About Us
Backdoor Bread started as a side project in 2014 while we owned and operated Seven Stars Bakery in Providence, Rhode Island. Jim’s interest in single variety wheats, regional sourcing and stone milling led to a side business, selling his 100% whole grain loaves at a few farmers markets around town. After 18 years in business and growing to four locations and 100+ employees, we decided to sell Seven Stars and go back to where we started: working with our hands, making products we love and being a part of a community that will appreciate our work. In the summer of 2019, our family of four moved to Charlotte, Vermont to continue the age old tradition of stone milling and whole grain baking.
Our naturally leavened bread is produced with grain milled onsite just before mixing, carefully chosen by us from small, organic farms throughout the northeast and beyond. Our breads highlight single varieties of wheats, showcasing the differences. We work with modern wheats bred for flavor, as well as heirloom, and “ancient” varieties like Khorasan (Kamut), Emmer, Spelt and Einkorn. Our customers rave about the difference in all these varieties, not unlike how different varieties of hops change the flavor of a beer, or varieties of grapes make the wine.
The experimental nature of Backdoor Bread has proven to be fulfilling as a baker, and exciting for our customers. Grains come and go throughout the year, and sometimes this year isn’t as good as last. It reminds us that wheat is an agricultural product, subject to the vagaries of the seasons. Every year can’t be the same.
Jim & Lynn Williams
Press
Bread Baker’s Guild of America – Fall/Winter 2019
Jim was interviewed by Bread Baker’s Guild of America’s for their “Bread Lines” newsletter.
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Shelburne News – October 2019
“Jim and Lynn Williams: Finding variety in wheat”
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Seven Days – March 2019
“Rising in Vermont: Backdoor Bread Launches With a Pop-Up Sale”
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