Home Is Where The Hearth Is: Hearth Bread Co. Brings Artisan Loaves To Orlando

Orlando's Olde Hearth Bread Co. has been a city fixture for fresh rounds and rolls for 16 years.[/caption]

Food Republic has partnered with Bridlewood Estate Winery to bring you some great entertaining and cooking posts. Next up is a profile of an artisan bread company in Orlando.

Starting a successful artisan bread company is an aspiring dream for some, but for Shannon Talty of Olde Hearth Bread Co. in Orlando, it was the only way. Sure enough, this passion quickly grew into a successful business, which — even 16 years later — locals and tourists alike still consider a must-stop shop.

With the boom of Orlando's food culture several years ago grew an appreciation for unique, quality products like those of Olde Hearth. That said, he admits it took time for local foodies to catch on to the art of handcrafted breads. "I would love to just serve two-pound sourdough rounds and baguettes, but we had to introduce some commercial breads like sub loaves," says Talty. Once you try Talty's artisan selection of products, you'll soon come to the conclusion that it was really only time before customers began to prefer his authentically crafted products over store-bought brands.

As a child, Talty always filled up on rolls before dinner was served. "It was my favorite part of the meal," he says. Having a love of bread ever since he could remember, Talty moved from California back to his home state of Florida and opened the bakery with his father in 1998, even though he knew the market wasn't quite ready for him. Today, after more than a decade of working to get his foot in the door selling bread to restaurants, theme parks and catering companies, Olde Hearth Bread now produces about 250 products all day, every day. This includes loaves of pumpernickel-raisin, pretzel kaiser rolls and hearty rounds of rye boule, just to name a few.

"We try not to go off the beaten path too much and make something weird just to make it," he says. That said, this doesn't mean the baker forgoes fun. In the past, he has worked with specialty breads and made a squid ink loaf for a local chef, a Hawaiian-style roll with fresh pineapple and even tried his hand at a rainbow-colored bread.