Earthly Kneads bakery opens downtown

November 29, 2008
Muskegon Chronicle
Robert C. Burns

Earthly Kneads, a serious bakery with a catchy name, has opened for business in downtown Muskegon.

Gail Smythe, with help from her husband, Patrick, has set up shop at 810 Terrace, opening the doors for the first time Wednesday morning.

The shop is adjacent to, and in some ways complements, The Cheese Lady shop, with which it shares an adjoining interior door.

The Cheese Lady's original location on Clay Avenue has since been reoccupied by FireStorms Mystical Emporium. Partners Tanya Tice and Dawn Rose offer "gifts for the body, mind and spirit." There is a variety of handmade candles, soaps, jewelry, herbs and oils -- but no cheese.

Earthly Kneads' mainstay is bread, but Smythe also turns out a variety of cookies and pastries, including several varieties of scones, all made from scratch using locally produced, organic ingredients wherever possible.

In her baking, Smythe says she avoids preservatives; artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners; genetically modified ingredients; harmful pesticides or herbicides; bleached or bromated flour; high fructose corn syrup and trans fats.

"We believe that food should not only taste good, but should also be good for you," she says in the bakery's Web site at www.earthlykneads.com.

In addition to explaining her baking philosophy and use of ingredients in some detail, it states: "We're out to prove that bread need not taste like cardboard! If it is prepared properly, a simple bread like Pain Ordinaire (traditional plain French bread) can have a complex flavor and delicious aroma. ... Food doesn't need to be complicated to make you weak in the knees."

Earthly Kneads previously was on Shettler Road and also has sold its products through the Sweetwater Local Foods Market.