The story about the bakery:

Owned and operated by the Ypsi Food Co-op, the River Street Bakery is dedicated to producing world-class artisan breads and baked goods while upholding and strengthening the values of a cooperative endeavor.  We bake in a wood-fired brick oven, using renewable energy.  We make our bread in small batches – 40 to 50 loaves at a time.  Our loaves have a crispy, chewy crust that wraps around a moist honeycombed crumb with unparalleled wholesome flavors.

All of River Street Bakery’s breads (and cookies, pretzels, granola, etc…) are baked with 100% organic flour.  All River Street breads are sourdough started.  Our breads develop their rich flavors via slow fermentation at cool temperatures. We also make use of overnight soaks that extract full flavors from grain like flax seed and rye flakes.  Every loaf is shaped with care, by hand. 

At River Street Bakery, we like to explore the wide range of sourdough expression; that’s why we maintain a number of different cultures. Each works differently with organic flours, putting their own kind of “sour” into the bread.  Only a few select varieties have sweeteners or oils added…. we like to keep them lean.  To borrow a French winemakers’ term, Michigan-grown flour, fermented by Ypsi-specific cultures, is an expression of terroir.  This place.  Here.