Wildcraft Baking Company, Irvington’s Gluten-Free Café, Has A Die-Hard Following

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A stacked array of gluten-free goods at Wildcraft

October 13, 2024

By Shana Liebman–

While not one of the wave of new Irvington coffee shops, Wildcraft Baking Company has been steadily gaining fans since it opened in 2022. Tucked away at 1 Bridge Street behind the train station, the gluten-free bakery has become a beloved destination for Rivertown foodies.

You might know Wildcraft from their stand at local farmer’s markets, where they pop up frequently with their famously creative granolas, including Beet & Buckwheat, Coca Quinoa, and Roots & Seeds (which recently won a gold Sofi award from the Specialty Food Association). Starting this month, they will offer a holiday special: Sweet Potato and Pecan.

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“When we started selling at farmers markets in 2018, we were working out of a shared production kitchen space,” explains Brittany Vellucci, who started Wildcraft with her husband, chef Michael Ridd, and her father Dominic Vellucci — a food chemist. “We had been searching for a space of our own to make entirely gluten-free for quite a while, and as soon as we saw our space in Irvington, we knew it was meant to be,”

Brittany, who grew up in Westchester and recently worked for caterer Abigail Kirsch at Tappan Hill Mansion, always knew she wanted to be a baker, but while studying at the Culinary Institute of America, she was diagnosed with a gluten allergy. “I remember feeling devastated because how could a pastry chef avoid gluten?”

When she met Michael at the CIA, the couple started experimenting with fresh fruits and vegetables to enhance the textures and flavors of gluten-free baked goods. “Mike and I wanted to develop creative and flavorful gluten-free recipes that would be interesting and intriguing, even if you didn’t have to avoid gluten,” Brittany says. “Every step we took after the CIA was towards the goal of having our own business.”

Baked goods surround a cup of Cappuccino

The name “Wildcraft,” which Brittany says is synonymous with foraging, reflects their baking philosophy: “Finding ways to use something wild (flours, flavors, or produce that are not typically a part of baking) to yield a unique, creative, and superior product.”

Their small, sunlight-filled industrial shop is a perfect fit for the Bridge Street Community, catering to its daily employees and visitors, including Yoga Love members, and supplying The Red Hat with gluten-free bread. There is no designated seating area, but customers can watch the bakers (via the kitchen’s large glass window) serenely stir the batter and drop biscuits on giant commercial sheet pans.

Their baked goods are made with love and care and high-quality, healthy ingredients like organic buckwheat flour. The menu is seasonal, and most of the ingredients come from local farmer’s markets. It’s not the kind of bakery that will likely delight young kids, but the creative menu, with items like chocolate chickpea cookies and cauliflower brownies, is uniquely delicious.

The egg sandwiches are served on veggie-flecked savory scones — which are subtler and more biscuit-like than the ones served at Red Barn. (Although the Red Barn Bakery up the street also serves gluten-free baked goods, Wildcraft is the only café in Irvington with an entirely gluten-free facility.)

Wildcraft’s apple cranberry buckwheat scones, carrot crumb cakes, and espresso brownies have a die-hard following. “Looking ahead, our parsnip-apple-walnut crumb cakes will return, Seeded buckwheat sourdough loaves will hit the counter, and Mike and I are finishing research and development on donuts and brioche buns with pastry cream to showcase fruit coming from the market,” Brittany says.

Their coffee, from Irving Farm in upstate New York, is excellent and can be enhanced by flavored syrups like elderberry, cassis, and chocolate. The Ice London Fog is made with Calabrian bergamot oil, vanilla syrup, and cold foam. “We just started pouring our Autumn Immuni-Tea made with elderberry, ginger, and lemon; apple chai made with local cider; and our house-made pumpkin spice sauce that can be added to a variety of drinks,” Brittany says.

Despite the success of their brick-and-mortar, the Velluccis continue to make monthly rounds at local markets, including Tarrytown, Hastings, Chappaqua, and Irvington. “Whenever we are developing a new product, we always start by sampling to our market customers,” Brittany says. “Next year, we plan on being in significantly more locations, expanding into the city and Connecticut, and bringing our breads in larger formats as well.”

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