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Lending
Little Bread Company
When Ben Gitchel
picked Hannah Withers up hitchhiking into Eureka Springs in 1995, it was
fate. They soon found that they shared an interest in fine food,
entrepreneurship and the Ozarks. After they married, Ben became obsessed
with baking.
Ben had worked in a
fine dining restaurant for years, and had been experimenting with brewing
beer for some time. The combination of his natural talent for kitchen work
and his fascination with yeast and fermentation led him to begin baking at
home. He spent the winter of Hannah’s pregnancy baking dozens of
croissants every night. He just felt like he could never get it
“quite right.” After years of experimenting in his own kitchen,
and baking bread with his boss at work, he decided to take his talents to
the next level and find someone to teach him how bread and baking worked
scientifically.
Ben, Hannah and their
then 8-month-old boy moved to New York City so that Ben could study
artisan baking at the French Culinary Institute. He arrived home each night
with the 15 different kinds of bread he had baked that day excited as a
child on Christmas morning. After studying under some of the best bakers in
the world, Ben graduated with a certificate
De Boulangerie. The rest is history.
The couple moved back
to Arkansas and started the Little Bread Company; a
commercial kitchen for wholesale breads and pastries in their garage in
historic downtown Eureka Springs. First, they gutted
the garage and starting from the ground up built a modern bakery. On the
week after Thanksgiving 2002 they began delivering baked goods to one
grocery store in Eureka Springs. Now they deliver 6 days a week to 5 retail
locations in Eureka Springs and Fayetteville. You can find their products
at Ozark Natural Foods (and soon several other locations) in Fayetteville.
The Gitchels produce
12 different kinds of old world, artisan breads and several varieties of
croissants and pastries. They are intimately involved with every bake,
package and handle every product themselves to ensure that only products of
the highest quality come out of their kitchen.
The Gitchels believe
that beautiful, organic baked goods can be of the highest quality and still
be sold at an affordable price. Their intent is to sell their retailers an
exceptional product at a low price, so that they, in turn, can offer their
customers the same.
The Gitchels are
proud of their products. As Hannah says, “Our diverse variety of
breads, bagels, and pastries are all simple and fresh. We’re always
looking for more people to share our products with, and feel blessed that
FORGE gave us the opportunity to bring quality artisan baking to the
Ozarks. We’re thrilled to find so many people in this area supporting
local
bakers.”
You can contact Hanna
and Ben by calling 479-273-0421 or via e-mail at
littlebreadco@yahoo.com.
Resources
Links to
other helpful sites.
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