By Lori Nagel.
While Bryan Brattin just started baking at Cloud Station in January, he is far from being new to the kitchen. “My grandmother had me helping her as soon as I could stand upright and be more help than a hindrance,” he laughed. “She probably started even before then, honestly! So, it’s been a passion of mine for a long time.”
An email from resident Philip Tarlow to The Cloud Station illustrates Brattin’s addition to the Cloud’s offerings. “…your new baker is baking the BEST, tastiest, beautifully baked bread we’ve ever had. Congratulations to you for hiring him and to him for his talent, skills and obviously his love of making and baking bread!!! Best, Philip.”
Some of his tasty specialties include creative breads, muffins, quiches, pies, cinnamon rolls and cheesecake, much of which is gluten-free. Brattin also incorporates superfoods into his creations, using ingredients such as turmeric, thyme, beets, vitamin C and spirulina, to name a few. On the day of his interview for this article, Brattin created a sourdough with the aforementioned ingredients, which both increased its health benefits and made a beautiful green, pink and yellow braided loaf.
Brattin explained, “I was inspired to do it because I had just read an article in the journal, Nature, about all the benefits of spirulina. Only 1.5% of the dry ingredients is spirulina, but it doubles the protein value of that part of the bread, along with all the other beneficial chemicals that are in it; the polyphenols in the beets and the curcumin in the turmeric. These are things I like to explore because they’re beneficial, and it’s pretty.” He also spent more than 20 years in the research laboratory, so he incorporates elements of science in his cooking.
The Cloud Station owners, Benjamin Byer and Michelle Beelendorf-Byer, also own the adjoining Elephant Cloud grocery store, which is highly beneficial. “Having a café with all organic and high-quality ingredients is a unique model,” Beelendorf-Byer said.“ And it is sustainable because we’re able to use the goods in our store.”
The Cloud Station had an in-house baker for around nine months last year who moved away. They were patient in their search to replace him. “I’ve been waiting for a professional baker with experience, and that’s (who) Bryan is,” Beelendorf-Byer commented. “He immediately adapted and is now running the bakery. He’s interested in health and superfoods, plus making it taste good.”
Brattin has baked for some highly reputable restaurants such as The Breadery in Crested Butte, where he’d earned the position of “main bread guy” in 2022, just before he moved to Crestone with his partner, Amy Griffin. The owner of The Breadery, Meg Antonczyk, gifted Brattin a piece of her sourdough starter, which is the one he’s using at Cloud Station. “Meg’s grandmother brought it over from Poland before I was born,” he said, “so it’s really a unique starter. And that’s one of the main reasons why the sourdough here is just off the hook.”
Cloud Station sells Brattin’s baked goods in their café, 7 a.m.- 4 p.m., as well as retailing them in the Elephant Cloud grocery store. They also do special orders for cakes, pies, muffins, cheesecakes and more. If you’d like to place a special order, the best way is to email them at elephantcloudtea@gmail.com with your request.