Orlando’s Olde Hearth Bread Company Opening New Bakery in Ivanhoe Village
And it's on my way to work.
Courtesy Olde Hearth Bread Company
On any given morning, there is a quiet kind of magic happening long before the coffee is poured and the traffic builds along Orange Avenue. It starts with flour, water and time. It starts with hands that know exactly how dough should feel. And, if you’re lucky, it now ends with a warm baguette tucked under your arm in Ivanhoe Village.
This May, Olde Hearth Bread Company, one of Central Florida’s most beloved artisan bakeries, opens a new retail shop in the heart of Ivanhoe Village. For longtime fans like me, it feels less like a debut and more like a long-awaited homecoming. Remember the stall at East End Market?
For decades, Olde Hearth has been working behind the scenes of Orlando’s culinary rise. Founded in 1988 by husband-and-wife bakers Shannon and Janice Talty, the bakery quietly became the backbone for hundreds of local restaurants, supplying everything from crusty ciabatta to delicate pastries. If you have dined well in this city, chances are you have already tasted their work.
Courtesy Olde Hearth Bread Company
Now, for the first time in years, they are stepping back into the spotlight.
“We’re just making it easier for folks to get what they want,” Shannon Talty says, with the understated confidence of someone who helped shape that very demand.
The new shop, located on Ivanhoe Row, feels perfectly placed. Ivanhoe Village has evolved into one of Orlando’s most walkable and creative districts, where vintage shops, galleries and independent eateries create a neighborhood rhythm that rewards wandering. It is the kind of place where a bakery belongs.
Courtesy Olde Hearth Bread Company
Inside, the offerings will feel both familiar and irresistible. Each morning, breads and pastries will arrive fresh from the company’s Casselberry bakery. There will be sesame semolina loaves with their golden crusts, black olive batards rich with briny depth and the kind of sourdough that crackles when you tear into it.
And then there are the sweets. Raspberry tarts that taste like they belong in a European café. Chocolate chip cookies that manage to be both nostalgic and somehow better than you remember. Personally, I’m a big fan of their homemade pop tarts, pretzels, and asiago pretzel bread.
But perhaps the most compelling ingredient is one you cannot see.
“Our sourdough starter came with me from San Francisco,” Shannon says. “It was created with crushed grapes from Sonoma.”
That starter, now decades old, continues to live and breathe in every loaf. It is a quiet thread connecting Orlando to another place, another time. It is also a reminder that great food often carries a story long before it reaches your plate.
Janice Talty sees the new retail space as something more than a storefront. It is a chance to reconnect with the community in real time.
Courtesy Olde Hearth Bread Company
For years, Olde Hearth fans have tracked the bakery down at farmers markets or spotted their products tucked into the shelves at Whole Foods or Chamberlin’s. Loyalists still talk about the East End Market days, when the bakery’s stall became a destination in itself.
Now, the interaction becomes immediate again. “We can play around with new ideas, get feedback over the counter and see what clicks,” Janice says.
That spirit of experimentation is already taking shape. A new small-batch artisan mixer will allow the team to explore ancient grain breads and seasonal pastries, leaning into both tradition and curiosity. It is the kind of creative freedom that only comes when you are deeply rooted in your craft.
And make no mistake, Olde Hearth is rooted. Long before Orlando earned Michelin recognition, before the city became a serious food destination, the Taltys were baking natural breads when few others were doing so. “Nobody in Orlando was making natural breads when we first opened,” Shannon says.
Courtesy Olde Hearth Bread Company
That has changed, of course. Orlando’s culinary scene has grown into something dynamic and nationally recognized. But growth has a way of circling back to its origins. The same appreciation that now fills dining rooms across the city is what built Olde Hearth in the first place.
Opening day has yet to be announced, but anticipation is already building. In a city that is constantly evolving, the arrival of something so rooted in tradition feels both comforting and exciting. Because sometimes the best new thing in Orlando is not entirely new at all. Sometimes, it is something that has been quietly perfecting its craft for decades, finally stepping into a space where you can see, smell and taste it for yourself. And when those doors open in Ivanhoe Village, do yourself a favor. Go early. The magic starts in the morning.
