Artisan Breads are Just the Beginning for the Back Alley Bakery
Friends bought a two-story building from the Hastings Redevelopment Authority in 2003, intending to renovate three loft apartments above and a retail store at street level. The single-story building at the alley side had been condemned. They decided to gut the space, and their mutual interest in handcrafted bread led them to design and construct a wood-fired brick oven in the brick wall, add a roof, and start a bakery. The entrance to the bakery faced the alley behind Second Street, hence the name, the Back Alley Bakery.
For many years, they sold wonderful artisan bread from this humble storefront, attracting a larger and larger following of loyal customers almost exclusively through word of mouth. When the adjacent retail space finally came available, they renovated it and opened the perfect restaurant for a place called the Back Alley Bakery, where the rustic and the funky combine with the stylish and sophisticated to create an experience in Hastings you wouldn’t expect to find outside of, say, Santa Barbara or Charleston.
When the Rural Foodies visit the Back Alley Bakery, we get the full tour, including a look at the oven and the woodpile, and a lunch to remember.
Learn more at: www.backalleybakery.com
Story by: Nebraska Rural Living
