Many people haven’t heard of Bellegard Bakery, which currently operates out of an unmarked storefront in a Central City stripmall. Soon, that’s about to change.
The wholesale bakery sells fresh flour and bread to some of the most well-known restaurants in the city, including Shaya and Toups Meatery. According to The New Orleans Advocate, as soon as January, the bakery plans to move to a building in the Carrollton neighborhood where it can show off what makes it so different; the process.
The bakery’s new location will be in the 8300 block of Apple Street, but the owner told The Advocate how the bakery makes bread won’t change.
Bellegarde boasts an in-house stone mill and controls all of the ingredients used in its bread. All of the breads are made entirely by hand. According to the bakery’s website, people who have gluten sensitivities usually react to Bellegarde’s bread better, because of the slow fermentation process and use of wheat flour instead of white.
The new location will give people a chance to see exactly how the flour and breads are made, allow for bigger classes, and create a store for home bakers to get Bellegarde’s goods, The Advocate reported.
“People know about us now, but don’t know about the process and that’s what’s important to me,” Bellegarde founder Graison Gill told The Advocate. “You’ll be able to see the whole process. Our supply line is open and transparent and so is how we work here.”
The current bakery makes about 5,000 loaves of bread a week, but Gill said the new location should be able to triple that.