When Hannah Hildebrandt adopted both a gluten-free and vegan lifestyle a few years ago, her consummate hobby baker mother in Maryland would send her bread and cookies made without dairy and wheat.
“I told her, ‘There’s no way this is gluten-free, this is too good,’” Hildebrandt said. “We’ve been telling her for decades that she needs to start her own bakery.”
But when Hildebrandt’s job as an assistant art director in the film industry was put on hold during the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, she was the one to start a baking business.
Credit: Courtesy of Alternative Grains
Credit: Courtesy of Alternative Grains
She dabbled in making her own bread with a sourdough starter her mom sent her, and a year ago launched pop-up and cottage bakery Alternative Grains (instagram.com/alternativegrains). Customers picked up orders at Hildebrandt’s house in East Point until she began before popping up at farmers markets around town and Hell Yeah Gluten Free bakery in Decatur.
Though her mother was her primary source of baking inspiration, the pair take very different approaches. While her mother is a careful measurer of ingredients, Hildebrandt will often eyeball measurements.
Credit: Courtesy of Alternative Grains
Credit: Courtesy of Alternative Grains
“I’m convinced my starter has stayed alive and worked this whole time because she’s the one who started it,” said Hildebrandt.
She started with her mother’s traditional gluten-free sourdough bread recipe, which she said “was the basis of everything.” Though Hildebrandt was already familiar with using vegan ingredient alternatives, there was an admitted learning curve with the gluten-free part of the baking equation. The coiling and stretching of bread dough made with wheat flour is what creates gluten, so she had to practice kneading, shaping the loaf and letting it rise, and using psyllium fiber husks as a binding agent.
Since perfecting the traditional loaf, Hildebrandt has added to her repertoire five other kinds of sourdough breads, three sourdough bagels, sweeter baked goods like muffins, cookies and cinnamon rolls, and seasonal treats like peach cobbler and blueberry bagels made with locally grown fruit.
Hildebrandt sweetens her products with organic maple syrup or coconut sugar instead of refined sugar. She also experiments with different flours for different sweet baked goods. Muffins and cinnamon rolls are made with oat flour. Cookies are a blend of quinoa and buckwheat flours, which lends an earthy flavor.
Credit: Courtesy of Alternative Grains
Credit: Courtesy of Alternative Grains
She also leans into the “alternative” part of her pop-up with her product names, all references to ‘90s alternative songs. Her olive loaf is called Black Hole Sun after the Soundgarden tune; the rosemary garlic, scored on the front with a heart, is known as the Heart-Shaped Box, a nod to Nirvana; and the turmeric loaf is called the Yellow Ledbetter after the Pearl Jam song.
After a pop-up at Hell Yeah Gluten Free on July 13, Hildebrandt will take a break until at least September. Baking, she says, is harder on her body than she’d anticipated — on bake days, she’s on typically on her feet for 12-18 hours, and doing a lot of bending and lifting while moving Dutch ovens around her kitchen.
Credit: Courtesy of Alternative Grains
Credit: Courtesy of Alternative Grains
And while she loves her side business, she’s looking forward to diving back into her day job this fall. Her ideal would be to continue to work full-time in the film industry while also participating in pop-ups and filling preorders as time allows.
“The business took off, and definitely helped us stay afloat during a time when we needed it,” she said. “I still want to keep doing something once a month. We see the same names pop up on preorders every week, and I want to keep them fed, as long as I can keep balancing the two.”
And no doubt her mom will be cheering her on from afar. The tables have turned, and Hildebrandt now sends her bread, including recent packages with a pumpkin loaf and everything bagels.
“I think she’s liked everything,” she said. “She was thrilled, and kept sending me pictures of her eating it with her morning coffee.”
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