The wait for gluten-free croissants in Adams Morgan is over. Rise Bakery opened this weekend to a rush of customers in search of bagels and buttery pastries that wouldn’t upset their gluten-sensitive stomachs.
Facebook followers of the shop have tracked its status since March as proprietor Mike Koritko and executive pastry chef Mollie Bird have posted photos of baking experiments and shared news of permit application review and health inspection woes. A summer opening was billed, and Koritko has been paying rent since July. Doors were finally opened to the public on Saturday, November 22.
With its opening, Rise doubles the number of dedicated gluten-free bakeries in the Washington area. The Happy Tart in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria has been doing excellent gluten-free baking for three years now. Restaurants, including Blue Duck Tavern — which impressed us with their muffins and scones earlier this year — are more and more able to cater to gluten-free diners.
Croissants were a favorite of my weekend tasting group that included two Celiac sufferers and unrestricted husbands. The compact crescents were moist with a taste spot on, one you would expect from a standard issue croissant. The fluffy, airiness really can’t exist without the gluten protein, so the version is a great stand in. It’s elevated when baked with smoked ham and cheese stuffed inside.
A gooey, frosted cinnamon roll gave me a similar sensation. The dough is a little thicker than that which would make up a regular roll. You can sort of pull it apart if not unspool it like a ball of yarn. A pleasant bite and sweet taste is there. If you can regularly eat gluten and remember what pastry is, you’ll know what you’re eating is something different, but you won’t be upset about it. The berry Danish even more approaches regular texture. No one would notice the chocolate chip cookies are gluten-free. They’re rich in chocolate, slightly crispy and slightly chewy.
After day one of business, the bakery learned that bagels were a high demand menu item and upped the number to be baked for Sunday. They came and went during our visit, with plain, sesame, and cinnamon raisin varieties coming in and out of availability. But my group was less enthusiastic about the bagels, a bit on the dry side and missing a pleasant chewiness about them. The bakery website says they were a favorite of taste-testers.
Whole pies and cakes are for sale, and a simple sandwich menu is available on rolls baked exclusively for the bakery from an outside vendor.
Koritko and his mom, who had driven down from Pennsylvania to be part of opening weekend, had different recollections on when he was diagnosed with Celiac disease, which is managed by eating a gluten-free diet. Within the past ten years, Koritko got his first bread machine and started baking for himself at a time when gluten-free products were pretty much non-existent commercially.
“I started thinking that it would be an opportunity when I was living in the city,” said Koritko after a busy opening weekend, “and knew that there wasn’t much gluten-free wise. So I was thinking as someone with Celiac disease that it would be really nice to have this, and I know a lot of people with Celiac disease down here who think the same thing.”
He eventually quit his desk job to open the bakery. Bird, who had been working at The Source as a pastry sous chef, was brought in to run the baking operation. “She had the volume experience and the experience with different flours,” explains Koritko. He’s learned a bit baking with Bird as they readied themselves for the bakery’s opening.
“If you bake something with just tapioca, for example, it just blows up. It’s huge and has these giant air holes in it,” he said. “You find your combination of rice flour, potato starch, tapioca, and that’s how it comes together.”
Rise Bakery
2409 18th Street NW
202-525-5204
