Whole Foods Bakehouse Focus Group

Whole Foods Gluten Free Bakehouse in Morrisville, NC is seeking approximately 20 individuals to participate in a focus group as product tasters. Whole Foods Gluten Free Bakehouse will supply free samples to the participants and in return, we ask for your feedback on our products.

Participants will be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement and answer a few screening questions to qualify. If this sounds like something you are interested in, please contact us at: Glutenfree.bakehouse@wholefoods.com.

We look forward to hearing from you!

New Whole Foods GF Bakehouse Light White Bread

I recently received word from Lee Tobin at the Whole Foods Gluten Free Bakehouse that a brand new product is now available throughout the Southern Region.  The product has been in testing for quite some time (I had originally tasted this back in August 2010) but is now ready for prime time.  See more information below from Lee Tobin.

Our new Light White Sandwich Bread is now for sale in all of our South Region stores! This is a softer, lighter and dairy-free version of our regular sandwich bread. We have performed extensive R&D to formulate this bread with a longer shelf life, and a texture that stays soft at room temp. The slices are larger than our existing breads for making a fuller sandwich, and do not require toasting. We expect our Light White to become our most popular bread.

We are running an 2 week intro price of $3.99 that is $2 off the regular $5.99.

Be sure to stop in at Whole Foods and try this new bread out - especially while it is $2.00 off the regular price!  I'd love to hear your feedback on how you think it stacks up against either Udi's or Rudi's.  In case you didn't know, the Whole Foods Gluten Free Bakehouse is located right here in Morrisville, NC.  It produces all the in house Gluten Free baked goods sold at every Whole Foods store throughout the USA.  Big thanks to Lee Tobin and his team for making such great, safe Gluten Free products.

Whole Foods Gluten Free Bakehouse on YouTube

Check out this interesting behind the scenes look into the Whole Foods Gluten Free Bakehouse narrated by Lee Tobin and Pat Berger.

Gluten Free Cooking Class Featuring Lee Tobin

As a follow-up to a January Gluten Free Cooking Class, Lee Tobin will be hosting another one on March 10th @ 6:30pm.  Lee let me know that the class filled very quickly last time and had a waiting list so they decided to have him back for another.  If you are not familiar with Lee (shame on you), then check out this interview I did with him in February 2009. Lee Tobin is a great guy and has really been a pioneer in the Gluten Free world which has led us to the marketplace we enjoy today. If you get the opportunity to attend this second class, you definitely will learn a lot from Lee.

Cooking Class Details...

Supper in a Snap Chef Series with Lee Tobin
Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Time: 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Location: UNC Wellness Center, 100 Sprunt Street Chapel Hill, NC
Cost: $10 for members; $15 for non-members

Description: Chef and baker Lee Tobin will be presenting Gluten Free Italiano! Lee Tobin has worked as a chef and baker for several hotels and restaurants in Pennsylvania, California, and Canada. Lee moved to Chapel Hill, NC in 1993 where he worked for Whole Foods Market in the bakery and prepared foods departments. After a diagnosis with celiac disease in 1996, Lee began an in store gluten-free baking program to serve the growing number of customers on a gluten-free diet. In 2004 he founded the Whole Foods Market Gluten Free Bakehouse in Morrisville, NC, which provides over 30 products to Whole Foods Market stores across the US and Canada.

Lee has spoken and given cooking and baking demonstrations at several regional and national gluten free conferences and events sponsored by the Gluten Intolerance Group, Celiac Sprue association, Gluten Free Expo, Gluten Free Culinary Summit, and Whole Foods Market stores across US.

Please contact the UNC Wellness Center for more information or to register for this program at (919) 966-5500. Registration is REQUIRED for this program.

Gluten Free Cooking Class Featuring Lee Tobin

Just wanted to let you all know about an awesome upcoming Gluten Free cooking class featuring Lee Tobin from the Whole Foods Gluten Free Bakehouse. If you are not familiar with Lee (shame on you), then check out this interview I did with him in February 2009. Lee Tobin is a great guy and has really been a pioneer in the Gluten Free world which has led us to the marketplace we enjoy today. If you get the opportunity to attend this class, you definitely will learn a lot from Lee.

Cooking Class Details...

Supper in a Snap Chef Series with Lee Tobin
Date: Monday, January 25, 2010
Time: 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Location: UNC Wellness Center, 100 Sprunt Street Chapel Hill, NC
Cost: $10 for members; $15 for non-members

Description: Chef and baker Lee Tobin will be presenting Gluten Free Italiano! Lee Tobin has worked as a chef and baker for several hotels and restaurants in Pennsylvania, California, and Canada. Lee moved to Chapel Hill, NC in 1993 where he worked for Whole Foods Market in the bakery and prepared foods departments. After a diagnosis with celiac disease in 1996, Lee began an in store gluten-free baking program to serve the growing number of customers on a gluten-free diet. In 2004 he founded the Whole Foods Market Gluten Free Bakehouse in Morrisville, NC, which provides over 30 products to Whole Foods Market stores across the US and Canada.

Lee has spoken and given cooking and baking demonstrations at several regional and national gluten free conferences and events sponsored by the Gluten Intolerance Group, Celiac Sprue association, Gluten Free Expo, Gluten Free Culinary Summit, and Whole Foods Market stores across US.

Lee’s Menu:

• Grilled polenta appetizer
• Herb Focaccia
• Caesar salad
• Hand made ravioli
• Chicken and eggplant parmesan
• Tiramisu

Please contact the UNC Wellness Center for more information or to register for this program at (919) 966-5500. Registration is REQUIRED for this program.
Contact: Liz Watt or Judy Hinderliter
Email: ewatt@unch.unc.edu

Interview: Lee Tobin & The Whole Foods Gluten Free Bakehouse

I recently had the privilege of meeting and interviewing a Gluten Free Pioneer - Lee Tobin from the Whole Foods Gluten Free Bakehouse.

Lee's Story
Lee Tobin was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 1996 while he was working as a baker (of all things) for Whole Foods (formerly Wellspring) in Chapel Hill. Fortunately for all of us, his employer decided to let Lee tinker with creating and baking some Gluten Free baked goods. This process began in the Chapel Hill store as a Tuesday 4 hour baking shift with just Lee, his separate Gluten Free equipment and ingredients. The first product was cream biscuits and eventually Lee developed recipes for scones, muffins and sandwich bread. The products became very popular in the Chapel Hill store - Wednesday mornings were flooded with GF shoppers looking for Lee's creations. Eventually, the shifts and products expanded as well as the distribution to Whole Foods Raleigh, Cary and Durham stores.

As the word around North Carolina spread, other Gluten Free consumers began to wonder why they couldn't have Gluten Free items in their stores like those of us in the Triangle were lucky enough to have. The Winston-Salem GIG support group worked with the national GIG organization to bring the annual conference to Winston-Salem, NC in 2002. Lee Tobin was featured at that conference for what he was doing with Whole Foods and as they say "The rest is history".

Whole Foods Gluten Free Bakehouse
Before long, Lee Tobin was granted his dream - a completely Gluten Free dedicated facility to make his Gluten Free baked items full time. Whole Foods opened the Gluten Free Bakehouse in 2004 in Morrisville, NC - just a short drive from Raleigh. The facility is an 8,000 square foot Gluten Free baked-good-making-machine which now employs nearly 30 people and makes 30 different products including pizza crust, bread, muffins, cookies, cupcakes, pies, scones, biscuits, brownies, and much more.

-Click here for the WF GF Bakehouse Web site.

-Click here for a list of products made at the WF GF Bakehouse.

-Click here for the ingredient listing for each product.

I had the opportunity to tour the WF GF Bakehouse with Lee Tobin. I was amazed at the operation underway at the Bakehouse - the day I visited they were making about 3,200 loaves of bread along with numerous other items. Lee also walked me through the Gluten testing done at the facility which has an on site testing lab which is staffed with a full-time Lab Technician and several Lab Assistants. The thorough process included not only testing the finished product using ELISA (5 Parts per Million) but also testing of the ingredients brought into the facility by outside suppliers. Every ingredient is sampled and tested for Gluten (5 PPM) before it is ever considered for use in a product at the facility. You should feel very safe consuming these products.

The Whole Foods Bakehouse is currently supplying the entire Whole Foods chain (about 280 stores) with their Gluten Free products. Amazing to think about if you consider the roots of the operation. Products are shipped to the stores daily and can be found in the store's frozen foods section. I have tried several of their items over the past few months including the bread, pie crusts, pizza crust, scones, muffins, cookies and cupcakes and have never been disappointed.

As a Gluten Free consumer, I give a ton of credit to Lee Tobin and to Whole Foods for branching out into the market and really giving Gluten Free products some serious momentum. We should all thank both Lee and WF for legitimizing the Gluten Free industry and successfully creating excellent tasting safe products for all of us.

A special thanks to Lee Tobin and the staff at the facility for taking the time to meet with me and show me around. I look forward to working with Lee in the future!