Bakery Research

One of my favorite things to do when I get out of town is to check out eateries, bakeries, and farmers' markets in other places. I spent the last weekend in Portland visiting with family, picking up items I can't get locally, and looking into gluten-free baking.

Gluten-free? I am SO not hopping onto that trend personally.* It seems that whenever I'm out and about I am approached by people asking if I have done any GF baking, and several of my CSB members have asked as well. The interest is there, and not one bakery locally caters to the gluten-sensitive population. While I won't necessarily change the way I bake for my family and friends, I thought it would be interesting to sample some GF baked goods and see if they can be done well. I figure if I can make something yummy either way, then it doesn't really matter what type of flour I use.

My sister and I spent Friday afternoon driving to a few bakeries and collecting cupcakes and other treats to sample. We bought vegan, gluten-free, vegan-gluten-free, and some standard varieties from Sweet Pea, New Cascadia, Dovetail, and Back to Eden. I had them lined out on the counter top before cutting each into little bite-sized pieces (for sharing with our group), my camera poised to take a picture, and got sidetracked. My daughter was trying to climb onto the counter to get at them, fell over, and I stopped to shoo her out of the kitchen. So I forgot to take the picture. Oops! Please just imagine what each looked like....

Sweet Pea Vegan Bakery~ Sweet Pea is completely vegan, and overrated in my book. They serve sandwiches, soups, coffee, and sweets. They had some pretty layer cakes in their case, along with some nutty brownies, scones, and other items. We bought a vegan "regular" cupcake (wheat flour, but made without butter, eggs, or other animal byproducts) that was chocolate with pink raspberry buttercream and a cupcake that was vegan-gluten-free in a coconut-lemon flavor. Alongside those we picked out a hefty 4x5" pumpkin cheesecake square. Let's just say I am not a fan of Sweet Pea after trying those. Or maybe of vegan baking. The cakes were dry and relatively flavorless. The raspberry buttercream didn't really taste like raspberries. My brother-in-law thought the dry, spongy GF lemon-coconut cupcake tasted like suntan lotion (how he knows that...?!). And the cheesecake square? It was equally odd, not really tasting much like pumpkin, just of creamy orange-colored tofu. My son wouldn't even finish his teeny piece of "cheesecake."

Back to Eden~ I like this little shop. It's a cute little place on Alberta Street (a very fun, hip neighborhood) and is situated next door to Townshend's where we enjoy getting delicious bubble tea (which, for the record, is not like the usual funky bubble tea. This is more high-end.). The people working are always friendly, and I believe it's also a vegan establishment. I picked up two cupcakes here, Lemon-Lavender-Poppyseed and GF Coconut-Rosewater. The Lemon-Lavender-Poppyseed was moist, almost like it had been syruped, and had a slightly tweedy texture from the crunchy seeds. It was tasty and made me say "mmm." The GF one was just OK. It was crumbly, with lots of flaked coconut throughout the cake, and the flavor wasn't particularly great. I have visited this store several times in the past, and while their goodies aren't quite as good as others I've had they are still pretty tasty.

Dovetail Bakery~ This is a bright, sunny little restaurant also located on Alberta Street. I believe they partner with a local CSA to do their own sort of CSB, but I wasn't able to talk with the owner to confirm that. They offered some beautiful fresh goods that looked prettier than the other bakeries I'd visited. I chose a lemon-blueberry sweet roll that had been baked in a jumbo muffin tin. What a brilliant idea! It kept its form and had an elegant presentation that I might just have to try and copy. Oh, and the flavors were bright and delicious, and their pastries are obviously made with high quality ingredients.

New Cascadia Gluten-Free Bakery~ New Cascadia is a completely GF facility, and they had stacks of premade pizza crusts, interesting brick-shaped loaves of bread, loaves of sourdough that looked like their artisan wheat cousins, and gorgeous jumbo cupcakes hanging out, ready for purchase in their bakery case. I bought three cupcakes: Vanilla, Pink Champagne, and Mexican Hot Chocolate. These were the best desserts we sampled, hands-down, and even knowing they were GF we couldn't tell a difference in texture, taste, etc. Oh, YUM! The crumb was fine and delicate, not dry or spongy like the others. The vanilla was a little...vanilla and run-of-the-mill, but still tasty. The Pink Champagne was awesome, delicately flavored and definitely memorable. The frosting on both was a typical butter and powdered sugar combination...good, but not extremely special. But the Mexican Hot Chocolate...? Wow. It was so moist, almost fudgy (but still light and fluffy, if that make sense), and had a definite cayenne kick in the chocolate cake, dark chocolate buttercream, AND in the large chocolate shavings decorating the top. A hint of cinnamon played with the pepper flavor, all melding to make the most divine sensation in our mouths. Everyone agreed it was stellar. This bakery is a must-stop when I get back up north! I even met the owner the next morning at the farmers' market, who was friendly and said her secret was probably just lots and lots of sugar. Hey, I can appreciate honesty!

I feel like I now have a good sense of how GF baking can be done well, and I have a small springboard to jump off from in my quest for a decent homemade GF cupcake. Stay tuned, and if/when I nail something tasty I'll definitely be posting it!

(Oh, and by the way, I didn't eat every single one of those cakes! Ugh. We cut them into little bite-sized pieces, plated them, and shared between the 6 of us, with leftovers!)

*I said "trend" because a lot of people think that going gluten-free will help them feel better or lose weight or whatever. There are a LOT of these types of people, especially in the Portland area. I mean no offense to people with wheat allergies/sensitivities or Celiac's Disease.