Klinger's Bread Company

Years ago, my mom picked up a scone for me from Jake's Coffee Company.  I loved it.  I did my due diligence, and found out that it came from Klinger's Bakery.  Glorious scones.  I remember how great these were, so, on a subsequent trip home, I took matters into my own hands and sought one out myself.  But ... Jake's had changed their scone supplier, and I was very let down (as you may have read about then).

Since then, when I've seen the Klinger's brand around town, I've snatched up products to try, but still haven't come across their scones anywhere else.  You can find their breads (and sometimes pies) at grocery stores and markets around Vermont and New Hampshire. 

Breads

"Rugged, healthy, hearty, crusty, chewy...these are just a few words overheard to describe the artisan breads of Klinger's.  Our hearth-baked breads were proudly brought to Vermont in 1993 by the Klingebiel families of Williston, Vermont and Salem, New York.

These flavorful, authentic European breads were developed by one of America's premier artisan bakers. Our bakers have been thoroughly trained in the methods and subtleties of bread baking. The breads are made from starters which are allowed to develop over a thirty hour period.  Visit the bakery and watch our bread crafters at work. Amidst floured tables, you will see them mix the finest ingredients, hand shape loaves, and bake them with care in our French brick oven.

We at Klinger's are proud to bring you the rustic, homemade taste of our signature artisan breads. Our goal is to produce breads with character and integrity, to make your mouth water with the aroma of loaves fresh from the oven, and to share the products of our labor with you again and again."

Breads are their primary product, with a pretty huge lineup of basic loaves to rolls and baguettes to specialty flavors like roasted garlic parmesan or maple oat walnut.  They bake different kinds every day on rotation.

Cranberry Pecan.
24 oz loaf. $7.95.

"Our most popular specialty bread, probably because it’s densely studded with cranberries and pecans, baked into our farm dough."

I didn't realize when I got this that it used a sourdough base.  I don't like sourdough.  Boo.  But it had plenty of goodies in it, great crunch from the pecan, sweetness and tartness from the cranberries.  Wonderful textures and really loaded up.  I couldn't quite get past the sourdough enough to eat it by the slice, but we used it in a pumpkin bread pudding later and it worked beautifully there.

3/5 for me because, gah, sourdough.

Challah.
18 oz. $7.50.

"This traditional Challah bread, a beautifully braided and light airy loaf loaf, is baked to a deep golden brown with aromas of honey and egg yolks."

I love challah, particularly for making what I call "soaked bread" or kinda lazy style french toast or bread pudding, where I soak a slice in melted ice cream and just bake it a bit.  Or just toasted and slathered with butter, cinnamon, and sugar, or melty chocolatey spread of some kind.  I had a favorite challah that I could get from Oren's Hummus in San Francisco only on Fridays when they got it from a local wholesale bakery (Irving's), and I stocked up on it by the loaf from them regularly, but alas, they changed suppliers a few years ago, so I've been searching for a challah to live up to that since.

Klinger's did a very nice job with this.  Beautifully golden brown crust, sooo fluffy and enriched inside.  Slight sweetness.  This is the kind of challah that makes for incredible french toast or bread pudding.  I really enjoyed it, no notes really.  4/5, maybe even 4.5/5.

Pastries

"Additionally, in the tradition of the finest European patisseries, we offer pastries and unique desserts.  Please visit us and see for yourself.  Linger at our cafe over a relaxing cup of gourmet coffee, or enjoy lunch while observing our bread bakers having fun and working hard to bring you the very best artisan breads."

They also make some pastries such as croissants, danishes, muffins and the like (and obviously, the aforementioned scones), although these are harder to find as they tend to only distribute the breads outside their own storefront.

Authentic French Croissants.

My mother randomly picked up some croissants one day when she saw them somewhere.  I could tell from looking at these that they are a bread style croissant, *not* a flaky, fresh croissant, but I thought they'd probably still work well for breakfast (or lunch) sandwiches if nothing else.

At room temp they were kinda "eh", but if you bake (as they say to do) they get a bit crisp.  Amazing butter flavor.  Overall actually, pretty decent, particularly for the style, and great slathered with Nutella too.  But not a "real" croissant.  3.5/5.