Fully Baked
Anyone who has ever pulled a loaf of homemade bread (or any favorite baked good, for that matter) from the oven knows the immense satisfaction that act can bring. Then there’s the ritual of waiting—or not—for the item to cool, as heavenly aromas set mouths to watering. And the satisfaction of taking that first indulgent bite? Well, you know.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, this ritual became a panacea of sorts to many of us. While my husband is the baker in the family for all things sweet, I’ve nurtured sourdough starters and my pizza crusts stand up to my New York roots. Still, a golden loaf with a perfect interior crumb or a perfectly turned-out blueberry tart is something I can’t seem to quite pull off. Fortunately, creative artisan bakeries—and bakers—in our region are making it easier than ever to partake in such wonders (or to order them, at least).
Local grains, community values
“Baking attracts good people,” says Chris Sullivan, co-owner of Mountain Oven Organic Bakery along with his life partner, Dana Whitcomb. And from the mellow scene inside their 6,000-square-foot industrial production bakery in Paonia, as well as the Edesia Community Kitchen they manage, the sentiment rings true.
Every Friday morning from 8 to 11 a.m., locals and nonlocals alike who come by foot, bike, or car to purchase pies, breads, muffins, and other freshly baked goods end up communing at a hodgepodge of tables and sofas. “Integrating with the community and breaking bread is something we encourage,” says Whitcomb. “It’s one of our core values to uphold that tradition.” During the early days of the pandemic, the welcoming space provided the much-needed chance to commune safely.
After founding Mountain Oven in 2010 in Crested Butte, where they honed their craft, Sullivan and Whitcomb relocated in 2018 to Paonia, which boasts the largest concentration of organic or sustainable growers, ranchers, orchardists, and vintners in the state. “It was an opportunity to go deeper into the local food movement that had started to take shape there,” says Whitcomb.
Over the years, the bakery has developed a dedicated following of folks who line up at Mountain Oven stands at the Aspen Saturday Market and the Crested Butte Farmers Market on Sundays for offerings that include Birdseed Bread (a 100-percent fresh-milled, local-grain loaf ), Honey Oat loaves (toasted local hull-less oat groats are cooked into porridge then folded into dough), Hungry Bunny carrot muffins (a staple for 10 years), seasonal fruit or savory pies (ample butter folded into the dough), and plenty more.
Preparation for the summer markets—the business’s most lucrative endeavor, around which the rest of the year is spent “ruminating and building,” according to Whitcomb—is intense. “We prep all week,” says Sullivan. “Obviously, we use machines [commercial mills, sifters, mixers] to help, but everything is made by hand in here.”
The day before market day, bread dough is mixed and set to develop. After proofing, or rising, in canvaslined baskets, hand-shaped loaves start going into stone hearth steam-injected ovens around 8 the following morning. The pastry baker shows up in the afternoon, works until 2 a.m., then packs everything into a van and hits the road with the bakery crew at 5 a.m. It’s a nearly 24-hour routine.
Lately, Sullivan and Whitcomb have been championing the growing of local grains as a viable crop by regional farmers, such as Steve and Anne Ziemer at Immunity Farms in Lazear, who grow and harvest a crop of Rouge de Bordeaux wheat used in Mountain Oven’s Sesame Rouge loaves. North Fork Organics grows and harvests organic golden Hard Spring Wheat, Mountain Oven’s primary wheat, now milled in house in a custom New American Stone Mill from Vermont.
The value of working so much with local grains? “In addition to increased flavor and nutrition, fresh-milled grain brings it home and makes the connection between what we are consuming and providing so obvious,” says Whitcomb. “It’s a huge value.”
Mountain Oven also offers a selection of fresh stone-milled local flours for sale for home bakers, including whole-wheat flour, high-extraction (sifted) all-purpose flour, pastry flour, rye flour, and more. Sullivan and Whitcomb are also planning to begin wholesale distribution to the Roaring Fork Valley this winter. And they deliver to the Roaring Fork Valley holiday orders for pies, holiday breads, cookie boxes, croissants, and more for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Orders must be placed through Mountain Oven’s website.
395 Clark Ave., Paonia, (970) 765-7130, bread@mountainoven.com, mountainoven.com
A turnover at Louis’ Swiss
Tradition speaks loudly at Louis’ Swiss Pastry—the venerable little bakery tucked off to the side of the Aspen Business Center and a longtime go-to spot for early-morning cups of coffee and everything from honey buns to burritos for flight attendants, first responders, workers on their way into town, and locals on their way to catching a flight.
This past August, a sea change took place at Louis’ Swiss, as longtime Aspenite and seasoned chef Andrew Helsley—most recently Aspen Skiing Company’s executive chef and a board member of the Farm Collaborative, which publishes this magazine—took over the place turnkey from previous owner Felix Tornare, whose father brought the business over from Switzerland in 1982.
“It’s an institution and the largest bakery in the valley, with 150 wholesale accounts, including lots of little coffee shops and restaurants that take pastries from us,” says Helsley, who now participates in everything from pouring coffee for customers in the front of the shop to frying donuts, shaping bread, and otherwise “helping out the guys in the back” of the 3,000-square-foot facility.
Partnering with Helsley on the business side is Jill Soffer, another longtime local, philanthropist, and passionate home baker. Amanda Johansen, formerly pastry chef at The Little Nell, was recruited as head baker—her broad skill set showing itself in the production of cookies, pies, cakes, and finished desserts, as well as buttery puff pastries and croissants. It’s an ideal situation for Helsley, who, among lots of other things, is concentrating on experimenting with different types of what he calls his “new bread,” including sourdough, and techniques that might take longer to produce.
Down the road, Helsley sees making better use of the little lawn space beside the shop (perhaps offering wi-fi for those who want to linger and connect). New products may turn up on the shelves and in the bakery shop case, and going 100 percent organic on the baked-goods side is a possibility down the road. For the time being, Helsley says, “We’re a local and sustainable business, and a happy workplace with big, exciting things to come.”
400 Aspen Airport Business Center, Aspen, (970) 925-8592, louisswisspastry.com
Our Daily Bread
Granetta Panini
Fiona McCullough has been a legend in the Roaring Fork Valley since she began turning out artisan breads from her Grana Bread bakery in Basalt in the late 1990s. These days, she can be found plying her skills in the little, custom-built blue and yellow wagon on the corner of 4th and Colorado in Carbondale. From small bread ovens, she turns out 50 traditional mini baguettes a day from a basic (long slow fermentation and a tiny amount of yeast) bread dough for European-style ham-and-butter and breakfast sandwiches with local eggs. Morning buns and seasonal fruit tarts are treats.
54 4th St., Carbondale, (970) 230-2817, granetta.com; Tuesday–Friday, 7:30 a.m.–1 p.m.
French Pastry Café
Margarita Alvarez took over this sweet little bakery in 2018 after working for original owner Franck Thirion for more than 10 years. During that time, she learned the secrets to turning out buttery almond, chocolate, and now ham-and-cheese croissants. Other handmade favorites include cinnamon rolls, apple turnovers, fruit-and-almond-cream tarts, and other treats. Keeping with the shop’s tradition, she also learned how to make baguettes from “a French friend,” which she also supplies to local restaurants like Betula. All this from a mighty bread oven Thirion had imported from France. (Look for some Mexican specialties coming up, too.)
111 Aspen Business Center, Suite G, (970) 925-3569, frenchpastrycafellc.com; Monday–Saturday, 7:30 a.m.–3 p.m.
Shepherd Bread
Every Friday in his Carbondale bakery, Dave Biber hand mixes dough for the nearly 100 fully organic, naturally leavened loaves of sourdough bread he bakes directly on the stone hearth of a 500-degree Swedish deck oven. While he learned the basics of breadmaking at renowned Della Fattoria in Petaluma, California, the formula (that means recipe in bakers’ terms) evolved over the last 10 years or so to produce the beautiful, golden-crusted loaves. Find them at Skip’s Farm to Market in Basalt, MANA Foods in Carbondale, and the Redstone General Store.
