Postcard from Minneapolis

A visit to Laune Bread

After the never ending noise and rush of NYC, arriving in the Midwest, in Minneapolis, was a welcome change of pace. That’s not to say Minneapolis isn’t a vibrant place, its more to say that there is a slightly more gentle speed to life. As I flew into the airport, I raised the shutter on my window and, I was welcomed with a beautiful canopy of autumnal colours. There was trees for miles, a mix of gold, red, yellow, brown and a scattering of green. It felt fake, like something from a Nancy Myers movie. I was here for two things, a book tour event with Williams Sonoma and to see my colleagues at Nordicware, for a little filming project. One wonderful thing about visits to this city is that every-time I’m here the team at Nordicware take me on a whirlwind tour of local bakeries. This visit we had just two spots to check out, places that had opened since my last visit, Black Walnut Bakery and Laune Bread. Both are excellent bakeries but for this post I want to concentrate on Laune, a truly special place making outstanding products.

We turned up, having mentioned to the bakery that we were popping by, expecting to say hi to the owners and buy a couple of things to try. In reality we were given the warmest of welcomes, a mug of coffee generously offered on arrival and a spread of baked goods presented for us to try. Instead of the 10 minutes I was expecting, we stayed for an hour chatting with Chris and Tiff, the two co-owners of the bakery. It was great to see them championing both whole grains and also regenerative farming, a fascinating topic if you are interested in how farming and especially intensive farming affects the environment and our ability to grow food in the future. Every product they make is also made with a minimum of 50% whole grain flour and they strive to use ingredients as local as possible.

The bakery was originally a project started back in 2015 by Chris, a bread subscription service, with everything delivered by bike. Later a farmers market stall was added and then this year they opened their first bricks and mortar storefront. The first evolution of the bakery actually ended in 2017 when Chris left to work in Switzerland for a couple years. On his return he partnered with Tiff, a friend and fellow baker he had worked with previously in Minneapolis, and together they opened what is now Laune Bread. They kept the original subscription model, adding a farmers market stall to the business, and then in 2022 they opened their beautiful storefront.

One of the things that struck me about this bakery is the transparency, they have a strong mission and they share so much detail about it, they want you along for the ride. On their website, for example, they share a pie chart showing where the money for ingredients is spent. 50.7% of their ingredient spend goes straight into the Minnesota economy. 87% of their flour also comes direct from the state, something a lot of bakeries wont even get close to. They also list all their suppliers and it really feels like a space that champions the idea of local in a truly authentic way.

But what about the baked goods, I hear you shout! We tried a real variety of what the bakery offers. First up was a squash millet cake, an elevated version of pumpkin bread I have seen absolutely everywhere on this trip. The squash which they roast and puree in-house gave a great flavour and added moisture making the cake the perfect loaf cake texture. Instead of the pumpkin seeds these cakes are usually topped with they used millet kernels, to mirror the millet flour used in the cake, which adds a great textural layer. There was a sausage roll-esque pastry filled with a vegetable curry mixture instead of sausage, which would be something I would order regularly if I lived close by. There was also a absolutely wonderful wholewheat croissant, packed with flavour from the whole grain flour, a delicious ‘bee sting’ brioche bun with honey and almonds, a savoury cheddar kale croissant and finally a ‘poppy queen’ a take on the classic kouign amann but with an added layer of poppy seeds akin to the filling you would find in numerous Eastern European pastries.

If you haven’t gathered already, I was a HUGE fan of this place. From their mission, the execution of that mission and of course the absolutely wonderful products, if you are in the Minneapolis area you should absolutely make a detour and visit this incredible bakery.

Laune Bread

3605 E Lake Street, Minneapolis, MN 55406

@launebread