Baking at the Co-op Bakery:

The beauty of a wood-burning oven is that it bakes without ever having to turn on the gas.  And, at the Co-op Bakery, we've taken the notion one step further by installing 60 solar panels on the roof. Thirty are dedicated to powering the Bakery, providing 100% of the electricity to run our conventional oven, mixers, coolers, lights, etc. The savings in energy costs will help us continue delivering more bread value for your dough.

A word about sourdough: sourdough is a symbiotic culture of yeast and lacto bacteria that is an alternative to commercially available yeast.  Sourdough starter is fed with flour and water and captures wild yeast from the air.  "San Francisco sourdough" has the iconic tartness often associated with sourdough bread, but not all wild yeast results in an intensely tart, vinegary bread. Ypsilanti sourdough starter has its own distinctive, delicious taste, which is not particularly sour. Since the wild yeasts that leaven the Co-Bakery's bread come from the Ypsilanti air, they are unique and a bit different than those found anywhere else — a taste of our home along the Huron.

At the Co-op Bakery, we're equally committed to sourcing close to home, proud of our friends that grow and mill in southeast Michigan, including, Ferris Organic Farm, and Heartland Mills.  We want to keep the distance between hearth and home as short as possible.

Learn more about using wild yeasts and sourdoughs at sourdough.com/ -- and maybe try this at home!