Flour Chylde Bakery began in 2002 with one torte that was sold at local farmers’ markets. Since then, they have been baking and promoting the benefits of a gluten-free lifestyle. Over the the past 12 years they have created a line of sweet and savory hand-crafted, small batch gluten-free products, with the best product possible.
MM: What is the origin of Flour Chylde Bakery?
CB: The idea of a bakery originated the morning our son, Max, was born. At the time I was working for Levi Strauss & Company as a clothing/fabric/finish designer and decided I wanted to be closer to closer to home and my family. All my life, since I was very little, I was the ‘baker’ of the family.
MM: Why gluten-free?
CB: At the time I launched my own bakery – 2002 I set out to distance my products from the run of the mill bakery. I understood that product merchandising, quality, and consistency were key to any manufacturing company. While developing my line of baked goods I spent time selling through Marin County farmers markets and talking to my customers. Their insights and needs regarding health concerns and gluten-free helped shape Flour Chylde Bakery’s list of gluten-free baked goods.
MM: Where do you source your ingredients?
CB: At Flour Chylde Bakery we source a majority of our ingredients through world class suppliers such as Guittard for our chocolate products and Guistos Specialty Flours for our grains and flours.
MM: Can you describe a typical day of bread baking, and how it may differ with gluten-free ingredients?
CB: I am trained in classic naturally leavened break baking as well as French pastries. Baking gluten-free bread is unlike your classic style of bread baking. Gluten-free breads are much more sensitive to floor time and require much hotter temperatures to bake. This results in a much earlier start time for our bakers and a longer cooling period before we can package.
MM: Do you have any specialties and/or top sellers? Are there certain items you are best known for?
CB: Flour Chylde Bakery is best known for our amazing desserts – we refer to them as tortes, which best describes short, dense cakes made with nut flours, which is a European tradition. Within that line up we have Pure Chocolate Torte, Lemon Coconut, Linzer, and Rapture (a combination of our Linzer Torte and Pure Chocolate Torte) to name a few.
MM: Where can your products be found in Marin?
CB: You can find Flour Chylde Bakery products at our retail location in beautiful downtown Novato; 850 Grant Avenue. We are open Tuesday through Fridays 9am-6pm and Saturdays 9am-4pm. Or, Flour Chylde Bakery is a weekly staple at several Bay Area farmers Markets, including the Sunday Market in San Rafael.
