Gluten-free and paleo baking is extra sweet for the expanding Duke's Bakery

DARTMOUTH – A second location for Duke’s Bakery means spreading the gluten-free and paleo love to even more people in southeastern Massachusetts.

Add to that: vegan, dairy-free, and even keto in this growing niche bake shop.

Duke’s Bakery opened its second bakery at 634 State Road on Aug. 31 to a crowd of hungry consumers wanting paleo doughnuts, keto cookies, and gluten-free breakfast sandwiches.

“I love it,” said Duke’s co-owner Dorry Silvia. “It’s my new baby. We were ready for this.”

The glass-fronted cases were filled with baked goods like raspberry chocolate chip cheesecake muffins, lemon pound cake, chocolate doughnuts, brownies, pumpkin cheesecake muffins, and frosted cupcakes.

“People want more every day,” said co-owner Chris Holden. “They want different things.”

On the chalkboard, the menu listed breakfast bowls, French toast, homefries, calzones, French meat pie, soup, sandwiches, chicken pot pie, and more.

And, don’t forget the organic coffee and accompaniments. They didn’t.

“It’s a huge menu,” co-owner Chris Holden said.

That doesn’t include the prepared take-away meals in the refrigerated case like chicken stir fry and cauliflower rice, egg roll bowl, veggie pizza, chicken broccoli Alfredo, balsamic chicken with Brussels sprouts, and many more. There’s also fresh baked breads to go.

And with gluten banned at the door, people eating restricted diets can be assured they won’t suffer any consequences whether ordering from the menu or the cases.

Many of the items are paleo for those following a diet that puts processed foods to the curb.

“We’re very unique to be able to offer paleo,” Holden said. In fact, paleo popularity has beat out gluten-free.

“We have a lot of paleo desserts,” Silvia said.

Holden and Silvia first opened their Fall River location at 162 Columbia St. in 2012, serving gluten-free foods a few days each week before it grew its dining base. The shop came with the name as Duke’s had been a regular bakery for many years, and it stuck, and now has followed them to Dartmouth.

Holden and Silvia made their first attempt in a Dartmouth location a few years back. They ran a kiosk in the North Dartmouth Mall for about eight months. When it closed, they learned they were missed.

“They wanted us back in Dartmouth,” Holden said.

Their initial start in gluten-free baking began when Silvia’s nephew was diagnosed with autism. The family learned that a gluten-free diet could benefit the condition.

“I started cooking for him,” Holden said. “It progressed from there.”

They’ve even provided food for medical research studies on how gluten-free and special carbohydrate diets may improve symptoms for children with autism.

They will participate as caterers in a special carbohydrate diet event, the international SCD Rocks conference, at Bristol Community College on Oct. 6 and 7. The conference includes a long list of speakers who specialize in restrictive diets for gut health, inflammatory bowel disease, autism, neurological diseases, and others.

“There are real benefits to not eating gluten,” Holden said.

With a gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, vegan, and now even a keto menu, Holden said baking is something they’ve had to re-learn.

She said ingredients in the sweets include almond flour, coconut flour, coconut sugar, and other natural sugars and ingredients in lieu of white flour and sugar. Milk is generally of the almond and coconut variety.

The way baked goods rise, or not, and how thick or thin a mixture is, is very different from traditional baking.

“Everything you knew about regular baking: forget it and do the opposite,” Holden said.

To learn more about Duke’s Bakery, check them out on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/dukesbakery/

Email Deborah Allard at dallard@heraldnews.com