On The Rise And Local

One little Bryant bakery is making a big imprint on the local bread market. If you’ve indulged in one of Big Orange’s unforgettable big-bun burgers, then you’ve tasted one of Arkansas Fresh Bakery’s flagship products. Those fluffy buns are prepared nightly at the bakery’s home base off Prickett Road in Bryant. Owner Ashton Woodward begins his day at 8 p.m., and he and his crew work through typical sleeping hours to provide fresh artisan bread products to their customers. And with their most recent venture – Cocoa Rouge – they’re whipping up fine chocolates under the same roof.

“We bake overnight because that is the right thing for the product,” says Ashton, wearing flour-stained shoes while giving an up close (and delectable-smelling!) tour of the bread and chocolate facility. “We use no hydrogenated soybean fats, trans fats, dough conditioners, vital wheat gluten or bleached flour.” Those are just a few things that set his artisan breads apart from more readily available commercial brands.

Filling the demands of Big Orange and other accounts – such as Little Rock restaurants Zaza, Capers, Hillcrest Artisan Meats, Ciao Baci, South on Main and Stoby’s in Conway – is a “tough operation,” Ashton says, but very much worth it. “What we do is well-appreciated as far as building local culture. It’s a source of pride for us to be able to use local ingredients and sell it back to the public. At the Hillcrest Farmers Market, when we sell our products, it’s an intimate transaction. There’s nothing like buying it from the hands of someone who made it. And I love it when a restaurant thinks we’re the solution to all their bread problems.”

Ashton didn’t grow up baking and cooking. “My love for food simply came from eating,” he says. “If we went for seafood, I wanted king crab legs and was always ready to try new and different foods.” There is a photo of him when he was a boy helping his grandmother cut out biscuits, and he would help her with her family-famous pies, but his love for baking didn’t rise until after graduating from Catholic High School in Little Rock. “Working at Satellite Café in Little Rock in the kitchen got me interested in learning more about the culinary world, so I left for Kendall College in Chicago, and that’s where I fell in love with baking.”

What first attracted Ashton to this culinary area was the quantity that could be created with one round of work. “You feel a bigger accomplishment because of the magnitude that can be made,” he says. “There is a transformative nature with baking. You’re taking otherwise boring ingredients with no form or structure and turning them into something wonderful.”

Every Saturday during the farmers market season, Arkansas Fresh Bakery sets up shop at the Hillcrest market in Little Rock. Ashton discovered the benefits of this business endeavor while working for the renowned Benison’s Bakery in Illinois. “I was baking for farmers markets, making more than just sandwich bread. I learned the beauty of making snack bread that’s good enough to eat alone. I love buying fresh cheese and bread at the farmers market and having the challenge to see what I can create with bread.”

Ashton says his operation wouldn’t be possible without the support from his father and stepmother. They, in addition to his wife and two children, are what motivate him to succeed. “I have a huge fear of failure and want to represent them well. When we first started this business, it was a slow uptake and I was working all hours, but everything I did and continue to do is for my children and family. I don’t want to let them down. I’ll continue being a wholesaler and increasing volume while adhering to quality standards.”

Deciding to establish business in Saline County was one of the best decisions, Ashton says. The encouragement for economic development has been ideal, he adds, and working with the health department and civic services to get the business started was relatively easy. “And where else can you have a factory operation in a safe neighborhood and frequently walk outside to see a deer? We’re happy to be part of change and progress here.”

Arkansas Fresh Café in Bryant is a beautiful partner for the bakery, offering his fine bread and chocolate products. The café on Reynolds Road is Cocoa Rouge’s largest retailer. The Belgian-inspired chocolates feature high-quality ingredients just like Ashton’s bread products. The only food coloring he’ll use is green because it’s derived naturally. Featuring unique blends, such as whiskey as homage to Arkansas, the chocolates can be found at Eggshells in Little Rock, Titpon Hurst, Cherry’s Hallmark stores, the Crown Shop, Box Turtle, Cornerstone Pharmacy, Terry’s Fine Foods and more. Private orders are accepted as well.

Expect to see new products out of Cocoa Rouge in the near future, Ashton says. In the meantime, he’ll continue working baker’s hours to bring Arkansas fresh breads and chocolates. Thankfully, those hours work well around his favorite pastime – hunting and fishing. A man of many talents, one thing’s for sure, he has no plans of ever stopping.