Photo Credit: Jean-Gabriel Fernandez
Traci Morgan-Hoernke knows that gluten-free bakery doesn’t have to be boring, dry or grainy. As owner of MOR Bakery & Café (2018 S. First St., Unit 102)—the newest addition to Lincoln Warehouse’s innovative hub of food and beverage start-ups—she opened her shop this past August with a tempting array of flavorful gluten-free treats and savory options that smash all stigmas about gluten-free food. MOR (as “mor,” it’s Swedish for “mother”) is in an airy space with floor-to-ceiling windows that frame the nearby Kinnickinnic River. The kitchen and café are dedicated gluten-free (employees can’t even bring in lunches that contain gluten). Many of the products are also made without dairy, soy or eggs.
Seeking out gluten-free foods has long been a part of Morgan-Hoernke’s life. Her son, August, who is now 21, weighed only 13 pounds on his first birthday. Multiple medical tests didn’t provide insight to his condition, so Morgan-Hoernke turned her focus toward food allergies. August was eventually diagnosed with non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Through her research, Morgan-Hoernke discovered that celiac disease affects one in 133 people, and it’s often misdiagnosed.
Morgan-Hoernke also worked at Gluten Free Trading Company, where she learned more about food allergies and intolerances. Although she is not celiac herself, she eventually went gluten-free and also stayed away from other foods that can trigger allergies such as dairy, eggs and corn. “There was nothing I could eat, so I plunged into what food items would look like without gluten or eggs,” she said. She also feels that not having a formal baking background gave her latitude to experiment with recipes that professional bakers told her couldn’t be accomplished. “I didn’t come into this with any fence posts or parameters, so I can play with the chemical side of this and try to make it work,” she said.
Morgan-Hoernke knows she will never be able to produce an allergen-free version of a traditional sponge cake or angel food cake, so instead she looks at recipes that allow for experimentation. Her gluten-free creations include an almond pound cake topped with stone fruit and a lime cake with coconut glaze that has a zing of lime similar to the first sip of a margarita. Fruit crumble, brownies, peanut butter bars and chocolate chip cookies are regular offerings. The fresh, herbal-y lavender sugar cookies were meant to be a seasonal offering, but customers like them so much that they just might stay on the permanent menu.
The Grandma’s Bar, the Island Tropic and Ooey Gooey bars (the latter also being vegan) are variations of classic tray bars. MOR Bakery & Café makes its own vegan sweetened condensed milk. Many of its choices have stories behind the names. For example, the “Houdini the Vegan Banana Scones” is named after Houdini—a friend’s basset hound who only ate vegan banana scones for his final meal!
Savory options include the Mediterranean powerhouse bowl, with tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers, onions, Kalamata olives, artichokes and chickpeas, tossed in tomato vinaigrette with quinoa on the side, with or without feta cheese. Powerhouse bowl choices change weekly. The beet hummus comes with house-made seeded crackers with pumpkin seeds, flax, chia, buckwheat flour and quinoa, flavored with green chili or toasted sesame oils. Gluten-free bread is coming soon.
A certified gluten-free mill in the Midwest mixes her flour blend of organically grown grains such as brown rice, sorghum, millet and buckwheat. Morgan-Hoernke is eager to answer questions, and she and her staff generously offer samples.
For MOR (that is, more!) information, visit morfoodsmke.com.
