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Keeping it 'Coffee Centric' at Stone Creek Kitchen

Courtesy of Stone Creek Coffee

Stone Creek Coffee has been brewing coffee in Milwaukee since 1993, but it wasn’t until 2012 that the Stone Creek Kitchen was born.

You can find the Stone Creek kitchen on the second floor of their factory cafe on 5th Street in downtown Milwaukee. This building also houses their roasting facility and corporate offices – making it the heart of their operations.

Stone Creek office manager Ellen Blaser says that the initiative to make their own baked goods came not only from the timing of the downtown cafe remodel, but also the opportunity to expand Stone Creek’s role.

“It was really the opening of the cafe here at the factory location and the desire to have more control, more input, more say in the creativity and the whole process of the baked goods that we serve,” she explains.

Director of kitchen operations, Meghan Crisci, says,“We think of our pastries and make our pastries with our coffee in mind…I think about what people are getting and what people would want to eat with it."

Crisci also notes that by creating products meant to be consumed with Stone Creek beverages, the kitchen can create and accomplish a clearer goal. “Our coffee is amazing, and if we can just even get something that people can eat that can help compliment that, then it allows us to narrow our focus and prepare a better product,” she says.

Credit Audrey Nowakowski
Sammie Paquette works with croissant dough.

When it comes to what is in their bakery, Stone Creek Kitchen uses all local ingredients whenever possible, which complements the seasonal menu, while extending their community outreach.

“In our smoked Gouda croissant, we have Wisconsin cheeses, in the chai biscotti we're going to be working with Rishi Tea, we've worked with Clock Shadow Creamery before...and we bear in mind that everything is seasonal. We try to go local when we can, and if it's not from Wisconsin or Milwaukee, it's at least from the Midwest," says Crisci.

The bakery comes to life starting at 4 am working with laminated dough, followed by making in-house syrups for the cafes. The kitchen staff starts their “bake offs” in the late afternoon and around 7:30 pm, drivers come by to start deliveries.

While the kitchen does have some staple recipes, about four times a year there is a big menu change to make room for seasonal products. Blaser notes that the kitchen staff is also constantly improving existing recipes to adjust to customer and cafe manager feedback.

“(Right now) we’re trying to revamp our house made granola bars to be a little bit healthier, less added sugar, and making them gluten friendly and vegan as well. We're always playing, learning and growing with the menu," she says.

Credit Courtesy of Stone Creek Coffee
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Courtesy of Stone Creek Coffee

Blaser explains that while the kitchen adjusts to consumer needs, they do not start a new recipe to change a core product. Instead, they take what is existing and play with its composition over time.

"We don't start with trying to find a gluten free and vegan product. We start with the baked good and make sure that's of quality," she explains. "So even if you're not gluten free and you're vegan, you're still going to love these products."

While Blaser and Crisci favorite baked goods from the kitchen can often change seasonally, they both agree that any croissant or laminated dough product is hard to resist.

Sammie Paquette is a key baker behind the croissants and other laminated products featured at Stone Creek. Having worked at the Stone Creek kitchen for over two years, Paquette is enjoying the job - early hours and all.

“It is a fabulous job. It is a lot of fun and I don't mind getting up at 3/3:30 everyday," she says.

Paquette says the croissants are her favorite product to eat, but she also enjoys baking them the most. In fact, a majority of her time in the kitchen every week is dedicated to sheets and sheets of dough.

"I fell in love with it when I started and this was my first laminated job, so it was a very exciting progression for me," she explains. "So I have learned a lot and have loved it ever since."

Fellow baker Brian Pfister says that while so many different products are being made, the staff has to be smart not only about their timing, but also about the extra heat that gets generated from the ovens.

Credit Audrey Nowakowski
Brian Pfister prepares scones to bake in the oven.

“Sammie really needs a cool temperature with the dough, and so (we) communicate about the oven being on and when it's opening because it brings a blast of heat," he explains. "When the dough gets soft it gets hard to work with...so we have to be really smart in the mornings with the oven."

Pfister says they're always thinking about what else they can bake. “We're always are talking about what we want to be doing next. Each new seasonal thing we release, we're always talking about it and we always think, 'Well this isn't a cafe where you come and get soup, you come and get coffee,' - so what pairs well with that?"

In this busy setting, the kitchen staff keep a positive environment where "nobody leaves anybody behind," and where "it's all about teamwork."

As the director of kitchen operations, Crisci encourages an atmosphere of "not mistakes, but a learning process." This way, the kitchen staff and the coffee centric treats they create are completely supported.

“The group that we have up in the is probably the most amazing group of people that I've every worked with in my life," she says. "We’re always just trying to playing around with our food and figure out the best way that we can send out the best products to our cafes."

Audrey is a WUWM host and producer for Lake Effect.