CBJ: New bakeries seek rising dough

A pair of family-run bakeries are bringing more healthy baking to Central Virginia, but their business plans have very different ingredients.

Hours before the doors of the Great Harvest Bread Co. opens, employees grind the whole wheat for the bread they will bake that day in a stone mill at the Charlottesville bakery, which opened June 13 under co-owners Kath Younger and Matt Monson.

Meanwhile, in their Amherst County home’s kitchen, Steve and Sunnie Stonelake and some of their six children prepare the gluten-free baked goods that they deliver to area stores as Deliciously Gluten-Free.

Both bakeries, which opened in the last two months, share a common goal of creating healthy products that their customers will enjoy. However, the families took different paths to get to their respective opening days.

Sunnie Stonelake said she discovered she was gluten intolerant in January 2007.

“I had dreams of being able to go into the bakery and pick up my favorite treats, but that wasn’t an option anymore,” she said.

Although more stores and restaurants are offering gluten-free foods, Stonelake said cross-contamination is a concern. Flour can stick in pans and sponges, she said, and the simple act of slicing through a gluten-free product with a knife previously used for a product with gluten in it is enough to make her sick.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, gluten is a protein formed when wheat flour is mixed with a liquid and physically manipulated, such as kneaded together. Gluten can be found in wheat, rye and barley.

The protein can cause damage to the intestinal lining of people with celiac disease. Nora Decher, a nutrition support specialist with the University of Virginia Health System, said celiac is one of the few gastrointestinal diseases that is managed with nutrition alone.

Decher said celiac patients who like to cook and avoid processed foods tend to do well with the diet, but eating out can be tough.

“Although there is more awareness [of celiac disease], most people aren’t aware of the scrutiny it takes to prepare foods without cross contamination,” Decher said.

Products with gluten do not enter the Stonelake home kitchen, which has space reserved for its baking venture that began in April. The cookies, muffins and cupcakes are made to order and delivered to stores across the region, including Rebecca’s Natural Food in Charlottesville, The Natural Health Center in Madison Heights and Joe Bean’s Express Espresso locations in Lynchburg.

Sunnie Stonelake said the bakery also accommodates other allergies and doesn’t bake with soy or nuts. For example, the bakery’s version of English muffins and one of its blueberry muffin recipes don’t contain dairy products.

One day, the Stonelakes would like to take their special gluten-free flour mix to a storefront, and eventually, the entire United States.

“I’d rather have an established name so when we open, they’re prepared and know us,” she said. “Eventually we will start shipping all over the country. I have big, big goals.”

Whole grains

A positive experience in a different state inspired Younger and Monson to start kneading in Charlottesville. After escaping a job in marketing and insurance, Monson found a job at a Great Harvest in North Carolina. Younger, who left a job in public relations to become a registered dietician, said her husband soon realized he could run a Great Harvest.

The couple decided to open a franchise in Charlottesville, where Monson was born, because of the local food focus and the high quality of life. The store is a “freedom franchise,” which means Younger and Monson have access to Great Harvest recipes, marketing materials and other resources while still being able to make their own decisions about what to offer in their store.

“We knew we’d be great bakery owners, but we didn’t know how to start a business,” Younger said.

Younger, who also runs a healthy living blog called Kath Eats Real Food, said 75 percent of the bread that the store offers is made from whole grains.

According to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, it is recommended that whole grains make up half of each person’s grain intake per day. The report, which is published every five years by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Americans eat less than a one ounce-equivalent of whole grains per day on average. The minimum recommended amount of whole grains per person is usually three ounce-equivalents per day, the report said.

Part of the spirit of Great Harvest is giving back to the community, Younger said, so the bakery gives its customers large slices of bread to eat while pondering their orders and donates its day-old bread to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.

Younger, her husband and 12 employees are keeping the McIntire Plaza store running. Right now, the couple is working long days, but they said they are also having fun.

“You would have to pay me more money to work for 12 hours every day,” Younger said, laughing.