From Breadworks and Moxie Bread Co. to the Bavarian Bakery and Jeannot’s Patisserie, baked goods lovers can choose from an array of great bakeries here in Boulder County.
But those aren’t the only local source of freshly baked loaves, cakes, pies and pastries. Tucked away in ranch houses and condos in suburban neighborhoods is an under-the-radar contingent of dedicated home bakers selling their goodies to a legion of followers.
These are Boulder County’s “cottage foods” bakers.
In 2012, the Colorado legislature enacted the Colorado Cottage Foods Act, popularly called the “Bake Sale Law,” allowing home cooks to offer food products for sale without licensing or inspections.
Most local cottage foods businesses offer breads, muffins, fruit pies, cookies, empanadas, tortillas, honey, jams, candies and other foods that do not require refrigeration.
Ashley Overstreet is one of those neighbors, operating Daily Grains Bakery out of her Lafayette home since 2022.
“A lot of our customers have been word of mouth,” she says. “People give the gift of our bread, which is a cool thing I didn’t know about. Then, those neighbors become customers, too.”
Daily Grains has home pickup, and also sells weekly at Boulder’s Cure Organic Farm and at the new Lafayette Farmers Market. Cottage bakers primarily connect with their customers through social media.
“My biggest baking week last year was about 250 loaves,” Overstreet says. “You need lots and lots of rolling racks in your living room.”
A few miles away in Lafayette, Gregor MacGregor is proofing loaves between sessions of grading student papers for his Masters of the Environment classes at the University of Colorado.
“I love that baking is a completely different thing than my day job,” MacGregor says. “I work with my hands and I’ve gotten to know a lot more people in my neighborhood because of bread.”
“As a lawyer, not many people smile when you come in the room,” says the water attorney who opened his Vulcan Mine Bakery as a pandemic project in 2020. “But as a baker, lots of people smile at you.”
For cookie makers pondering taking the Cottage Foods plunge, MacGregor notes the challenges.
“The hardest part is being essentially a one-baker show,” he says. “You have to figure out your payment system, taxes, advertising, packaging, supplies, an ordering system — everything but the baking.”
But he says there is a wonderful upside.
“Your house smells good. You’ve got bread, coffee cakes and doughnuts cooling everywhere, including the dining room table.”
Finding a Neighborhood Cottage Bakery
Here are some of the Boulder County cottage foods businesses focused on baking. If we missed a local baker, let us know: [email protected]
LONGMONT
Sweet Pea Urban Homestead
Menu: Sourdough breads, scones, cinnamon rolls
and cookies
How to order: Order online (home pickup); occasional pop-up sales
Baker: Desiree Fowler
Founded: 2024
Info: bit.ly/SweetPeaBW
Oven Spring Home Kitchen
Menu: Quick breads including Longmont-brewed beer cheese bread, roasted chile-banana bread and multi-colored
braided challah
How to order: Order online (delivery only)
Baker: Mary Beth Chasen
Founded: 2014
Little Spouse Bread House
Menu: Rustic sourdough loaves, pizza shells, cookies, scones
How to order: Order online (home pickup)
Baker: Whitedove Gannon
Founded: 2024
Info: bit.ly/LittleSpouseBW
Nancy’s Notable Nibbles
Menu: Gluten-free, allergy-friendly mixes, cookies,
cinnamon rolls and other
baked goods
How to order: Order online (home pickup); bakery popups at the Louisville and Erie farmers markets, and Longmont’s monthly Local Drive
Baker: Nancy Davis
Info: nancysnotablenibbles.com
Brandy’s Baked Bites
Menu: Rotating seasonal menus include banana bread, focaccia, limoncello cake and other
baked goods
How to Order: Order online; monthly pop-up sales
Baker: Brandy Galloway
Founded: 2020
Info: bit.ly/BrandysBakedBitesBW
LAFAYETTE
Vulcan Mine Bakery
Menu: Doughnuts, sourdough loaves, focaccia, cookies, coffee cakes and other baked goods
How to order: Order online (home pickup); popups at Lafayette brewery tasting rooms
Baker: Gregor MacGregor
Founded: 2020
Info:vulcanminebakery.square.site
Daily Grains Bakery
Menu: Sourdough breads and cookies
How to order: Order online (home pickup); weekly sales at Cure Organic Farm and Lafayette Farmers Market.
Baker: Ashley Overstreet
Founded: 2022
Info: dailygrains.co
Other nearby cottage bakeries:
The Bread Basket (Lafayette):
facebook.com/lovethebreadbasket
The Baked Broad (Nederland):
Bella’s Sourdough Bakery (Broomfield):
Bollinger Breads (Frederick):
Talitha Koum Sourdough (Firestone):