If you said that Nashoba Brook Bakery was founded on a friendship you would be partly correct. If you added passion, artistry, and a smidgen of vision you would almost have captured the essence of our Bakery. The final ingredient though is a local one: our own homegrown yeast. Yes, that’s right — think of it this way — our breads are powered by “slowrise.”

"Slowrise" is one way of saying that the doughs we mix and the breads we bake owe much of their glossy, web-like texture to the mellow leavening action of the sourdough starter created from local, wild Concord grapes by Stu Witt, Co-founder and Head Baker of Nashoba Brook Bakery. Our breads take almost 24 hours from mixing to cooling, and that long slow development results in delicious, nutritious and easy to digest breads. In simplest terms, the long leavening period enhances the flavor, releases the nutritional value locked in the wheat flour and breaks down the carbohydrate into its more easily digested components. The natural yeast itself also has important health benefits for your digestive tract (the good bacteria survive in the center of the loaves where the internal temperature does not get hot).

Slowrise has another meaning to us though that is less practical and more philosophical. We like to think of slowrise as a symbolic counterpoint to the culture of instant gratification. The old saying that "anything worth having is worth waiting for" resonates with us. In the course of busy days that sometimes overwhelm us all, we try to remember to breathe deeply and not rush always to the next thing. Come sit by the Brook and watch the doughs slowly rise and see if you don’t know what we mean…

Nashoba Brook breads are not appropriate for customers with celiac disease, wheat allergies, or other diagnosed medical conditions. All customers who have been medically advised to maintain a gluten- or wheat-free diet should consult their physicians before considering consuming our products