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Cooking With: Smell That Bread Bakery featuring its newly renovated location

Audrey Dwyer
Laminated brioche at Smell That Bread Bakery.
Matt Stensland
Be on the lookout for: Kouign Amann and Laminated Brioche What to try: Any of their new toast variations – so simple, so good

#1. Radish, butter, roasted garlic, sea salt and chive on pecan raisin sourdough.

#2. Avocado smash, egg crumble, bacon, butter and shallots on sourdough.

#3. Berry compote, butter, chèvre and chives on pumpernickel.

A typical day looks like: 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. they work with John Barnes, head chef and kitchen manager, and Alex Mentus, baker assistant, to create 10 dough variations a day – five to six breads and four to five pastry variations.

Imagine, you’re poised to indulge in an authentic pain au chocolat over a cup of steaming espresso.

On the cotton napkin, the decadent pastry is bronze colored with hundreds of thin layers visible on its surface.

Steamboat Springs, let me introduce you to our very own French-inspired boulangerie, the newly renovated Smell That Bread Bakery.



“It’s traditional to grab a French baguette or French Jambone and walk around eating,” said Juli Gordon, who owns the bakery with her husband, Sam. “That’s what we wanted this to be.”

This weekend Smell That Bread will be open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday.



The Gordons first opened the bakery in 2014 at 135 11th St. just behind Creekside Cafe. The business has grown in popularity as passersby caught a whiff of the tantalizing cookies and cinnamon rolls and came inside.

Following their vision to have a space dedicated to bread croissants and French-inspired pastries, the bakery has now expanded its downtown location to the space next door to offer a café setting.

“It started off with a speak-easy vibe with the Dutch door idea because no one could really find it so when they did, business just took off,” said Sam Gordon.

The Gordons have perfected various recipes from their background at the San Francisco Baking Institute, and they make an assortment of 10 dough variations with five to six breads and four to five pastries. Baking begins at 3 a.m. each day.

One of the most delicious offerings at the new café are the tartine (open-faced) sandwiches featuring the star of the bakery’s name — the bread. Variations include: the Sopressata highlighting the sourdough bread; radish, butter, roasted garlic, sea salt and chive on the pecan raisin sourdough; the Avocado smash with egg crumble, bacon, butter and shallots on sourdough; and the Berry compote, butter, chèvre and chives on pumpernickel.

On a daily basis, the bakery serves up a variety of pastries including almond croissants, stuffed croissants like the pain au chocolat or with ham and gruyere, Kouign Amann, laminated brioche, classic cookies, cinnamon rolls and monkey bread.

“This is not like your average sandwich shop where you can add avocado, bacon and pickles,” Sam said. “It’s very much about the baguette. It’s simple and is really meant to highlight the bread. We wanted to present it exactly how it should be in the traditional sense.”

Smell That Bread Bakery is also working with Seedhouse Coffee and Elk Stone Farm to contribute to local producers.

“It’s different and simple,” said Sam Gordon.


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