Middlebury grad opens bakery

Many Middlebury graduates go on to accomplish feats all over the world, in destinations as far-flung as Cape Town, China and the Arctic Circle. Julianne Jones ’07 plans to make her mark much closer to home. With the opening of her new bakery, Vergennes Laundry, in Vergennes, scheduled for later this month, Jones hopes to share her passion for pastries with Vermonters and college students alike.

“I like food and what it can do for people,” said Jones, who prefers to keep things in the kitchen simple. “I’m very into the staples of bread and cheese in good proportions.”
Jones hopes to create a bakery unlike anything Vergennes has to offer. Instead of the common scones and cinnamon buns, Vergennes Laundry will offer such treats as croissants, nougat and Jones’ favorite, canelé, a French pastry with custard in the middle.

“The things I like to make are things we don’t have around here yet,” said Jones.

The atmosphere of the bakery will also be unique. The outside is painted all white, while Jones describes the inside as having a somewhat Scandinavian feel. There will be three long, communal tables in the middle of the bakery, and people will be able to sit wherever they choose after ordering at the counter. Jones is also planning to use these tables for community dinners once the bakery gets going.

At the center of Jones’ bakery is a one-of-a-kind oven. Though the Laundromat that occupied the same building years ago provided a perfect name for the bakery, it did create a logistical challenge when it came to constructing an oven. The space was long and narrow, and didn’t leave much room for a conventional bakery oven. However, Jones, who knew she wanted a brick, wood-fired oven, worked with her oven-builder and designer, William Davenport, to create something that was practical and could fit into this smaller space. Now, the oven Jones has designed has two hearths, one on top of the other, so each can work together or separately. The configuration allows for more flexibility. Jones can choose to keep the ovens at different temperatures, or coordinate their uses to bake pastries and bread faster.

“It’s an experiment in that it’s not been done before around here,” said Jones, who majored in Geography and Architecture. “I think it’s the only one in the US.”

To raise money for her double-decker oven, Jones used kickstarter.com, a website where entrepreneurs try to raise money for their projects. Anyone who visits the site can pledge money, but his or her money will only be used if the goal is met by the set deadline. Jones’ project was accepted to the site in April and went up at the end of June. She set her cost at $12,000. Her goal was met on August 5, with the help of 114 backers.

“People wouldn’t be donating to something that wasn’t going to come to life,” said Jones, who was extremely pleased with the support she received on the website.

Jones has a background in the culinary world. For the past two summers, she has been selling her goods at the Middlebury Farmer’s Market, and considers her sales a measure of support, as well. She has seen great enthusiasm each Saturday, she hopes that people who visit her booth at the market will become regulars at Vergennes Laundry, too.

“It’s great to get feedback on what people think about the products, the name and the business in general,” said Jones. “It’s great marketing, too.”

Pam Taylor, who has been the Market Manager for the Middlebury Farmer’s Market for three years, couldn’t agree more.

“She’ll carry those customers right over,” said Taylor. “What better way to sell?”

Before the market, Jones nurtured her passion for good food as a student at the College. She worked at the student-run restaurant Dolci for four years and as a pastry chef and garden manger at Christophe’s on the Green, a restaurant in Vergennes that has since closed. She was also a pastry chef at the Whitford House Inn in Addison. After graduation, Jones apprenticed with Gérard Rubaud in Westford where she got specific bread training. She was captivated by the way Rubaud made one kind of bread with an all-natural starter.

“It was refreshing to me,” said Jones, “I saw how good bread can actually be.”

Seeing bread-making up close made Jones realized that she had the potential to open up a bakery of her own, one that she felt Vergennes needed.

“It finally came to life when we wanted a place to eat lunch here in town,” said Jones.

Naturally, her ingredients will be fresh and local. She plans to use the oven to make pizza, meats and vegetables, and will cook everything in the most simple, appropriate way. Jones will continue to develop relationships with local farmers who supply ingredients, but according to Taylor, she has done so already.

“She always worked around vegetables and fruits that were in season,” said Taylor, who also noted that Jones would often go to a nearby booth at the market to buy ingredients for tarts and pastries she would later sell to her customers.

“In order to be good food, it’s automatically got to be those things,” said Jones.

You can follow Jones' progress online at her website, http://vergenneslaundry.com/.