Edmonton

Vegetarian Bakeries

BUNS & ROSES ORGANIC WHOLE GRAIN BAKERY

Entering Buns & Roses is a little like entering a cross between a small town general store/bakery and a communal throwback to the sixties, with all its earthy casual splendour. An old house, with all the characteristics of the wood retained, lend themselves well to this, the first organic bakery in Alberta. It got its start in 1989-90, long before ‘organic bread’ was a common term; nineteen years later Buns ‘n Roses has become an integral part of the community with the past 8 years of them under the ownership of Dhamika Jayawickrama.

The bakery is vegetarian with huge vegan overtones; the majority of the breads baked are vegan, and a good number of the baked goods are as well. What is not vegan can be adapted as such with advance notice too, so this is a gem of a bakery for vegetarians, with a variety of breads and buns to overwhelm the casual consumer, along with an extensive variety of pastries, muffins and cakes and much more.

Dhamika, a vegetarian himself, bakes breads using all forms of wheat, rice flour, as well as spelt and kamut and virtually all grains in between. Multigrain breads, rye, flax, they are all here, with a selection of them baked as buns too. Buns & Roses makes breads and baked goods for those with special needs, including gluten free, yeast free and sweetener free, along with pizza shells for the do it yourself, home pizza buff.

Buns & Roses is more than just a bakery however, in that there is a small café area, where one can order soup, sandwiches, some quiche if one chooses, made that day. The soups are vegetarian and the sandwiches do give a cursory nod to those who feel it too difficult to go one meal without death, but there are also vegetarian variations. Dhamika bakes vegetarian samosas as well, a great alternative to the traditionally fried ones found elsewhere, and healthy. They make two kinds of granolas here, the original organic rolled oats variety and one made from sprout flakes.

Buns & Roses serves organic coffee and tea as well, suited perfectly for an organic bakery and its oh so yummy muffins and cinnamon buns. Its like returning to a time that never really had existed, yet you know it would have been like this had it.

TREE STONE BAKERY

Tree Stone

The Tree Stone Bakery is a vision realized, for the proprietress and baker, Nancy Rubuliak. She, once a social worker, has long had a love for “real food”, that is to say, foods that are rich in flavour, created from old recipes steeped in tradition and earthy goodness. What better a place to start, than a bakery, where the breads are entirely natural and organic, with absolutely no additives, preservatives, fats or sugar used in the process. The Tree Stone breads are made from what seems to be a lost method, using a French style of baking that uses a wild yeast culture as opposed to the more popular brewer’s yeast. The style of bread created is called, pain au levain; it refers to the process of fermenting the yeast culture, as a sourdough, prior to working it into what is the resulting, and amazing breads sold there. The dough is placed in a cool area, to allow for the rise at a slower pace, resulting in a richer flavour in the breads. Walking into the bakery is evidence of this; the aroma tantalises and entraps, and all senses come alive with anticipation.

The flours used are milled on site from locally produced organic grains, using whole grain for the exceptional nutritional values they impart. Some of the flours used include a malted barley flour and an untreated white flour, milled using a stone mill imported from France. Absolutely every aspect of these breads is as pure and traditional as possible, including the hand forming of the loaves, and then the baking on the oven hearth.

Nancy bakes a bread whose history harkens back to the medieval times, the Maslin Bread. It was a bread that combined rye with wheat, said to be because of the shortage of good wheat and the fact that rye was easily grown throughout the British Isles and Northern Europe. That rye was so available made this the bread of choice; the rye gave a very good flavour to the dough, while also making it a more dense bread. The Tree Stone Maslin is made from fifty percent whole wheat and fifty percent rye, and the resulting flavour is incredible; an earthy rye only slightly subdued by the richness of the whole wheat.

Because of the processes involved in creating these breads, Nancy bakes different breads on alternating days, to ensure the maximum freshness for the customer. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she bakes the fabulous Potato Bread, on Wednesday it is the Blue Sky Multigrain and the Pizza Dough that is baked or prepared, Friday is Maslin and Saturday, the big baking day, is when she bakes the Maslin, Blue Sky, the Rustic Bread and the classic Country. Her brioches are made daily.

The Tree Stone Bakery also makes special occasion breads and sweet breads, again having incorporated traditional recipes and, as needed, ingredients such as eggs, sugar, nuts and dried fruit. They will use baker's yeast too, rather than the wild yeast culture, levain, due to the fact this is a much more delicate and time consuming culture, and it isn't integral to these sweet breads.

Tree Stone is a part of the community of artisans and producers that take responsibility for ensuring that their part of the earth is kept healthy. Thus the farms are maintained as pesticide free and organic; the result is a decidedly more flavourful and nutritious food. People can purchase fresh milled rye and wheat from the Tree Stone as well.

From the perspective of the customer, these breads are more than just a side, or addition to a meal; Tree Stone breads are dense and chewy, and incredibly tasty, making them an integral part to a repast, or better yet, virtually a meal unto themselves. Personally, I found that it is almost sacrilegious to add anything to them, either as sandwiches, toast, whatever, they are that good! Half a loaf of Maslin disappeared by the time I made it back to Calgary....!