The first Gluten-Free Bakery in our community.

We just had the grand opening of the first Gluten-Free Bakery in our community on Friday, August 26th. Shepherd’s Place located in Paul, Idaho. I am excited for the baked goods I can now indulge in without the side effects of gluten.

I stopped by a few weeks prior to check out the bakery when I saw a few vehicles parked up front. I had been watching this building as it was built from the ground up, wondering what this place was going to be. The door was opened, but the lights were off in the main lobby of the bakery. However, the young man that was behind the counter in the kitchen area came out to speak with me. He was extremely polite and answered all my questions about what products and food they would have. He let me know they were anticipating having their grand opening on August 26th. I let him know I was excited to have this bakery available and couldn’t wait to try it all out.

I found the bakery on Facebook and followed so I could watch for updates. I was excited.I am excited to have such a bakery close and available. I am gluten intolerant. Even though I suffer through, I still eat the glorious foods like pizza, bread or rolls when dining out, pasta and donuts when the cravings are bad enough.

Grand Opening

Two days ago, on August 26th, the grand opening happened with Shepherd’s Place. For whatever reason my morning got the best of me and I was not able to stop in before going into the office. However, I was able to stop during lunch. There is a small cafe section when you walk in, it was full with patrons sitting and chatting, just like this bakery had been around for years. The pastries in the glass cases had been almost picked cleaned. I was able to get two lemon pastries for starters. I also decided to purchase a box of truffles to try out as well.

Saturday morning my husband and I each had a lemon pastry. Most gluten-free anything doesn’t have the smoothness like wheat flour, it’s normally dense, dry and there will be a bit of what I call “gritiness” within the texture. With these lemon pastries, you could tell it wasn’t the normal wheat flour pastry, but they were light, flakey, actually moist and delicious. The lemon curd was perfect. We were delightfully surprised.

The truffles are robust dark chocolate with a ganache center and hint of mint. I don’t know if the mint was suppose to be a flavor for these or left over from a previous mix, but paired nicely within the chocolates.

Shepherds Place will definately be a bakery we return to. They have Take-N-Bake pizzas that will be next on my list to try, carmel corn, cinnamon rolls, pound cakes, cookies and brownies, breads and muffins. They also feature prepared mixes to make your own pizza crust, cookies, breads, cakes, muffins and more.