- August 10, 2026
-
-
Loading
Loading
The weeklong wait for Bread Bandits’ sourdough is over.
While Lakewood Ranch residents can still attend the farmers’ market at Waterside Place on Sundays to buy bread and pastries from Bread Bandits, there’s now a storefront option, open seven days a week, at 8130 Lakewood Main St.
Underneath a blue-and-white striped awning is a croissant with "a million layers of buttery, fluffy, flaky pastry," according to one of countless reviews of Bread Bandits online.
The Lakewood Ranch location opened Aug. 1, three years after Bread Bandits' Sarasota location opened. The Sarasota bakery opened just a year after owners Jules Thuet and Brad Rutledge arrived from Toronto and started selling their baked goods at local farmers’ markets.
While it's been a quick rise for the 33-year-old bakers, the sourdough they sell has an over 120-year history.
“The starter (a fermented mix of flour and water) has been in the family for over a century,” Thuet said. “My grandmother Jeanne got it from her mother growing up in Alsace, France where our family has had a history of cooking and baking for centuries.”
In the early 2000s, Thuet’s father, Marc, brought some of the family’s starter on a plane from France to Canada to open a bakery in Toronto. Over 20 years later, Thuet did the same, except he was traveling from Canada to Sarasota.
Between two storefronts, two weekly farmers’ markets and wholesale clients, Bread Bandits bakes hundreds of loaves each week, and it all began with a starter that fit inside a 3.4-ounce, TSA-compliant bottle.
“I will never forget having to feed the starter during a layover at Hartsfield-Jackson (Atlanta International Airport),” Thuet said. “Any law enforcement officer would have had every right to question a guy pulling out pre-weighed bags of white powder.”
After the starter was successfully brought across international borders, the business was aptly named Bread Bandits.
Bread from the same starter is still served in France today at a Thuet family-owned inn in Alsace, which sits along the Rhine River in the northeastern part of the country, near Germany and Switzerland.
The history of that starter is what distinguishes Bread Bandits’ sourdough from other loaves.
Thuet compared an aged starter to a vintage wine or a cave-matured cheese. The passing of time alone doesn’t enhance the flavor; it takes “microbial maturity.”
“Over time, a starter builds this incredibly rich, complex ecosystem of wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria that you simply can't shortcut,” Thuet said. “It’s the difference between a cheap table wine and a great vintage wine. One just tastes sharp, while the other tells a story of time and patience.”
A mature starter has “character.” The flavor is smooth with layered notes of cultured butter, toasted nuts and a subtle fruitiness.
The “terroir” matters, too. Terroir is a French term that refers to where something was made and how the surrounding environmental factors affect the final product.
“You could ship our exact flour and recipe to New York, Paris or San Francisco, but the second you mix it here in Sarasota, our local air, water and coastal climate take over,” Thuet said. “Sourdough doesn’t just adapt to its environment, it becomes it. Every single loaf is an edible snapshot of where it was born and where it was raised.”
Bread Bandits also use premium ingredients. The flour is imported from France, and the butter from grass-fed dairy cows is imported from France and New Zealand to ensure the products are pesticide- and additive-free.
Thuet emphasized that the butter with which he makes is entirely different from standard commercial butter.
“Cows that graze year-round on nutrient-rich, mineral-dense pastures absorb higher levels of beta-carotene, omega-3s and essential vitamins,” he said. “You can literally see it in the rich, golden color and taste it in the deep, cultured flavor. It’s not just a luxury ingredient for a better crust and crumb. It’s real, dense nutrition born from healthy soil.”
French butter was the first item Arcadia's Joyce Blackmon picked up Aug. 6, then she headed to the counter for some accompanying bread and pastries.
Blackmon was looking forward to visiting with her daughter, Jennifer Alokeh, at The Lake Club.
The stop was just as Grace Baltz planned, not for Blackmon, but in general.
Baltz is Rutledge’s wife; she helps handle business outside the kitchen. She was intentional with the items she added to the merchandise area.
“I wanted the retail part to be like a one-stop shop,” she said. “It saves you a trip.”
Blackmon didn’t have to stop at a grocery store to buy butter, and she could've bought olive oil instead.
Baltz stocked the shelves with a curated selection of grocery items, desserts and hostess gifts.
The desserts are an array of Hoffmann’s Liquor Cakes in flavors such as “Espresso Vodka” and “Cherry Chocolate Bourbon.”
Like Bread Bandits, Hoffman’s is a small business based out of Sarasota, as is Pa’s Peanuts.
Products by both businesses are readily available in Sarasota daily, but were only available in Lakewood Ranch on Sundays at the farmers market before Bread Bandits opened.
“We try to offer things from local businesses that we love and support,” Baltz said.
A collaboration with Sarasota’s Willow Grace Candle Co. led to the smell of the bakery being packaged to go, too. "Slow Rise" is a bakery-scented candle poured into a hand-carved wooden dough bowl.
An additional convenience is the store's hours. Many bakeries close in the afternoon, but Bread Bandits is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
Baltz said customers appreciate being able to stop by after work.
On rare occasions, the bakery sells out and closes early, but trend reports help predict the demand. Although it'll take time to figure out the Lakewood Ranch location, Baltz noted that the Sarasota location isn't often off its mark.
Baltz estimated 80% of Bread Bandits' business comes from regular customers.
The breads and pastries are best eaten the day they're baked, but Baltz noted that the sourdough freezes well.
