Nature’s Bakery Co-Op

Great bread. I probably care more about what my kids eat than what I eat. If we’re going to give them bread or granola, it’s generally from Nature’s Bakery.
Our kids love the cinnamon raisin and the fruited Irish soda bread. (only available at the Tues. Farmer’s Market)
We love 3 Seed Organic, Sunflower Oatmeal, and savory Irish soda bread (only at Tues Farmer’s Market). The 6 grain is also pretty good.
They don’t load their stuff down with sugar, so the plainer breads taste a little plainer than the brands loaded with sugar. The granola is also lower in sugar and has a good taste for being so healthy.
Store and Farmer’s Market booth only take cash, but their bread is available all over Madison.

This store is mostly a bakery, so be ready to see lots of neat mixing machines and flour dusted bakers! It’s a no-​frills establishment, but they sometimes give away a free loaf if they’ve had a surplus of day-​olds come back from their retail sales.
Their granola is a Madison tradition– it comes in about 6 different varieties and they are all fabulous. They distribute it to retail outlets all around the city, but if you buy direct from them its $ 3.00-$ 3.50 a pound. Great deal for really high quality breakfast.
The bread is great-​harvest style sandwich loaves and irish soda bread (my absolute favorite) which they unfortunately only make seasonally.

I like little nooks and crannies. This bakery could fit inside either one. The boyfriend wanted to check this place out, and I’m always up for adventure.
The bakery, as mentioned does a lot of wholesale (saw some of their burgers at the Willy St. Co-​op), so their in house selection is little but solid. We grabbed a nice loaf of wheat which I’ve been enjoying. I liked that it was pre sliced. My slicing skills are not up to par. I also enjoyed the bite that I got of the Guerilla 2K cookie we purchased. SOMEONE enjoyed it more than me, apparently. Very soft and nice.
The Infoshop is downstairs for all your radical, leftist needs. I didn’t see anything I was dying for this time, but there’s stuff to be had.
I found a tiny plastic dinosaur on the stairs. He is my new friend. I hope he likes cookies.

Nature’s Bakery, located on the infamous Willy St, approximately 1.5 blocks away from the Willy St Co-​op, is housed in an old brick building that has a lot of character. When I walked in the front door I was standing in a tiny little lobby about the size of a walk-​in closet. The floor was tiled. The kind of one inch tiling that you could easily imagine someone down on their hands and knees, painstakingly cementing each piece into place some 50+ years ago. There are two doors. Which do you choose and where do they go? The door on the left was covered in flyers that seemed to represent some sort of meeting place/​organization. I suspected it was a doorway that would take you back in time to meet with anti-​war protesters, down with the man! Make love, not war!
The door on the right indicated a bakery, and this was my ultimate destination. As I turned the old metal doorknob and opened the door I was greeted immediately by a wooden staircase. Somewhere around 13 steps up, and I was standing on a small landing. The last reviewer described this as a «minimal storefront,» but I would describe it as a stairway landing with a shelf and a teeny tiny freezer. The deep dark wood, and teal-​green painted walls combined with the old-​style décor of an era gone by made me think I was in a secret location to purchase baked goods that had otherwise been banned and were to only be rationed out to the public by the military. A doorway to the left revealed a big open room with a big wooden table and gigantic bakery tools and shelves. The room appeared to be naturally lit by gigantic windows made of glass blocks. A sign on the door way frame told me to stay out. So I looked at a few products on the shelf and read a sign written in chalk that listed the breads available that day.
After a few minutes a teeny tiny woman appeared in the doorway dressed in a white apron and asked if she could help me. She was very friendly and informative, and I ended up buying a sourdough round, cinnamon raisin bread, both of which were fresh out of the oven and sliced then and there at my request. I also got some walnut tofu veggie burgers that were in the little freezer because the previous reviewer said they were like the most amazing thing in the world.
I had to pay in cash because they don’t do plastic. That way the government can’t trace illegal bread and cookie sales back to them. I put my items into my bag and headed back down the wooden staircase, and out of the lobby into the fresh winter air. That’s when I realized I just spent 17 dollars for 4 veggie patties, a small loaf of cinnamon raisin bread, and a sourdough round.
I decided not to review the food here until I had gotten home and actually tried it. The sourdough round had no hint of sourdough taste to it. It was thick and heavy bread and virtually flavorless. The cinnamon raisin had good flavor, but I wasn’t crying tears of joy over it. The infamous walnut tofu veggie burgers were ok. They aren’t worth the cost, and I certainly did not feel a burning desire to «share these with the world.»
Overall, I think I was paying way, way up the wazoooo for organic products that were mediocre at best. Most everyone likes to get the fresh, organic, locally made happy fun time stuff, but there does come a point where one is paying too much for too little, and I think I’ve reached ludicrous speed. Investigating the old building and pretending to be in a different era was more enjoyable than anything else here.

I somehow managed to leave this place off when I was reviewing my last batch from Madison. But as I was making lunch today, it was Nature’s Bakery Co-​Op Walnut Tofu Burgers that made me think, «I have to share these with the world!» The Bakery is a mostly wholesale establishment with a minimal storefront selection that is AMAZING. I rode my bike here from the hostel and walked up the stairs to the hallway (storefront). They had cheap homemade granolas, breads (gluten-​free and regular), cookies, sweets and the amazing selection of veggie burgers. I had a heavy ride bag as I had stashed just about one of each of their products. You can order their products, but well worth visiting if you’re in the area.