Flour, water, salt, and time
Hearth & Crumb opened in 2016 in a narrow storefront two blocks off the Capitol square. Nadia Reyes had spent nine years baking bread in Chicago and wanted a shop where the dough set the pace, not a delivery truck.
Grain first
The flour is stone-milled in Wisconsin and comes in weekly, so the wheat behind the counter is days old, not months. Sourdough ferments cold for 40 hours, which is where the open crumb and the crust that cracks under a knife come from.
Baked to the day
We bake for the morning, not for a freezer. Croissants are folded over three days. Whatever the case does not sell by close goes to a food pantry down the street, and the deck starts again the next dawn.
Neighbors, most of them
The rye is the best in Madison and I have tried them all. Dense, sour, and it keeps for days.
Thomas B.Willy Street, Madison
We order the pastry box of six for the office every Friday. It is gone by nine every time.
Angela C.State Street, Madison
Nadia walked me through cake flavors on the phone and it arrived exactly as described. Two days notice was plenty.
Marcus D.Sun Prairie, WI
Come by before the case sells down
Find us at 214 S Hamilton St. Doors open at 6:30 AM Tuesday through Sunday, and the sourdough is out first.
Hours and directions