Gluten-free baking at Crumb & Co.

About once a day someone comes to the counter and says, a little apologetically, “I can’t eat wheat. Is there anything for me?” There is. But before we tell you what, we want to be clear about what our gluten-free label means and what it doesn’t.

What “GF” means on our menu

When an item on the menu has a GF tag, it means the recipe has no wheat, rye, barley or spelt in it, and the flours and starches we use are bought certified gluten-free. It does not mean the item is made in a gluten-free kitchen. We are a sourdough bakery. There is flour in the air from 3:30 in the morning.

So:

• If you avoid gluten by preference, or have a mild intolerance, our GF items are made for you, and most people in that position eat them happily.
• If you have celiac disease or a wheat allergy, we can’t promise any item is safe. Some of our celiac customers buy the buckwheat loaf and are fine; some decide not to. That’s your call to make, and we’d rather you made it with the facts.

What we bake without wheat

• Buckwheat & millet loaf, $11, Friday and Saturday only. Buckwheat, millet, brown rice flour and psyllium husk, raised with a separate rice-flour sourdough starter. It’s a proper sour, chewy loaf, not a sponge. It toasts beautifully.
• Lemon polenta cake, $5.50 a slice. Made with cornmeal and ground almonds, so it’s gluten-free but not nut-free.
• Flourless chocolate walnut cookies, $3.50. Egg whites, cocoa, walnuts. Crackly outside, fudgy inside.
• Custom cakes in gluten-free chocolate or vanilla sponge, for $10 more than the standard price. See custom cakes for sizes and lead times.

How we keep it apart

We can’t make the kitchen gluten-free, but we can make the odds a lot better:

1. The gluten-free loaf is baked first. On Friday and Saturday, the buckwheat dough is mixed, shaped and baked before any wheat dough comes out of the retarder.
2. Separate everything we can. It has its own starter jar, mixing bowl, bannetons, scraper and cooling rack, all marked with yellow tape and stored on their own shelf.
3. Wiped-down benches and a clean oven deck. The deck is brushed and the loaves go in on parchment.
4. Wrapped at the bench. Gluten-free loaves and cookies are bagged as soon as they’re cool and never sit loose in the bread shelves or the case.

Cross-contact can still happen. Flour is fine enough to settle anywhere, and we share one oven.

Vegan and nut-free, while we’re here

The same honesty applies to other allergies. A VG tag means no milk, butter, eggs or honey in the recipe. An NF tag means no tree nuts or peanuts in the recipe, but we use almonds, walnuts and peanuts on the same benches, so we can’t call anything nut-safe for a serious allergy. Every item on the menu lists what it contains, and the recipe cards live behind the counter: ask and we’ll read you one.

Ask us

If you’re planning a birthday for a kid who can’t eat wheat, or a wedding with a vegan table, email us before you order and tell us exactly who the cake is for. We’ll tell you what we can do and what we’d do in your place. The address and phone number are on the visit page.