The croissants from bread delivery service Wildgrain should not have been this delicious. After all, they’d arrived in the mail. But they were nonetheless flaky, buttery, classic-tasting Viennoiserie with a browned exterior and airy structure within, still hot from the oven and delicate enough to crinkle under the barest touch.
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Had they been delivered on my plate at a local restaurant, I would have accepted these croissants as fresh-baked from scratch. And yet, just 20 minutes earlier, these pastries were frozen solid. Two hours before, they’d been on a delivery truck bound to my house.
Wildgrain is both a new and old concept: fresh bread delivery. It’s a monthly subscription service, delivering a box of slow-fermented sourdough bread and pastries from any of 50 small bakeries across the country. The goods are par-baked, flash-frozen, shipped directly to your stoop, and ready to finish baking at home. In their way, they’re fresher than you’d even get from a local bakery. Gluten-free and plant-based plans are also available.
The plans aren’t cheap at regular price: $99 a month for a six-item box and $159 a month for a 12-item box. But right now those delivery boxes are on sale for the only time this year, according to Wildgrain’s reps. Enter the promo code WIRED40, and Wildgrain will give you $40 off your first month’s delivery box (for six-item and 12-item boxes only). Also included are free croissants or free gluten-free cookies for life alongside your Wildgrain box—as long as you order before November 23.
How Wildgrain Subscriptions Work
A Wildgrain subscription arrives as a monthly box, filled with four, six, or 12 items that might range from a full sourdough loaf or fresh-made pasta to a pack of six doughnuts or four large croissants. Basically, you can build your own box each month, choosing among healthy sourdough or pasta and decadent pastries.
The frozen baked goods can be placed in your freezer to be ready whenever you need them—when the fam stops by for a Sunday evening visit, say. Baking times range from five minutes (doughnuts) to 20 minutes (croissants, pumpkin biscuits.) The baked goods don’t need to be thawed before baking: You pop them in frozen.
The reason this process works is that the bread is mostly baked already. Wildgrain contracts with small bakeries, according to company representatives, though their identity is not disclosed.
