Red Dog Baking Co. was born out of the desire to create a sustainability-centered farm-to-oven bakery. In California at the time there were farm-to-table restaurants but there was a lack of this concept within the baking industry.

The project truly began with sourcing our flour mill because flour, being the main ingredient, would need to be freshly milled. We found a small producer on the East Coast and had our beautiful stone flour mill custom made with locally-sourced granite. Next I learned how to mill different types of flour and happily added “miller” to my resume. We connected with local grain growers and other local suppliers to source wheat berries and other seasonal ingredients. We began making 100% whole-grain, sourdough bagels which turned out to be a real hit thanks to their rich taste (from the fresh flour!) and easy digestibility (from the whole grains and sourdough!).

We soon expanded our offerings to many other pastries and began selling at farmer’s markets and to local coffee shops and restaurants. We made sure that none of our products went to waste by making bagel chips out of extra bagels and partnering with a local organization that gave the products we didn’t sell that day to people in need of food.

I especially loved connecting with our customers and educating people about the lifecycle of our products from farm to oven. The bakery was a great adventure and still operates in Petaluma, California today (under another name).