Hungry Ghost Bread

It just so happens that I can follow up on Emma's post with a loving rave about Hungry Ghost! I was inspired to talk them up today when I went in for a small fix-- one of their giant chocolate chip cookies-- and I realized I had forgotten my wallet, gasped in despair, but then the charming baker suggested that I "owe them" and handed me my cookie anyway. In any other circumstance I might have felt uncomfortable, like I was somehow taking advantage by not paying my $2 up front, but the gesture was so honest and genial, that it put me at ease, and I was able to thank him kindly and tell him I'd put it on the tab the next time I stopped by, which is at least once a week.

Hungry Ghost is tucked away behind Baldwin house, across the street from Serio's Pharmacy, just off the main street in a friendly, buzzing little corner of Northampton. When you step in the door, you get cramped into a small rectangular space with concrete floors (if there are lots of people there, you might have to keep the door open so as not to step on one another), facing a rack of aromatic breads, and a set of glass cases displaying fresh baked goods. Behind these facades rises a huge, beautiful wood-fired, brick oven that dominates the room, and around it bustle a couple of flushed, apron-wearing, flour smeared bakers, kneading, mixing, and shuffling things in and out of the fiery oven-mouth. If you happen to catch them as they are taking out a batch of chocolate chip cookies, you are in for a treat; these buttery daises of perfection are melt-in-your-mouth good when they are still warm from the oven.

The bread is the talk of foodies all around. The bakery is all-organic, and is a proud sponsor of the Wheat Patch Project, an initiative to grow wheat locally in the Pioneer Valley. As part of the project, Hungry Ghost has taken measures like handing out seed to some seventy of their customers; the idea is to get bread lovers to grow a portion of the wheat they consume, in a drive to decrease the carbon footprint of their bread. Hungry Ghost makes "local loafs" with wheat, spelt, and rye grown on five local farms; they are sold for a slightly higher price, but the lower cost to the environment, and the exciting potential of being able to bake with wheat grown and processed completely locally, are both worth it. Their delicious bread varieties range from classic French bread, to 8-grain, rosemary, challah, raisin, and olive and semolina fougasse. They also make pizza by the order from 5:30 to 9 pm, a fact I just learned and can't wait to try out.

So, if you are ever looking for a classy bread and cheese dinner, or just to snack on something loaf-y (I myself am an avid bread snacker), I suggest that you stop by Hungry Ghost. There is nothing like ripping into a fresh, crusty loaf of bread with your teeth, an act of basest propriety that makes you feel like you are connecting to your peasant roots, which is strangely liberating. Sure, a smudge of butter or a slice of cheese might dress it up nicely, but a truly good, fresh loaf of bread needs no adornments.