We are so happy you've found us! Since it's our 1st official blog post, I'll begin with some history.
adieu-glu ~ The Name
First of all, I wanted to share a bit about adieu-glu and how I came to the name.
When I first knew I wanted to open up a gluten-free bakery, I began thinking of names and how fun it would be to imagine it in letters above the door of my store front. The very, very first name I came up with was 'she bakes gluten-free'. Thought that was kind of simple and corny. Then I came up with Wheatless because I thought it would be obvious to people that it was a gluten-free bakery or cafe of some sort. Initially I was looking to open up in Nashville and then move to St. Petersburg so I would have 'Wheatless in Nashville' and 'Wheatless in St. Pete', Ha. I had decided this was going to be the name of my bakery and I would tell people for a good 3 years or so about Wheatless. Well, along the way, I had friends and people that were not keen on the name 'Wheatless'. Normally I would comment that we shouldn't listen to what others think if we really like something, but I was determined to come up with a name that would be cool and still convey to customers the type of business I owned. I was stumped for a while, playing with names, looking for ideas and then I went to other languages. Thinking about how other countries often call gluten-free sans-gluten, I was looking for words to describe no, non, goodbye...then goodbye to gluten came to mind and then adieu, farewell, so long gluten. I shortened the gluten to glu and voila, adieu-glu was born!
Baking from my cottage kitchen
I left my career of 34 years to begin my dream of owning a gluten-free artisan bakery in September of 2019. More on that past life in another blog.
On down time for the last 3 years or so, I began baking and researching artisan bread baking without the use of xanthan gum or any preservatives. I wanted to provide an artisan sourdough loaf that I couldn't find anywhere else. I also looked for a commercial kitchen to practice baking that was certified gluten-free since I have Celiac and I can't chance any cross-contamination with wheat flours. There are no certified gluten-free kitchens in the state of Florida so I was prepared to go to a certified kitchen in another state when we were hit with the current pandemic. I had to stay put here in St. Pete so I took advantage of the lockdown and began baking bread, i.e. yeasted bread, bagels, multi-grain. I began a gluten-free sourdough starter and began baking one or two loaves a day to get the recipe down and figure out timing, proving and perfecting the recipes. I started to give my bread to friends, doctors when I had appointments, neighbors and anyone I could bake bread for. Then I began making bagel bites because a full bagel was too much for me, so I thought maybe smaller portions would be better. I began dropping bagel bites and loaves of bread to other cafes and coffee shops until I was told that from a cottage kitchen, I wasn't allowed to wholesale my breads. I would have to have a storefront. With a cottage kitchen business license, one can only sell directly to the customer through markets, pop-ups or your kitchen. I had 2 markets and Tampa's Armature Works under my belt until they were cancelled.
Now even though I bake from my home, I have a St. Petersburg business license from the city of St. Petersburg and in accordance, am required to list the ingredients, that my products are made in a cottage kitchen facility and list allergens and weight, more restricted than that of a cafe or restaurant, so the customer is aware of the ingredients. We are not allowed to have any animals, (which I miss very much) and in the current situation of Covid, only myself is handling the making and baking of your breads, cookies, bagels, etc. So I do hope you find it comforting to know that the environment here is clean, safe from wheat cross-contamination and spread of Covid.
Excited to Blog
I'm excited to have a forum now to communicate with you all, let you know a bit about myself, the bakery, future plans and menu items and tidbits of information I've learned along my journey.
Thank you for stopping by.
I'll come up with a regular schedule to post my blog, as soon as I figure out when that will be. lol - Deb xx
Have a GREAT rest of your week and keep your chin up and the gluten away!
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