Della Fattoria

I wish that I could go to Della Fattoria every Sunday morning. The streets of Petaluma, in the southern part of Sonoma county, may be a bit overbleached by the sun, but inside Della Fattoria is the coziest cafe you could want. Colorful, but mellow.
You can come with friends to linger and sip from large bowls of coffee or hot chocolate, or come alone, as I did, to enjoy the communal table and read the newspapers that are strewn about or read a Wine Spectator to understand wines just a little bit better, as I did.

There are cases of pastries... and shelves of bread... and jars of cookies and candies for sale, though it is a rather small space. I chose the Breakfast Bread Pudding made with their polenta bread and bacon and sundried tomatoes and cheeses. The rich aroma matched its creamy consistency, and thank goodness for the apple to provide some tart contrast.
The cinnamon bun, on the other hand, was a sweeter contrast. Much more like rolled up croissant dough saturated in butter so that the swirls were slightly crisp on the outside and almost juicy with butter on the inside, it was also a rich pleasure.
Many of the pastries and breakfast items are much less indulgent, so don't be put off by the festival of butter above.

I was tempted to buy a poached pear tart to take home with me, but I bought a loaf of their Meyer Lemon Rosemary Campagne bread instead. I was a bit disappointed with it. When I tried it at home, the interior and crust were too gummy for me too enjoy, and the interior was a bit dry. It is, perhaps, a sign of control on the part of the bakers that they only TOP the bread with the lemon and rosemary (and olive oil and coarse salt), but some flavoring in the rest of the bread might have masked the consistency problem. This may be how it normally is, how it is on off day, or if they gave it to me while it was still warm and put it in the bag, it could have been softened by steam on the way home; this happened when we made breads at CIA, and I took a loaf home that hadn't cooled completely. I didn't notice it being warm at the time, but who knows. Their breads are baked in brick ovens heated with wood fires, so I would be willing to give their breads another try... after a sampling of the poached pear tart.

Oh, and breads such as these should have almost translucent spots that show that the starch gelatinized properly. I tested it. This one passed.