Do you love surprising people with special gift delivery? What about freshly baked bread – are you a fan? And beautiful flowers? I bet you know people who like those, too. If you answered yes to the questions above, you are going to absolutely love the local business I’m about to introduce you to.
FresYes fans, meet Alina and her business, Fresh Bread and Flowers.
Is this bread not the most stunning bread you’ve ever seen?
I was absolutely stunned to receive this loaf of handmade rustic sourdough bread laced with fragrant rosemary, along with a bouquet of some of the most beautiful flowers I’d ever seen as a surprise gift from a dear friend on my birthday this past weekend.
Fresh Bread and Flowers is a local business that offers beautiful, naturally leavened and organic freshly baked bread and gorgeous floral bouquets made of blooms grown right here in town, by the company’s owner, Alina.
Alina moved to the Central Valley from Ukraine a little over a decade ago, but found it difficult to find wonderful breads like the kind she was used to enjoying in Ukraine. “Ukrainians eat a lot of bread. It is an essential part of every meal, and for some, including myself, it is also the best dessert (with some unsalted sweet cream and honey). When we moved to the U.S., it was quite challenging for me to find bread I liked. The choices seemed to be very limited compared to those in Europe, and I couldn’t find the taste and texture I liked.”
In order to solve her own dilemma, Alina decided to roll up her sleeves and get to baking her own bread until she could get the recipes just right. “During the past several years, we have baked many, many loaves striving to improve our skills as well as develop recipes we liked, and now we are ready to share our bread with you!”
Fresh Bread & Flowers currently offers five types of bread:
- Whole Wheat Levian
- Mini Miche
- French Sourdough
- Fig and Walnut Levain
- Rosemary Sourdough
Each bread is naturally leavened, meaning, no commercial yeast is used, which Alina says yields better flavor, a more healthful bread and allows the loaves to keep longer.
Bread can be purchased as a weekly subscription (4 weeks at a time, with delivery on Fridays) or as a one-time purchase.
As for the flowers, Alina says her mother is to blame. “For as long as I can remember, she has always been growing something in her beautiful garden. I will never forget the taste of the strawberries and tomatoes she grew!” Alina’s family had to leave Ukraine due to war, and though it’s wonderful for her parents to live nearby (and be there to watch Alina’s four children grow up) she knows her mother misses the beautiful roses, peonies and lilies she once grew in her home country. “To cheer her up, I turned our backyard into a flower farmette. Fresno climate is very difficult for flower farming. These blooms are a labor of love and hard work along with many tears and fears, but I love how flowers always, always make people smile!”
Alina makes stunning seasonal bouquets in one dozen and two dozen stem arrangements. These arrangements can be purchased as a weekly subscription, for business décor or as special occasion bouquets for delivery.
All of Alina’s Breads and Flowers are delivered Monday through Saturday, and someone needs to be present to accept deliveries, as it is not good for fresh bread or flowers to sit out in the elements on a porch for any length of time.
Alina’s prices are very reasonable, and the quality of her bread and bouquets are out-of-this-world phenomenal.
The next time you’re looking for a special way to brighten someone’s day, your home, or your office I highly recommend calling Alina of Fresh Bread and Flowers. You can enjoy gorgeous photos of her blooms and bread on Instagram here, learn more about ordering on her website here, or contact her to place an order here.
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