BOZEMAN, Mont. — Bozeman has plenty of restaurants and bakeries to choose from, but a new bakery in town is putting its focus on authentic, quality ingredients.
“I think that’s what everyone should care about, is knowing what they’re eating and knowing the ingredients,” baker Jacob Turtletaub said.
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Turtletaub and Collin O’Keefe are two of the masterminds behind Farro Bakery.
“A lot of people in this neighborhood are really looking for an option like this,” O’Keefe said.
The idea for Farro began years before the bakery opened its doors at 1011 W College St. in Bozeman.
“Jacob and I, we have worked in kitchens together for years in Bozeman and kind of always talked about, back of a napkin, what it would look like to open our own place one day,” O’Keefe said.
With help from restaurateur Jarrett Wrisley, the owner of Shan in Bozeman, that back-of-a-napkin idea became a reality when Farro Bakery opened Oct. 15.
Opening day was busier than they expected.
“It was very busy,” O’Keefe said. “We thought we were producing a lot and we couldn’t keep up. So it was a good problem to have.”
Part of the bakery’s focus is using quality ingredients whenever possible, drawing inspiration from previous work at local farms and restaurants.
“We’re using local beef, local pork for the sandwiches,” O’Keefe said. “In regards to the flour and the baking, just really trying to support and use the best agricultural practices.”
The word “farro” refers to a type of grain in Italian, and grain is at the heart of what Turtletaub is making in the kitchen.
“Right now we are prepping the hoagies for sandwiches,” Turtletaub said.
Each day, Turtletaub makes dozens of country loaves, ciabatta, pastry dough and more. The bakery’s hoagie rolls are one creation he developed himself.
“It’s something that I kind of crafted in my head,” Turtletaub said. “One of the other owners here asked me to make a hoagie and I said, ‘I don’t know, man.’”
Turtletaub eventually crafted the recipe and is now making 60 rolls a day.
“These hoagies are made with 100% stone-milled wheat, a little bit of fresh yeast and sourdough,” he said.
For Turtletaub, those ingredients are about more than taste.
“It’s community. It’s supporting the people that are doing the hard work at a smaller scale rather than supporting the big guys,” he said.
Amy Andrews, an author with Edible Bozeman, was visiting Farro and offered her take on what makes the bakery stand out.
“I think Farro’s so special because you got people who are baking here every day from scratch. And it’s work,” Andrews said.
It is work O’Keefe and Turtletaub are happy to be doing and hope to continue for a long time.
“We’re just getting started,” O’Keefe said. “On every side, it’s just gotten better since we’ve opened. And gonna continue to hope to progress in that direction.”
