Mail-Order Kashrut - Bread
Greetings again from the kashrut hinterlands! This last week we tried ordering bread from EliZabar’s bakery. A previous post in The Kosher Blog referenced a NYT piece about the bakery and mentioned that they ship nationwide. Our local Kroger bakes kosher bread once a week under the supervision of the Vaad. They produce competent french bread, and hamburger buns. However, the possibility of kosher artisan bread had my tastebuds revving. Presently, all of the breads are kosher except the braided brioche. Their pastries are not kosher. Kosher certification is provided by Rabbi Spivak of United Kosher Supervision in Monsey NY. We ordered some of the rye, raisin pecan bread and health loaf. The loaves were shipped two-day FedEx at no appreciable mark-up to the basic shipping cost. The product arrived in good condition and we sampled the rye and health loaf immediately. The general opinion was that this was serious bread worth the cost. Personally, I thought the rye was a bit mild for my tastes, but I was overruled by the family. The health loaf and raisin pecan breads have been retrieved after 3 weeks in the freezer (double wrapped in foil and a freezer bag like Mom taught me) and were still very good.
Mail-Order Kashrut Summary:
1. Hasgacha - Not a lot of detail available on the internet
2 Website friendliness - A-
3. Shipping costs - A
4. Shipping competence - A+
5. Quality - A
We’ll be adding Eli Zabar (www.elisbread.com )to our regular on-line orders.
Only some of Eli Zabar’s bread is under supervision-most is not (mostly UKS Rabbi Spivak, some OK). I spoke with the owner who indicated that due to the politics and complexity, he was not interestd in going kosher. He recommended Tribeca Oven (www.tribecaoven.com) in Brooklyn (Kof-K). Their breads are quite good. That was about 7 months ago. Eli Zabars has recently opened a shomer Shabbat kosher bakery on 80th and 3rd in Manhattan which makes artisan breads. I have not tried them yet since I am not near there. Other sources of good artisan breads include Bread Alone (which also does mail order: http://www.breadalone.com) which is under the Vaad of Albany and Certified Bakery in NJ (no mail order or web site that I know of).
Michael:
I think the website has been updated. Most of the breads on the site are now under Dr. Spivak’s supervision. Also I’ve had e-mail exchanges with Mark Stewart, Eli’s General Manager who tells me the website is accurate. Also, they are experimenting with recipes for a kosher version of their brioche challah. I’d agree that in NYC the safest bet is to buy only from their shomer shabbos bakery.
P.S. All of our purchases arrived with R. Spivak’s hechsher.
BS”D
I would like to know if you have any information (telephone, address, contact rabbi) about the following kosher supervisions:
Vaad Harabonim Orthodox Rabbinical Council of Greater Pittsburgh
Vaad HaKashrus of Midwood Brooklyn N.Y.
Va’ad Harabonim of Boro Park
KM-Kosher Brooklyn N.Y.
Thanking you in advance. Tizku L’Mitzvos.
Mordechai Agasi
Brooklyn, NY 11204 USA
Fax: 718-837-1996 / -854-5090
E-mail: MYAGASI@HOTMAIL.COM