What Makes Ina Garten's Favorite Hamptons Bakery Special
Endless recipes for baked goods are available to us thanks to the internet hosting an immeasurable number of blog posts, but you'll have to wade through pages of personal stories to find one you might try more than once. If you're lucky, there's a local bakery that makes quality goods when your homemade baguette bombs, but the best spots are increasingly harder to find. That is... unless Ina Garten is your guide. In a "60 Minutes" interview, the Barefoot Contessa reveals her go-to Hampton's bakery that became her favorite for more than just good focaccia.
Carissa Waechter and Lori Chemla co-founded Carissa's the Bakery with the humble goal of simply providing really good bread. As the popularity of their baked goods grew, so did their menu offerings and retail space. The bakery now provides artisan bread, confections, gelato, specialty grocery products, and lunch and dinner options from their modernized retail location that won the James Beard Foundation Outstanding Restaurant Design Award in 2020.
Waechter and Chemla told Hamptons that their commitment to sustainable baking and ties to the community are as important as the quality of their artisan baked goods. They pledge to reduce waste and plastics in their baking practice while supporting local farmers by featuring seasonal ingredients. Even the starter that is the base of all their bread was fermented in Amagansett, New York, in 1965. They define success by the number of repeat customers they see returning for artisan goods.
Garten sees herself in Carissa's the Bakery
The Barefoot Contessa knows a thing or two about starting a food business on little more than a dream to create delicious fare. When Garten, who formerly worked in the White House Office of Management and Budget, came across a listing for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, she felt it was kismet. She spent 18 years testing and perfecting recipes that customers couldn't get enough of as she became the celebrity chef she is today.
In a "60 Minutes" interview, Garten says that seeing Carissa Waechter and Lori Chemla's hard work come to fruition at Carissa's the Bakery conjures memories of her own bold move into the food industry all those years ago. The celebrity chef says that each time she visits the bakery, "it feels like coming home." She loves the bakery for its familiar founders and admirable mission but also for its incredible specialty goods.
Garten's commitment to true artisan products is another reason she supports and frequents the specialty bakery that champions high-quality ingredients. High-end baked goods come with a price tag in the Hamptons, and Garten acknowledges that a $20 bacon and egg breakfast sandwich might wake your wallet up first. However, that breakfast sammy isn't just slapped onto a slice of white bread, it's on a handmade artisan roll that Carissa made, and Garten argues it's worth it to enjoy an organic, locally-sourced, luxury baked good made by two women committed to making sustainable quality products.