Stonemill Artisan Brings Authentic Baked Goods & Gelato To Wesley Chapel

By Gary Nager

Artisan – (of food or drink) made in a traditional or non-mechanized way using high-quality ingredients.

One of the things I have been missing since I lived on E. 63rd St. in Manhattan a thousand years ago is the smell of freshly baked, authentic French breads and real, all-butter croissants (more on them below) wafting through the air. Like Bugs Bunny to a carrot, some days — when the ovens were firing at Hot & Crusty Bakery (still a popular, local-to-NYC chain) and the bakery’s vents were aimed down E. 63rd from 2nd Ave. (which was all the time, of course) — I could just float my way a half a city block to grab a still-steaming sourdough roll, French baguette or the flakiest croissants I had ever experienced (probably because I’ve never been to Paris).

Well, although I still can’t smell the bread and more baking up hot and fresh from outside of the new Stonemill Artisan Bakery & Desserts (located in the Wesley Chapel Village Market plaza, next to Vallarta’s, on S.R. 54 at Bruce B. Downs {BBD} Blvd), I have already become one of owner and artisan baker par excellence Honor Brandao’s best customers in the few short months he’s been open, as our new office is less than a mile from his place.

[new_royalslider id=”38″]

Stonemill Artisan’s tiny corner storefront in the Village Market isn’t much to look at (most real bakeries aren’t), but I can assure you that Honor and his staff not only have the Wesley Chapel community covered in terms of freshly baked breads and homemade desserts (including gelato), he says the plan is for the store itself to one day only represent about 30 percent of Stonemill’s business. That plan is for the 70-percent portion of the biz in the future to be wholesale — selling his delicious and decadent wares to restaurants, for large corporate events and more.

“We’re even considering having ‘bread runs’ in the local neighborhoods,” Honor says. “Submit an order when we’re going to be in your neighborhood and we’ll deliver fresh baked goods right to your door.”

He adds, “Right now, the retail operation is 100-percent of our business and that’s good because I have everyone in training for when we kick off the wholesale operation. We all have to be at our best to handle that type of volume. And, we will be.”

Now, before we go any further, I just want to say that for those of you who think local supermarkets have great bread, you need to broaden your horizons. Those “croissants” you get at your favorite coffee shop are actually poorly Americanized “crescent rolls” that bear almost no resemblance to authentic French all-butter croissants.

A real croissant — some authentic French bakeries in the Tampa Bay area actually bake both French and American-style croissants; if you were to try both and not recognize the differences immediately, I’d wait until they resuscitated you. lol — is very tender inside, but should have a definite flaky crispness outside. Stonemill’s croissants are anything but “burnt,” as one local resident suggested in an email to me, they’re perfect. If I could limit myself to just one a day, I’d probably visit every day — they’re that good and the closest thing to Hot & Crusty’s I’ve had here.

But Honor, who will be happy to give you a tour of his uniquely modern baker’s kitchen, doesn’t only make the best croissants in town. Mais non, mes amis! He also walked me through the process of creating authentic sourdough bread. He showed me everything from the sourdough cultures (which are aged in large tubs) to the formed, unbaked loaves of bread and when he has to cut the slits in each loaf that not only gives the sourdough it’s distinctive look, but also allows each loaf to expand as it bakes in his incredible multi-tiered oven (which can bake literally dozens of croissants, sourdough and other fresh breads at once). The expansion is necessary to create the golden brown outside crispness, and dense, soft-and-delicious sourdough inside. Take home one of these loaves — or his rye, multigrain, brioche or other fresh breads, pre-soften some butter and see how long they last on your family’s table.

More Than Just Bread!

But, Honor and his crew aren’t only hitting on all cylinders when it comes to bread. I haven’t sampled all of his fresh-baked desserts, but I can tell you that I’m not usually the biggest fan of scones. They’re usually too crumbly and dry for me to even enjoy with a great cup of coffee (like Stonemill’s).

But, at Stonemill Artisan, the authentic Italian (Honor and his wife, Ana Paula, were both raised in Brazil, by Italian parents, although he credits his “sainted Nona” {grandmother} who made her own pasta and breads, for raising him and inspiring him as a baker) scones still crumble outside, but are definitely moister inside, than any I’ve had in this area. And, with varieties ranging from cheese to decadent chocolate chip and cinnamon crunch scones, I’m betting you’ll find one you love.

Honor also makes these authentic, melt-in-your-mouth French cookies called macarons (not to be confused with the traditional coconut macaroons popular during the Jewish Passover season) in a variety of colors and flavors, as well as whole cakes (see the ad on page 42 for a sample of Stonemill’s great custom cakes) and pies (he was featuring much-thicker-than most pecan pies the day I went to press with this issue), some of the most decadent home-baked chocolate truffles ever in a variety of flavors, delicious mini banana breads, muffins, cupcakes and many more.

Even the authentic Italian gelato is made in-house. Of course, those who know me are aware that I still prefer ice cream to gelato, but all I can say is that I have tasted and enjoyed several different flavors at Stonemill Artisan and the gelato already is pretty popular among Honor’s customers. You big gelato fans can feel free to give me your feedback on it anytime.

“To me, the motto of the artisan is ‘Know thy process, know thy ingredients, know they tools,’” Honor says. “I hope everyone who reads this will come in and try the homemade, hand-made difference in everything we do!”

Stonemill Artisan Bakery & Desserts (5325 Village Market) is open Mon.-Sat., 7:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. For more info, call 994-7300 or stop in and please tell Honor and his crew that the Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News sent you!