Red Hen Bakery And Café

Completely whole grain. Completely organic. Completely delicious. If you think whole wheat bread has to be dense & heavy, think again! This bread is a staff favorite & we find ourselves being continually amazed that a bread made entirely w/ whole wheat can be this good.

A classic french baguette w/ a delightful, open interior & a thin, crisp crust. Leavened w/ a yeasted starter called a “sponge” & a pinch of our natural starter for better flavor & keeping.

The‎ crossett hill batard is now made entirely w/ local wheat & rye! This is an alternative size & shape (smaller & oval) for our crossett hill round. It is meant to be a more sandwich-friendly version of our whole grain favorite.

The cyrus pringle is a one pound boule made entirely w/ vt-grown wheat. Of course, that is only a notable fact if it’s good bread, & this one has turned into a real favorite. It’s milder than our purely naturally-leavened breads but still has a chewy texture & wheaty flavor. You can read more about the story behind the cyrus

Our olive bread weds a naturally leavened bread w/ kalamata & moroccan oil-cured olives. Olive bread goes well w/ hearty lunch fare & fine mediterranean cooking. This bread is a specialty item available at our cafe & at the waitsfield & montpelier farmers’ markets.

Pizzaz has people flocking to the cafe on thursday afternoons. That’s when we bake these pizza crusts. Better than buying dough, we toss it for you & bake it in our hearth oven. Then all you need to do is get some fun toppings & in less than half an hour you’ve got dinner for the whole family. Of course, all the toppings for any number of variations are available in the cafe.

Our pumpernickel is made from certified organic whole rye flour w/ just a hint of caraway. This bread is hefty, dense, & wholesome. It is perfect for hors d’oevres & pairs nicely w/ strong cheeses. It also makes fabulous toast.

For the seeded baguette, we roll our baguettes in a mixture of certified organic poppy, fennel, & sesame seeds. Since the baguette was invented to maximize crust, the seeded baguette maximizes seeds!

The miche is a bread-lovers delight, & it is now made entirely w/ local wheat & rye!

Actually, old bread makes lousy shoes, & who would want to do that w/ perfectly edible food anyway? Here at the bakery, we are proud to say that any day-old bread that comes back to us from stores is donated to schools, food shelves, or local farmers. (Even the loafers you see here gave the farmer a good laugh when he found them when he was feeding his heifers. ) At home, you may sometimes find that you have some bread that is just a little too stale to be enjoyable as-is. Here are some ideas for what to do w/ that bread:

Anything but plain, this brownie is a deep, dark abyss of chocolate & spice.

Our take on the american classic w/ organic butter & chocolate chips.

We‎ do our best to uphold the highest standard of chewy, oaty goodness.

This biscotti is rich enough to dip in your coffee or to enjoy alone.

The classic french pastry featuring cultured vermont butter & cheese co. butter.

What could be better than the perfect croissant? Perhaps that same croissant dipped in simple syrup, filled w/ almond cream & topped w/ toasted almonds! Better still, make it chocolate! (If you’re lucky, you’ll find chocolate/almond croissants, if you’re smart you’ll have one w/ a latte. ) Either way, this is an almond lover’s delight.

Local eggs & vt creamery butter enrich our danish & seasonal local fruits & cream cheeses top them.

The original red hen sweet! We glaze our buns w/ pure maple syrup from the von trapp farm just down the road & real butter (vbc in the brioche dough & the grass-fed organic in the glaze) . Yes, the ingredient list is right: maple syrup is the second ingredient– there is a lot more syrup than sugar in these.

A wonderful rustic treat made w/ champlain orchards apples.

Subtle fragrances of almond mingle w/ orange to create a heavenly morning treat.

Local champlain valley orchards apples & a piquant bite of ginger.

With honey butter, organic green leaf lettuce on potato bread.

And apple butter on mad river grain.

Breast, our own mayonnaise, & muffaletta on mad river grain

With‎ cage free eggs, our own mayonnaise, dijon mustard, fresh dill, organic green leaf lettuce on mad river grain

Grainy mustard, our own olive oil mayonnaise, a thin slice of red onion, organic green leaf lettuce on baguette.

Cheese, our own mayonnaise, & muffaletta on croseett hill bread.

Our own olive oil mayonnaise, & grainy dijon mustard on cyrus pringle bread.

Our own olive oil mayonnaise, & basil pesto on 100% whole wheat bread.

Grainy mustard, & organic green leaf lettuce on mad river grain bread.

Sweet peppadew peppers, & organic green leaf lettuce on mad river grain bread.

Our own olive oil mayonnaise, & grainy dijon mustard on 100% whole wheat bread.

With cage free eggs, our own olive oil mayonnaise, dijon mustard, fresh dill, organic green leaf lettuce on mad river grain

With both grainy mustard & dijon mustard & organic green leaf lettuce on alice’s rye.

Sweet peppadew peppers, & organic green leaf lettuce on cyrus pringle bread.