Stone Creek Coffee bakery director puts her sweet tooth to work
Kristin Collett admits she has a sweet tooth. Pair that with her love for baking and an interest in sharing with others, and she's found the perfect fit with a career in the food world.
Collett, the director of bakery at Stone Creek Coffee, oversees daily taste tests, creates new products, and implemented the company's bread program serving the company's 10 Milwaukee area cafes.
She's also currently studying integrated food systems management at the University of Minnesota, and earlier this year teamed up with the Artisan Grain Collaborative for the Neighbor Loaves program, sourcing grain from local and sustainable farms.
In addition to walk-up orders at Stone Creek Coffee locations, the company has added a mobile app for ordering.
I'm a second career food professional, but I do have early roots in food. My dad was the general manager of the Shakey's Pizza restaurants when those were still around. They used to make their own pizza dough. Now they're in the pizza dough business, the people who did Shakey's that own and operate Baker's Quality Pizza Crusts …
When I was younger, my dad would bring us to the commissary and we'd play with the dough balls. I consider that my entry. My mom also worked there for a time. We would spend a lot of time there. My parents pushed me to go to college, and I spent the first part of my career in nonprofit communications for a little over 15 years. Then I did an evening program at Kendall Culinary College in Chicago, designed for people like me.
Baking beginnings
I started at North Shore Boulangerie and helped Gene Webb open that facility. Then I was recruited by an acquaintance for Rocket Baby Bakery, to work in pastry there. I'd always had a passion for dough and bakery. I was at Rocket Baby for 21⁄2 years and learned so much. Everything there is from scratch. They do phenomenal things with awesome ingredients, and I owe a lot to Rocket Baby for where I am today.
From there, a bread and pastry bakery, I felt like I'd brushed over the restaurant scene. I tried that for a few months and decided it wasn't my scene, so I get back into the bakery works. I've been at Stone Creek for 31⁄2 years now.
Behind the bakery Finding her fit
It is an FDA inspected facility, a production facility. We don't sell right from the bakery, we sell it to the cafes and some wholesale customers who sell to the retail public.
I'm the director of the bakery, so administrative responsibilities take up about half my time. The other half, I'm working side by side in the bakery with the team on production, training, teaching them different skills, working on efficiencies. We bake daily.
Current situation
Our business, like many in the food industry, has been affected in a major way. Our bakery team is less than half what it was before COVID, and we've closed a few cafes.
Always on the menu
We could never take our super scone off the menu. There would be revolt in the streets if we did that.
Her indulgence
I definitely have a sweet tooth, no doubt about it. Part of my role is to assess quality. I'm looking at our pastries every day and tasting them too.
I really love pies. One year, I decided to make a pie a week. I just wanted to get good at pie dough. I think I made 54 pies that year. I never get sick of it.
Right now we're making hand held mini galettes, basically pies without the tins. We do a quality taste test at the end of the day. Whenever I find that (galette) in the quality control bin I go for those.
First cookbook she purchased
Dorie Greenspan's “Baking.” I purchased that for myself back in 2006. I still use it. She's definitely an early inspiration.
Baking by the numbers
You might have your favorite recipe at home, but scaling it to make 250 in one batch is challenging. It is trying to preserve a flavor memory.
Doing it in a way people when they bite in it doesn't say this is mass produced, that is challenging. It requires knowing how ingredients work together. That is
something I continue to learn about every day.
Holiday must-have
My mother's birthday almost always falls within a day or two of Thanksgiving, and her favorite cake is German chocolate. We usually have that on Thanksgiving. We're going slightly different this year. She asked for a German chocolate cream pie, and my family is always disappointed if I don't make my rolls.
Shop local
We are a coffee shop first. That said, all of our bakery is available for special order, too. If there is something you really love, you can place a special order for your holiday breakfast or snack to go with your coffee or whatever.
We collaborated with Tapped, and infused (maple syrup) with our coffee. The bakery is also producing a spice rub to be used on meats, vegetables.
Taste and travel
Food is always the center of any experience. I'm one of those people that travels to eat.
One really good food trip was to Portland, Oregon. The most memorable meal I had was at Ken Forkish's pizza place. He's the guy that wrote “Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast,” and I do have that cookbook.
Point of pride
The things I like best are short doughs: pie dough, scones. I'm a dough person, I've been playing with sourdoughs for years. I basically developed the bread program at Stone Creek. We used to buy our breads. Now we even make our own bagels, the real deal. I'm definitely a bread geek, for sure.
Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables (within the food community and without) have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email psullivan@gannett.com.