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Red Hen Baking Co.

At the Red Hen Baking Co. we are guided by the belief that pure, uncomplicated ingredients and the hands of skilled artisans are the building blocks for great food.

Since our early days in Duxbury, we have been dedicated to creating the very best food from the best ingredients we can find.

We craft an ever-changing lineup of pastries, sandwiches and soups for sale in our Middlesex, Vermont Café.

We’ve been on leading edge of the local food movement since 1999. 

Our Breads

Flour, water, salt, and yeast. We baked our breads with the finest, local ingredients almost every day of the year.

View all of our Breads
  • 3 Millers
  • Alice's Rye
  • Ciabatta- Red Hen Baking Co.
  • Crossett Hill
  • Cyrus Pringle- Red Hen Baking Co.
  • Mad River Grain- Red Hen Baking Co.
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Where to Buy

Where to Buy
We bake and deliver breads every day!
You can buy them at our Middlesex, VT Café or look for your local retail location.

Keeping our bread FAQ's

Where to Buy
Why are your breads sold in paper bags? We have always sold our unsliced hearth breads in paper bags. We do this because we go through a lot of trouble to create a crisp crust on our breads. In order for that crust to remain crisp, the bread needs to “breath.” The paper bag is really doing nothing more than identifying our bread and keeping others’ hands off of it. Once you bring it home, you can toss the bag in the recycling (or save it for making papier mache) and store your bread sliced side down to keep it from drying out. The crust will act as a natural package for the rest of the loaf. Refer to the information on our specific varieties to see how many days you can expect to keep your particular bread in this manner.

What about plastic bags? If our breads are put into a plastic bag, they will stay moist for much longer, but the crust will soften. If you are willing to sacrifice a crisp crust to stretch the shelf life a little longer, you can put our bread in a plastic bag. At temperatures under 70 degrees, our breads will not get moldy for at least a week. If it is one of our naturally leavened ones, it will last even longer. You can be sure that you have a naturally leavened variety if you do not see yeast listed in the ingredients.

Should your breads be refrigerated? We do not recommend keeping our breads in the refrigerator because, even in a plastic bag, the dry air in the fridge dries out the bread. And because how long do you really need to keep a loaf of bread anyhow?

Freezing: Our breads freeze very well in a well-sealed plastic bag. In a frost-free freezer, they are good for 3-4 months. In a traditional freezer, they are good until the next time you have to defrost it. If our bread is frozen unsliced, a few minutes in the oven it is thawed will bring the crust back to almost as good as fresh.

Sliced Bread: By request at our café, and on a limited basis to stores that we deliver to, we sell sliced breads. These need to be packed in plastic to prevent the crumb (interior) from drying out—a sacrifice for convenience that can be worth it (especially if you intend to use if for sandwiches or toast). Unless the weather is very hot (over 70 degrees), our sliced breads should keep for a week. (See above about plastic bags.)

Our Pastries

You wouldn't believe how many different pastries we bake in a day

View all of our Pastries

Red Hen apple pie- Champlain Orchards Apple Pie Chocolate macaroons on a tray Chocolate macaroons on a tray Chocolate Macaroon Red Hen croissant Croissant Cross-Section Red Hen Danish pastry Red Hen Danish pastry Fun with Danish Chocolate dipped macaroon Chocolate Dipped Macaroon Chocolate dipped macaroon Red Hen pumkin pie Red Hen pumkin pie Pumpkin Pie Red Hen strawberry rhubarb Danish pastry Strawberry Rhubarb Danish Red Hen linzer cookie hearts Linzer Hearts Red HenSavory Palmier Savory Palmier Red Hen Almond Croissants Almond Croissants
Red Hen Almond Croissants Red Hen croissant roll-out Red Hen croissant roll-out Croissant roll-out Red Hen Brownie Ingredients Brownie Ingredients Red Hen ham and cheese croissant Ham and Cheese with coffee pain au chocolate pain au chocolate Apple Pie Slice Red Hen Pain au chocolate process Pain au Choc Production Red Hen apple pie slice, Champlain Orchards Red Hen apple pie slice, Champlain Orchards Apple Pie Slice croissant crumb from Red Hen Baking Croissant Interior

Red Hen Baking Co. By The Numbers

In baking, it's all about precise measurement. Here are a few numbers we're quite in awe of.

430000 lbs.

Local wheat that go into our breads each year

363

Days a year that we bake fresh bread and pastries

2200

Loaves of bread baked on average, every day

65

Average number of daily deliveries we make to local stores and restaurants

42

Number of people we employ full time

We're Baking Again!

Reopening Thursday.

After having to take a brief pause to keep everyone safe, we are getting back to baking. Beginning on Tuesday, January 26th., you will find our bread in stores again.

On this first day back, you won’t see baguettes, but you will find five varieties on the shelves. Over the next four days, our selection will be increasing. By the end of the week, we expect to be back to full baking capacity. Our goal is to open the cafe on Thursday. More updates to follow...

Thank you to everyone for the support over the last few days. You mean the world to us!