• Courtesy Of Matt Carrell
• Matt Carrell and his family

When Woodland Baking & Coffee opens this spring at 394 Mountain Road in Stowe, both halves of its name will have equal weight. "It's not just a bakeshop, and it's not just a coffee shop," owner Matt Carrell said.

The menu will feature whole-grain pastries such as croissants and canelés made with various kinds of flour milled by Elmore Mountain Bread.

"Most people eat just one kind of flour, but we wouldn't accept that for any other food," Carrell said. "If most of your baked good is made up of flour, then that's going to be the prime mover of flavor, and you can really change that by using different grains."

Beans from Vivid Coffee Roasters will anchor the coffee program, and Carrell will highlight the Burlington roaster's direct sourcing. Carrell plans to use Woodland's role as a community hub to bring in local producers and educate customers.

Cafés have long been part of Carrell's life; his mother owned a lunch-focused business called Truffles in Stowe, and he grew up doing homework in the basement and watching her bake. "It's kind of in you at some point," he said.

Truffles was in the Gale Farm Center, where Carrell later worked as co-owner of PK Coffee's original Stowe location. Now, he'll be doing his own thing just up the road in the space that once housed Ride, an indoor cycling studio.

Currently busy transforming that space into a shop with a "modern, woodsy vibe," Carrell hopes to open his café in early April.