Hello Berlin Natural Bakery Family! 

I hope you are doing well and thriving, making summer memories, feeling vibrant and full of hope as we begin our journey through August! 

I wanted to take a moment to touch base with you with a personal note from me directly! 🙂

As many of you know, I (and my twin brother Nick) are the 3rd generation of Berlin Natural Bakery. I am Joy's daughter. Actually funny side note: in Amish Country when I am introducing myself to someone in my community I would say I am "Eli, John's, Joy's Nicole." Great Grandpa, Grandpa, Mom and me! That gives everyone insight into who I am in the community and where I fall generationally! 😊 Fun system, right? 

Anyways, I am often talking about the honor of carrying on my Mom's legacy and doing so on behalf of the people who have labored and sacrificed for the continuation of Berlin Natural Bakery but I want to talk about BREAD. Honest to goodness, real life, old fashioned bread. Bread that is baked and not manufactured. Bread that is fickle to bake but worth it in maintaining its nutrition and purity of ingredients. 

This may read more like a rant than a professional article but I hope you'll give me the space to do so as it's on my heart which means it's landing in your inbox! 🤣

I am often asked: are your breads gluten free? My response is typically, we're not gluten free but we are WILDLY different than what you experience in today's grocery stores. The gluten in Spelt is so different than the gluten in those loaves of "bread" that sit on the shelf for WEEKS without going bad. 😳 Ancient grain gluten - like what our ancestors ate - is truly what the body recognizes and knows how to process (generally). 

It is unfathomable to me what has happened to bread in this country. We're talking "bread" that has added colors, added flavors, added gluten, added nutrition, added dough conditioners and added preservatives. 😲 And I get it. No one is excited about their bread molding but at least you know then that you are eating a real food - and not some mishmash of artificial ingredients posing as bread. (If you want details check out my series on "Is it bread?") 

People find it astonishing when I tell them what we do and what small batch baking actually entails. We are dumping flour into mixers, we are getting dough out of mixers, we are weighing it and separating it out and WALKING it to an oven, we pull pans of bread out of the oven by hand, we (carefully) add it to trays to cool down and then we are slicing, bagging and sealing each loaf by hand (with gloves of course!). 💪 It is a labor of love, definitely, but it is still a LABOR.

I am telling you, what we do in a world of mass producing is so rare and it's precious. To me, it's priceless. We get to make real bread for real people with real needs and real lives that need real nutritional fuel. 🙌

The honor is huge but the drive behind it is even bigger. This is not just a business to us - it's a calling. It asks us to be stronger, faster, more diligent in managing costs, more present, more consistent and more grounded than ever before. This has required us to stay up to date on research and food news. To look very closely with a keen eye at the foods on the shelf and connect with what even we consume. 

I made avocado toast 🍞🥑 the other day with our flaxseed spelt bread and felt FULL for hours but also satisfied and at peace. I don't know, maybe it's in my head but I know that when I eat our bread I feel like I am doing something kind for my body and that's a feeling I'll be chasing forever! 

This calling also requires us to be highly sensitive and aware of the many health ailments, digestive issues and medical experiences our customers have. We know many of you have found us because a health issue sent you on a journey looking for bread that wouldn't disagree with you or cause flare ups of many kinds. In fact, I have heard from so many of you that you initially gave up on bread entirely until you found us and my goodness, does that leave us feeling humble. Your stories are inspiring and your kindness has been unmatched and we just couldn't be more impressed or honored by the caliber of people we bake for. 🤩

Now,  since I've gotten all that off my chest, let me add: THANK YOU. Thank you for being so supportive of us and sharing the word about us with your communities. Thank you for joining us in your commitment to food standards, limited ingredients and pure nutrients. Your standards are our standards and we wouldn't be surviving in this world without you! 

So consider this my note of gratitude, a small update on where our hearts and minds are at and a reminder of the lengths we go to for your daily bread. What an honor and a pleasure! 

Wishing you all the best no matter what's on your plate in this season! 

Nicole 
The 3rd Generation of Berlin Natural Bakery 
Affectionately nicknamed "the little bakery that could" by me 😉

If you've got a story, we'd love to hear from you! Please reply to this email and we'll get back to you!