The Vermont Bakery Tour continued this weekend, with a drive out to Shelburne Farms visit to O Bread Bakery. I left the family behind for this bakery visit, promising to truck home some loaves for all to enjoy.
Though I still have four more stops to make on this tour, I have a feeling that O Bread is the most unassuming bakery of all the bakeries on the list.
All around are the are the vast fields and pastures of Shelburne Farms, and the grand Farm Barn that encircles the courtyard, but the bakery is tucked quietly away into the ground floor of one of the Farm Barn wings.
This bakery differs from the others I've visited so far in that it is purely a bakery (no café), so the breads get the spotlight. When you pull open the oversize screen door to enter, you find yourself in a small space facing a huge rack full of fresh loaves and pastries. There is a tiny counter to ring up purchases, and wooden crates stacked on either side of the small space that hold day-old loaves and t-shirts for sale. [clickToTweet tweet="You will find yourself surrounded by the intoxicating aroma of fresh-baked bread - a whole lot of it." quote="You will also find yourself surrounded by the intoxicating aroma of fresh-baked bread - a whole lot of it."]
You can look over each loaf and ponder the flavors, which on the day I visited included Olive Ciabatta, Swiss Farmhouse wheat bread with pepitas, Cinnamon Raisin Swirl, and Sesame Wheat.
Behind the crates are more racks of fresh-baked bread. Long worktables can be seen next to racks of rising, shaped loaves. Just beyond the rising loaves is another table around which three or four bakers were working together to knead and shape even more dough.
The Chile Cheese Ciabatta is the loaf that caught my eye out of all the choices on the rack, thanks to the reddish-orange crusts peeping out of brown paper bags. Always a sucker for all things spicy, this is the bread that I grabbed. At the register a tall basket of classic and seeded baguettes was impossible to resist, so I took a classic baguette as well!
At home with my loaves, I reluctantly remembered my promise to share this bread, and not to simply stuff it all in my own mouth. We all agreed that the baguette was perfect: a chewy crust around a holey and soft white center.
Though we did add a little schmear of butter to the hunks we pulled off the loaf, it doesn't really need anything - this baguette is satisfying on its own.
The Chile Cheese Ciabatta is very good, and we all quickly became addicted to that loaf!
It is a soft, oblong bread with a chewy crust, and each slice reveals gleaming pockets of melted Asiago cheese and Shelburne Farms Farmhouse Cheddar. It's also delightfully spicy, thanks to habanero and chipotle peppers.
I am finding with each bakery visit on the tour there is at least one bread or pastry that I know I'll go back for.
At O Bread I will definitely be back for their Chile Cheese Ciabatta.
You should need no further enticement to get yourself out to O Bread to experience their loaves for yourself. But just in case, I also include these shots of the barn and expansive grounds of Shelburne Farms.
As I was leaving the courtyard a little boy playing on the low, rock wall warned me to watch out for the tractor that brings folks on a wagon shuttle from the main gate to the Farm Barn. He then asked me where I was going. When I told him I was going home, he asked, "Why?" Good question, considering it was such a beautiful day and so peaceful out in the middle of the grounds.
If you have never visited Shelburne Farms, you really must get there, and to O Bread today. Bring the kids, pack a picnic basket, and purchase some baked goods from O Bread to eat on your blanket! (May I recommend the Chile Cheese Ciabatta?) Oh, and watch out for the tractor.
Click here to see more Delectable Destinations: Vermont Bakery Tour posts, as I trek to all eight bakeries on the list!
O Bread Bakery is located at 352 Farm Barn Lane at Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, VT. They have several varieties of organic, European style, artisan breads and baguettes as well as pastries and cookies. Find out more about them on their website, including retail locations throughout Vermont where you can purchase their breads!
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! Visit this link, King Arthur Flour Vermont Bakery Tour for more information.
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