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    Home » Bakeries

    Red Hen Baking Company Of Vermont | Delectable Destinations

    By Nancy Mock July 17, 2017 Updated August 3, 2022 Leave a Comment

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    The Vermont Bakery Tour took us on a beautiful, sunny, Sunday morning drive to Middlesex, VT to check out the Red Hen Baking Company & Cafe.
    Red Hen Baking Company sign hanging outside on building.

    The Vermont Bakery Tour took us on a beautiful, sunny, Sunday morning drive to Middlesex, VT to check out the Red Hen Baking Company & Cafe.

    Exterior of Red Hen Bakery in Vermont.

    *This post may contain affiliate links.

    The Vermont Bakery Tour took us on a beautiful, sunny, Sunday morning drive to Middlesex, VT to check out the Red Hen Baking Company & Cafe. Our friends Andrew, Lisa, and their daughter joined us there, and we had a delicious brunch together.

    Vermont Bakery Tour logo with baguette loaves from King Arthur Flour.
    Photo credit: King Arthur Flour

    Red Hen, along with a few other shops, is nestled in a renovated building that was once the site of a diner.  Once inside we found a homey and welcoming café.

    Interior of Red Hen Baking Company with tables and chairs in the cafe and the bakery in the backgound.

    The front of the café is cheery and bright, with pale yellow walls bathed in the light that streams through the large windows.  The other half of the café has walls of a deep shade of tomato red (much like the color of my kitchen!), with a dark ceiling and warm wood counters, columns and beams.

    Shelves holding bottles of sauces and jams, and bags of coffee beans.

    In this half of the café you'll find shelves stuffed full of locally made cheeses, maple syrup, jams & jellies, wine, beer, and more.

    Croissants and rolls in baskets inside a bakery case.

    Bridging the two halves of the café is the long counter behind which fresh-baked loaves are ready and waiting to be slipped into a paper bag to go home with you!  There is also a large glass case that holds their delicate pastries and rolls.

    Red Hen Baking Company has well over a dozen different bread varieties, each with distinctive flavors and textures, but all made with the company's own starters and with locally sourced wheat and base ingredients.

    Loaves of artisan breads lined up in racks under signs with each bread type listed.

    There is the Waitsfield Common, a white loaf with a chewy crust and soft interior that is a perfect toasting bread.

    Inside of a cut loaf of artisan white bread, with an open, holey texture.

    Alice's Rye is a classic dark rye with caraway seed, and their Potato Bread is made with roasted Yukon Gold potatoes.

    View through a window of bakery operations and a large red hen emblem on the wall.

    At the back of the café is the bright, high-ceilinged bakery, where you can watch the action through a wall of tall windows. There are bags of flour stacked high, bakers moving quickly between tables and racks, and a huge, red hen on the wall watching over everything.

    Signs listing sandwich and bread offerings at a bakery.

    The café was bustling when we arrived. As we took a moment to look over the sandwich and bread choices and to gaze into the bakery case, a line of hungry brunchers grew behind us. We made our choices and eagerly waited with our drinks at a long table pushed together with a backgammon table.

    Two halves of a sandwich being held in a hand, and grill marks on the sandwich.

    Andrew and I both had the Mr. Piggy panini sandwich: smoked ham, Cabot Cheddar, pickled onions, and a spicy sriracha mustard spread on slices of the Waitsfield Common bread. My husband and son also enjoyed this bread in their sausage and egg breakfast sandwiches, as did my daughter's boyfriend who enjoyed it simply toasted and spread with butter. Lisa and her daughter both enjoyed BLT's made on Cyrus Pringle bread, a chewy and mild wheat loaf.

    The sandwiches were so tasty and so satisfying! The BLTs were brimming with fresh greens and thick slices of bacon. The Mr. Piggy sandwiches had a nice bite from the pickled red onion and spicy sriracha mustard.

    Two adults and a teen girl sitting at cafe tables eating sandwiches and having drinks.

    The Waitsfield Common bread had an incredible toasty, crunchy exterior from its stint in the panini press. The boys' breakfast sandwiches were savory and satisfying. (I love that they're having sausage and egg breakfast sandwiches at nearly every stop: what a great way to compare the bakeries! I am much less focused... I'll eat whatever looks good.) With our eats were drinks ranging from hot coffee to cocoa, strawberry-lemonade to fruity seltzers.

    I was making my way through my sandwich rather lazily, until I realized that the rest of the table was getting ready to move on to a sweet course. Sweets!

    Round pastry glazed and with sliced strawberries in the center, on a clear plate.

    I gobbled up the last of my Mr. Piggy and joined the crew at the bakery case.

    Hands using knife and fork to cut into a mini fruit gallette on a clear plate.

    We came back to the table with an assortment of sweets, including a strawberry Danish, a chocolate-chocolate chip cookie, a beautiful peach gallette, and a chocolate croissant with impressive layers and shine.

    A chocolate-filled croissant with lots of flaky layers and a shiny top.

    We lingered long after our sweets and drinks vanished, chatting and checking the shelves of Vermont specialty foods and goods for sale.

    Pastry cut in half to show flaky layers and the strawberry filling in the center.

    I also had my Bakery Tour passport stamped, and convinced Andrew and Lisa to get passports too!

    Small card with bakeries listed inside, eight bakeries located in Vermont.

    My husband was mesmerized by a large wall of posters and flyers for local events and services. (And he was tortured by an irresistible urge to organize it all!) He was particularly puzzled by this business card, blank on the back and the front offering only this:

    Black business card that says Firecracker - Rocket Man

    Even after numerous Google searches the purpose and meaning of the card remains a mystery! Is it a business? A person? We may never know.

    We DO know, however that our brunch at Red Hen Baking Company & Cafe was amazing, made all the better by the company of our good friends and fellow foodies. The next time we wander down Middlesex way, we will certainly stop again.

    Slices from a white artisan loaf of bread on top of a paper bag with red and black lettering.

    In the meantime, we took a loaf of Waitsfield Common bread home with us to enjoy, as well as a maple syrup t-shirt... and that mysterious business card!

    The Red Hen Baking Company & Cafe is located at 961 US Route 2 in Middlesex, VT. They serve breakfast and lunch sandwiches, soups, salads, and pastries. They also have loaves and loaves of fresh-baked bread. Find out more about them on their website, including retail locations throughout Vermont where you can purchase their breads!

    More bakeries on the tour:

    Off to downtown Richmond, VT we went to visit Sweet Simone's Bakery & Cafe, our 5th stop on the Bakery Tour from King Arthur Flour!

    Sweet Simone's Bakery & Cafe located in Richmond, Vermont.

    Our second stop on the King Arthur Flour Vermont Bakery Tour: August First Bakery in downtown Burlington!

    August First Bakery & Cafe in Burlington, Vermont

    O Bread Bakery in Shelburne, Vermont is the latest of the Vermont Bakery Tour visits!

    O Bread Bakery in Shelburne, Vermont

    The King Arthur Flour Vermont Bakery Tour consists of eight bakeries scattered over the northern half of Vermont. Participants visit the bakeries, taste the fine baked goods, and have their Bakery Passport stamped at each. The completed passport can then be redeemed for an exclusive Bakery Tour tote bag! 

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    • Off to downtown Richmond, VT we went to visit Sweet Simone's Bakery & Cafe, our 5th stop on the Bakery Tour from King Arthur Flour!
      Sweet Simone's Bakery in Vermont| Delectable Destinations
    • We make it to the 8th and final bakery on the Vermont Bakery Tour: King Arthur Flour in Norwich!
      Delectable Destinations: King Arthur Flour, Our 8th & Final Stop on the Vermont Bakery Tour!
    • Birchgrove Bakery, Our 7th Stop on the Vermont Bakery Tour! The Vermont Bakery Tour takes me and my family to Montpelier, Vermont, to taste the treats at Birchgrove Baking!
      Delectable Destinations: Birchgrove Baking, Our 7th Stop on the Vermont Bakery Tour!

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    The Vermont Bakery Tour took us on a beautiful, sunny, Sunday morning drive to Middlesex, VT to check out the Red Hen Baking Company & Cafe.
    Red Hen Baking Company sign hanging outside on building.
    Woman smiling and standing next to rack with baking equipment.
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    The Vermont Bakery Tour took us on a beautiful, sunny, Sunday morning drive to Middlesex, VT to check out the Red Hen Baking Company & Cafe.
    Red Hen Baking Company sign hanging outside on building.

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