I asked the owners of Forest Bakery how many layers were in their croissants. I hadn’t researched beforehand so was dumbfounded when they said “27.” And that’s just the pastry dough — there are just as many layers of butter, imported from France, in between.
That’s one reason why the pastries at this Oak Park bakery are so phenomenal — they’re the product of a lot of work, a lot of attention to detail, and careful ingredients. Making a croissant takes a week, with a different step every day, starting at 4 a.m. The owners have a “sheeter” that speeds up the dough part. Folding in all that Isigny Sainte-Mère butter is the time-consuming job.
Forest Bakery was opened in April by three veterans of other area bakeries, including Ochre and Warda Patisserie: Jo Burke, Kyle Suczynski, and Humna Tak. The three owners do all the work themselves in a small building that’s a former carwash, right next to Pie Sci. They all say that they grew up baking, they’re morning people, and their previous restaurant work convinced them the late-night lifestyle was not for them. The bakery is open only Thursday to Saturday, but they’re hefting 50-lb. bags of flour and doing prep work two or three other days per week.
The pastry list changes and includes tiramisu a couple of times a month. There’s also soup and tricked-out yogurt. One December morning offerings included scones, gluten-free financiers, coffee cake, cardamom buns, carrot cake, sweet and savory Danishes, pain au chocolat, a couple of loaf cakes, and focaccia.
It’s all excellent, but if I have to single something out, I’ll pick the Danishes. The very flaky French Onion Soup Danish sports caramelized onions whose flavor permeates the pastry and tastes as if they’ve been cooked on a very low flame for a very long time. The Apple Butter Vanilla Custard Streusel Danish is ultra-buttery, with a pool of melted brown sugar in the middle and some oat flakes. The flavor is somewhat like an intense cinnamon roll but it’s far better, because of the layered flakiness of the bread; it’s not tough like a cinnamon roll. Also because everything the Forest Bakery makes is better.
Such as pain au chocolat, which is like a square croissant with a stick of chocolate buried within, a staple French breakfast. The Valrhona chocolate is small enough that you have to wait for it a bit but large enough to infuse most of your bites. Even unadorned, the buttery pastry itself is enough to make your morning. I was in France a year ago and marveled at how any bakery in any small town in Brittany was producing croissants and pain head and shoulders above anything you normally get here. But the Forest women have got it figured out.
The variety is extensive. Cheddar Chive Scones have the right, dense scone consistency, a mellow flavor, a crisp outside, cheerful flecks of green, and flaky salt on top. A non-Cheddar scone can be turned into a sandwich with caramelized onions, mixed greens, and whipped goat cheese.
Focaccia is plainer and comes with the soup. It’s airy but chewy, with flaky salt on top, a bit much for me but you can brush it off if you’re not trendy. Cardamom buns are Swedish treats (using an Indian spice) constructed with wrapped dough. People’s descriptions of the flavor of cardamom are all over the map, from piney to menthol to eucalyptus; my taste buds say anise. In any case, the dense and solid buns are the most breadlike of the treats, besides the focaccia, but with a distinctive flavor you should take the time to savor; don’t wolf.
For a few years I’ve been baking a pumpkin bread that everyone loves; it’s lighter than the usual, with stronger spicing and lots of eggs. Forest’s Pumpkin Loaf may be as good as mine, and they put icing on theirs. A Citrus Almond Poppy Cake is also frosted, with sharp lemon in both components — vegan, dense, and tangy.
It’s not baking, but Forest is just as expert with soup. Thick and creamy Squash Coconut tastes purely of those two ingredients, a perfect blend. And they doctor Fage Greek yogurt in all sorts of ways and call it a “dip”: caramelized onion with goat cheese; red lentil and roasted squash. Mine was simple “Spicy Yogurt,” which meant black pepper, red pepper flakes, garam masala, cumin, and coriander — warm and earthy. It’s a thicker texture than many and super creamy. Suczynski asked me what I dipped into it, and I said “my spoon.”
The bakery is locally focused, except for those big bags of organic flour from Utah. It sells Hyperion coffee by the cup or by the bag, and has a grocery assortment including pasta, fancy salts, canned fish, local Share Crackers, Guernsey dairy products, Zab’s hot sauce, and dried beans. Last summer they sold bouquets from Bucket Works, Coriander Farm, and Amalgam Farm.
The bakery opens its doors at 10 a.m. and stays open till it runs out of treats, an hour which fluctuates widely. Get there early to avoid disappointment. There’s enough disappointment in the world without missing out on the best baked goods in town.
