The butter doesn’t care that it’s interview time. Kaylen Wissinger is ready for our meeting, but the butter is the perfect temperature for kneading into the dough. So I sit at a cheerful wooden table in the sunlit bakery while Wissinger works the butter, and her magic, into bacon blue-cheese scones.
The table has a few light scratches and water rings; signs of the conversations and coffees it witnessed before it found a new life at Whisk: A Sustainable Bakery. In fact, all of the furniture is comfortably worn. Like the kitchen equipment in the back, the display case in front and the Mason jar water glasses on the counter, the furniture was rescued from thrift shops, craigslist and inactivity. “I’ve been interested in sustainability and local food since 2009. So pretty much everything you see is used and refurbished,” explains Wissinger, baker and owner of Whisk. “Everything” even includes the bakery building itself. It was a DIY rehab project Wissinger took on with her family and friends, using repurposed building materials and non-toxic paints.
When you order her small-batch baked goods, like the outstanding PB&J tartlets that I highly recommend, you’ll notice all of Whisk’s packaging contains 100% post-consumer recycled content, and can be recycled or composted. The cardboard to-go boxes are hand stamped with Whisk’s logo (and a thank you note), which is more environmentally friendly than a pre-printed box. “It’s such a good time to be green. There are always new products and new processes to increase sustainability, ” Wissinger says, showing me the made-from-corn cups, sleeves and lids for her locally sourced coffee.
Sustainability is a way of life for Wissinger, who lives with her husband above the bakery. “It’s easy to reduce your carbon footprint when your commute is 20 steps down the stairs!” Wissinger laughs. She also reduces her footprint by only purchasing local ingredients and produce – no mixes from a factory hundreds of miles away. “It’s my way of sustaining the community as well as the environment, and keeping my dollars as local as possible,” Wissinger says. “I like that I’m helping someone in my community to send their kids to school.”
The selections and flavors at Whisk change daily, but are always rich in local produce and interesting flavor combinations. Stop in and enjoy PB&J poptartlets, zucchini spice cupcakes or Blood Orange Cardamom ice pops. Whisk Bakery goods will melt in your mouth.
