New NYC Bakery Ferrane Opens With Swedish Baked Goods | Eater NY
"Opening Wednesday, May 21 in Brooklyn Heights (57 Clark Street, at Henry Street) in a landmarked building that most recently housed a pet food store, this new Swedish bakery was founded by Selim Adira (of BonBon) and Emon Maasho (of Orrefors & Kosta Boda), both born in Sweden—Adira to Moroccan parents and Maasho to Eritrean parents—and the name reflects their heritage, named after the Moroccan word for “community oven.” The two became friends through a Swedish expat group Maasho started and bonded over Swedish candies, breads, and pastries; an annual tradition had Maasho procuring semla for Adira and other expat friends, and he recalls, “I stood for over 40 minutes waiting for semla and they were sold out by the time I reached the counter,” he recalls. “I got a parking ticket too!” When he told Adira about the semla shortage, Maasho joked that the two should open a bakery; “He said ‘let’s do it,’” Maasho says. That weekend they created the concept for the shop. Inside, dark Swedish rye breads are stocked on custom white oak shelving and a curved “croissant sofa” made by Danish design house Gubi creates a gathering-friendly setting for enjoying princess cake served in a silver coupe like a sundae. Baking uses Brooklyn Granary & Mil flour and a vast menu ranges from traditional sourdough baguettes, focaccia, and brioche to kavring (the dark, dense Swedish rye), several varieties of airy crispbreads, sirapslimpa (a rich molasses loaf), and formfranska (a sliced sandwich loaf). A savory sandwich program starts in the morning with combinations like egg and caviar — hard-boiled egg garnished with lightly smoked fish roe, on buttered rye, finished with chives — and moves to open-faced lunch beauties such as shrimp with hard-boiled egg, dill mayonnaise, and butter lettuce. Lead baker Mathilda Jacob (noted as the current Young World Champion in baking) has created magnificently swirled buns in both cardamom and cinnamon, plus a line of vegan vanilla and chocolate buns “you’d never guess were made without butter.” Laminated, butter-heavy croissants and pain au chocolat are produced with a technique that includes stuffing chocolate ganache after baking for a gooey warm center. Traditional Swedish desserts include princess cake and dammsugare; as Maasho explains, “It’s a fantastic way to minimize food waste and the vacuum name is because it ‘vacuums’ up all the leftover cake,” and their version mixes cake crumbs with butter, cocoa, sugar, and spiced punsch into a dough-like consistency, shapes logs, wraps them in marzipan, and dips them in chocolate. The founders emphasize the “community” part of the concept: they partner with One Love Community Fridge to bring pastries and bread to fill the nearby Henry Street fridge, plan after-school baking classes for tweens and teens — “We want to help younger people to learn to cook and to learn about the importance of good ingredients that are missing from the education system here,” Massho says — and hope to engage seniors at the nearby Watermark to share recipes and generational knowledge: “Older people have so much knowledge, and we want to see if we can share that generational knowledge. That would be a dream scenario,” he says." - Andrea Strong
