlets in New York City.

Starting in 2009, Keith Cohen launched a new line of Artisan Wine Breads under the brand name Oven Artisans. These breads were created with a wine grape starter in collaboration with Channing Daughters Vineyard in Long Island.

References

References

1. [http://www.epicurious.com/restaurants/best_eats/bakeries ''America's Top Ten Bakeries''] [https://web.archive.org/web/20060217002303/http://www.epicurious.com/restaurants/best_eats/bakeries Archived copy], [[Epicurious]], accessed August 10, 2006
2. "102-year-old Orwasher's Bakery is preserving NYC nostalgia while adapting to the times".
3. [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/dining/21off.html ''Off the Menu''], [[New York Times]], accessed November 27, 2007
4. Cohen, Keith. (April 2014). "Orwashers Artisan Bread: 100 Years of Techniques and Recipes". Race Point Publishing.