Looking for a sweet treat, baked with artistry, love and intention? Next time you’re at Zingerman’s Next Door Café, we invite you to treat yourself to some fresh pastries for something decadent, delicious and expertly crafted from Zingerman’s Bakehouse. The Bakehouse’s sourcing practices, combined with its artisanal approach, set the Bakehouse and Next Door Café’s pastry selection apart.
Next Door Café’s pastry selection arrives fresh from the Bakehouse every morning. We carry a wide selection of the Bakehouse’s artisanal pastries, including several types of brownies, seasonal pies, cookies, breakfast pastries like scones and croissants, selections of Hungarian and Jewish pastries, coffee cakes, cupcakes and cakes. Next time you stop in for coffee, we can take you on a tour of our packed, plentiful pastry case, which includes several seasonal items. All you have to do is ask!
A Peek Behind the Pastry Counter
The Bakehouse started as a simple bread bakery with a single customer, Zingerman’s Delicatessen. Driven by a passion for baking, and for sharing great baked goods, the bakery’s repertoire grew to include pastries and cakes. Thanks to this growth, Zingerman’s community of businesses and the entire southeastern Michigan community enjoy a wide, impressive range of pastries, baked with care and intention.
Everything the Bakehouse makes is hand-made, around the clock. Bakers put artisanal artistry into each product by meticulously folding layers of croissants, frosting cinnamon rolls by hand and chopping all of the carrots that go into the carrot cake.
Much to our guests delight, the Next Door Café greets freshly pastry deliveries, straight from the Bakehouse, every morning. Is there anything better than a freshly-baked scone or croissant paired with a hot cup of tea or coffee? We think not!
Fresh Pastries Start with Expertly Sourced Ingredients
The level of care and detail in the Bakehouse’s ingredient selection leads to extremely delicious pastries: you really can taste the difference!
One reason for the amazing taste of these pastries is, the Bakehouse uses the best ingredients it can find. The Bakehouse is focused on increasing its use of locally grown or produced ingredients, organic when possible, and on building lasting relationships with local farmers, millers, and producers. Some notable high-quality ingredients the Bakehouse relies on include; farm fresh sour cream and milk, Wisconsin sweet-cream butter, chocolates with high cacao percentages, Madagascar bourbon vanilla extract, Michigan honey, local farm apples, fresh cage-free eggs and more.
Pastry Improvements by the Bakehouse Grain Commission
The Bakehouse pastries we carry also benefit from ingredient sourcing work directed by the Bakehouse’s Grain Commission. The Grain Commission is composed of a small group of bakers, marketers, as well as an on-staff ecologist. This group works together to learn, educate and transform our baking with new knowledge. The Bakehouse aims to make its breads and pastries even more flavorful through this effort to expand its knowledge of grains. As a result of this focus on continuous improvement, the flavor of Bakehouse products, including pastries, has evolved and improved.
Through the work of the Grain Commission, the Bakehouse has developed its commitment to deeply flavored freshly milled whole grains and paying extra attention to evolving recipes to ensure the grains sourced are baked properly. Thanks to efforts by the Grain Commission, grains sourced by the Bakehouse have grown to include more intentionally sourced organic wheat flour, rye, oats and cornmeal as well as Michigan-grown grains like spelt and einkorn. Since this is a research and development function at the Bakehouse, the learning never stops, and ingredients and recipes continue to change!
Pause for Pastry
A baked good from Zingerman’s Bakehouse alongside a cup of fresh roasted coffee from Zingerman’s Coffee Co. are reason enough to pay our cafe a visit. Whether you treat yourself, or to pick up the perfect gift of fresh pastries for friends and family, we think you’ll find the perfect pastry!
The Bakehouse pastries we carry also benefit from ingredient sourcing work directed by the Bakehouse’s Grain Commission. The Grain Commission is composed of a small group of bakers, marketers, as well as an on-staff ecologist. This group works together to learn, educate and transform our baking with new knowledge. The Bakehouse aims to make its breads and pastries even more flavorful through this effort to expand its knowledge of grains. As a result of this focus on continuous improvement, the flavor of Bakehouse products, including pastries, has evolved and improved. 
