Amazing fig loaf studded with hazelnut slices from Whistler-based purebread

At the Sunday farmers’ market in Vancouver’s fashionable Kitsilano neighbourhood, there are short lines for various produce, like plump raspberries and blueberries and crisp beans. But the longest queue is for the baked goods at purebread. I figure people know superior stuff when they see, and taste, it. And purebread’s “lineup” is exceptional. Shoppers can choose from some 16 types of bread, including a fig loaf studded with hazelnuts, a rosemary lavender, a touted sour cherry chocolate and, just for fun, a disfunction ale.

purebread’s star-studded lineup at the weekly Kitsilano Market in Vancouver

But who can stop there? A cinnamon brioche tempts, a cherry scone beckons, a dense slice of crumbly cornbread melts in the mouth. These treats have vanished down throats, with only a small trail of crumbs, by the time we reach the leafy side street. Usually, success stories like this start in the big city and then perhaps migrate into the surrounding hinterlands. But purebread was launched at a market in the nearby resort town of Whistler. It’s a family enterprise that required the use of eight ovens in a high school home-economics classroom to produce the initial baked offerings. But for five years, the prized goods have been transported to weekly markets in the Vancouver area, with a city bakery set to open this fall.

Yeasty folks serving up breads and baked treats at the Kitsilano Market

purebread
1040 Millar Creek Road, Whistler, B.C. and nine Vancouver-area markets from spring to fall (Note: Purebread’s Whistler Village location has been closed because of a late 2013 fire) Daily 8:30 am-5 pm (Whistler location)