Andreas Apostolopoulos and his wife Sarah have been baking sourdough breads for a year and a half in a permitted microbakery in their home. Andreas’ interest in baking began during his childhood in Greece and continued when he and his wife moved to Acton seven years ago. Their specific interest in sourdough products began in the winter of 2020 when most of us were confined to our homes with extra time for hand crafts. As an engineer, Andreas marveled at all the variables in making quality bread. When he got to the point where he was happy with the product, he thought: why don’t I ramp up to baking ten loaves and sell them? In the fall of 2023, they formed an informal bread club on Harris St. and, buoyed by that positive experience, they decided to open a business, which they did on Valentine’s Day 2024.
Andreas and Sarah had a 15-loaf capacity oven from the UK installed that heats thick stones up to 600 degrees like a brick oven. They also purchased a large commercial floor mixer that can handle 100 pounds of dough at a time. After extensive training required by the Board of Health, their new kitchen was approved.
Harris Hearth supports local agriculture, farmers, and millers. They use regenerative organic grain from northeastern farms and either stone grind it themselves or buy it ground from the Massachusetts company Ground Up Grain.
Their most popular bread is called “Acton Sourdough,” an organic country loaf. They also sell Sesame Durum Levain, Stone Ground Baguette, Pain de Mie, and Sourdough Bagels. Among many other breads they offer are Sourdough English Muffins. Grocery store English muffins are typically baked in an oven. Harris Hearth English muffins are fermented for 30 hours then cooked on a hand griddle, one side at a time.
Thanksgiving is their busiest holiday, followed by Christmas. Last Christmas they launched a new product, “Panettone,” an Italian holiday bread. Andreas describes it as a “super highly enriched brioche type of bread” baked in a round mold, that rises high. He says, “It’s loaded with Sicilian candied citrus, chocolate, vanilla, honey. It’s got all these aromatics in it that just make it incredible. It’s light as a cloud, loaded with butter and egg yolks. It’s basically like the Mount Everest of sourdough bread baking.”
The Apostolopouloses are growing their business slowly and carefully. If they ever get to the point of moving the baking operation out of their house, they would look for a small industrial space where they could increase capacity, host a few events, and forge collaborations with new partners, without incurring the costs of a full-time retail bakery.
The new weekly online menus drop Tuesdays at noon. Breads can be ordered from then until Friday morning. You can order from the Harris Hearth hotplate link or get on their email list. You can pick up orders on Saturday mornings at their home or at Kitchen Outfitters in the Acton Woods Plaza. Harris Hearth sells at Clark Farm in Carlisle and Theo’s Farm Market in Littleton as well as several area farmer’s markets, including Acton Boxborough’s and one in Chelmsford that is open year-round. They also sell at Grotonfest and Oktoberfest.
Harris Hearth donates to the local United Way (now called Community Compass), the Acton Boxborough Regional High School’s film program, Infant Toddler Children’s center, The Discovery Museum, Iron Works Farm, and others.
Fun facts: the Apostolopouluses live in the Harris House, at the corner of Harris St. and Main St. in North Acton. The home was built in 1769 and was owned by John Harris, who marched with Issac Davis’s Acton Minutemen to the North Bridge on April 19, 1775. Rather than use Andreas’ rather long last name they decided to name their business Harris Hearth Breads.
For more information, see harrishearthbreads.com.
Jeff Brown is the Acton Exchange’s business beat reporter.