FLOUR, WATER, SALT, TIME • NATURALLY FERMENTED, WHOLE GRAIN SOURDOUGH • FULLY BAKED, HEAT AND SERVE • HIGH IN FIBER AND PREBIOTICS • NATIONWIDE SHIPPING •

Frequently Asked Questions...

...About the bread

We bake the old way — whole-grain, naturally fermented sourdough, with no commercial yeast, no additives, no shortcuts. It’s real bread, made from 3 simple ingredients: flour, water, salt, and time (plus trillions of good gut bacteria doing their thing).

We freeze our loaves at peak fermentation to naturally preserve freshness — no stabilizers, no preservatives, no weird shelf-life tricks. Freezing is nature’s pause button, keeping flavor, texture, and nutrients in tact until you’re ready to bake.

Sometimes. Your order travels in biodegradable, insulated packaging. Depending on the season, your destination, and what's in the box, that may mean dry ice, ice packs, both, or neither. If there's a dry ice bag in your box and it's empty, nothing went wrong. Dry ice doesn't melt, it disappears (the word is “sublimates,” actually), and an empty bag means it did exactly what we sent it to do. Especially in warmer months it's perfectly normal for bread and pastries to arrive thawed, and for there to be a little condensation. We've tested, and the breads handle thawing and refreezing beautifully.

Nope, just heat and serve. It arrives fully baked and ready to eat. Heating it brings the crust back to life and makes your kitchen smell like a bakery, but that's a choice, not a requirement.

It depends on the loaf, so check the bag or the product page for exact times. As a general rule, from frozen it's 425°F for 20 to 30 minutes, and from thawed it's 425°F for 5 to 15 minutes. Note, the croissants, demi baguettes and ciabattas are smaller, so they take less time to heat. Let the bread rest a few minutes before slicing. Remember you're not cooking it, just waking up the crust. Pro tip: for a softer crust, cover with foil while you heat.

Yes! If it arrives thawed, refreeze or heat it and eat it — either way, you’re good.

Yes — and not the “marketing” kind. We use a live natural starter, no commercial yeast, and a slow, natural fermentation process that takes days, not hours. That’s what gives our sourdough bread its flavor, digestibility, and character.

Totally normal — and totally fine. Just pop it in the freezer or heat it right away. A little thaw on the journey doesn't hurt a thing, and ours handles thawing and refreezing beautifully.

Nope. It’s fully baked and frozen at peak flavor. Just reheat and pretend you made it yourself.

No, it's made from wheat, so it is not safe for anyone with celiac disease. That said, long fermentation does real work before the bread ever gets to you. Over days, wild yeast and bacteria begin breaking down gluten and phytic acid, and they consume a lot of the fermentable sugars in wheat that leave some people uncomfortable. We suspect that's the real reason so many Americans say they can eat bread in Europe and not at home. It's less about the wheat and more about the process. Long fermentation is standard there and rare here, where most bread is made in a few hours with commercial yeast.

Freezing is why we don't need preservatives. We freeze at peak fermentation and the bread stays exactly as it was, without stabilizers, preservatives, or dough conditioners doing that job instead. There's a bonus, too: freezing and cooling bread converts some of its starch into resistant starch, which your body treats more like fiber than starch, and digests more slowly.

Our breads contain wheat, and one variety (Cinnamon Walnut Raisin Sourdough) contains tree nuts (walnuts). Our croissants also contain milk, butter and eggs. All products are made in a facility that also processes eggs, other tree nuts, peanuts, milk, soy, and sesame. If you have a severe allergy, please use caution.

Use it or freeze it! Shelf life:

Counter: 2 to 3 days.
Fridge: about 10 days.
Freezer: up to 9 months.

On the counter or in the fridge, keep it sealed in a bread bag, beeswax wrap, waxed paper, or even plastic wrap.

All of our breads can be thawed and re-frozen, even more than once; you can even cut them in half and re-freeze the part you don’t need right away. A few minutes in a hot oven brings the crust back, straight from the freezer or thawed.

(Pro tip: Slice before freezing so you can grab exactly what you need, whenever you need it.)

...About ordering

No. Order whatever you want, whenever you want, with no minimums. Subscribing saves 10% and comes with a rotating gift (for orders over $49), but it's entirely optional.

Yes. Every subscription order is 10% off. No codes, no hassle — just a better price on the bread you're already going to want every month (automatically applied at checkout).

Every subscription order over $49 comes with something extra. Some months it's croissants. Some months it's a canvas tote. So far, no ponies, but never say never.

Yes. Swap items, add things, take things out, all from your account before your next shipment goes out.

From your account, anytime. We'll also send an email before every shipment so you have time to make changes.

Anywhere in the contiguous U.S. We aren't able to ship to Hawaii or Alaska yet.

We ship Monday through Wednesday, and sometimes on Thursday. Most orders leave within 1 to 3 business days of being placed, and some take up to 7 business days to reach you depending on when you ordered and how far your order is traveling. Orders placed Friday through Sunday go out the following week, as do many Thursday orders. Your estimated delivery window is in your account, along with the date of your next shipment.

Sometimes, depending on the season, your destination, and what's in your order. If there's a dry ice bag in your box and it's empty, nothing went wrong. Dry ice doesn't melt, it sublimates (evaporates), and an empty bag means it did its job in transit.

Yes! 100%.

Hopefully that won't be the case! But if there is an issue, contact us at hello@bittmans.com describing the issue, and include pictures if you can! We'll address it as quickly as possible, including replacing bread if needed.

Unfortunately we cannot accept returned food, but we can talk through what happened and make it right; reach out anytime by emailing hello@bittmans.com.

...about mark's love of whole grain bread

Because it’s the most fundamental food — and we’ve gotten it so wrong for so long.

Industrial bread stripped out the goodness of grains. Mark has been on a mission for decades to remind people that good bread isn’t complicated — it has just been lost.

We’re bringing it back, one loaf at a time.

A grain of wheat has three parts: the bran, the germ, and the endosperm. Whole grain means all three are still there. White flour is what's left when you take the first two out, which is most of the fiber, vitamins, minerals, and good fats.

Because they’re the real thing. It's the difference between eating an orange and drinking a glass of orange juice. Same fruit, but one has the fiber and the pulp intact, and the other is what's left after you take that away. It's also the part almost every other bakery skips, including the sourdough ones. Sourdough describes how bread is fermented, not what it's made of, and most sourdough sold today is still white flour underneath.

“Multigrain” just means more than one kind of grain — but not necessarily whole grains. (You can have a multigrain bread made entirely from refined flours, thanks to the magic of marketing).

“Whole grain,” on the other hand, means the entire grain — bran, germ, and endosperm — is intact. That’s where the fiber, prebiotics, flavor, and nutrients live.

In short: multigrain sounds good, but whole grain is good.

Infrequently asked questions

Old enough to have seen some things. We’ve kept it alive and thriving for years—it’s the real deal, fed daily and full of flavor.

Think of it as a living ingredient (with better gut instincts than most humans). Doesn’t talk much, but makes every decision.

You can try, but it already answers to "OG."

Yes. But not just any bread — this one. You can skip the “emergency” ice cream if you must, but a good loaf on standby is peak adulting.

We don’t recommend it… but we also don’t not recommend it. It’s whole grain, naturally fermented, and easier to digest — so we won’t judge.

That's between you and whoever you live with. We're staying out of it.

That’s the natural fermentation talking — slow, naturally fermented dough, developing flavor over days, not hours. It’s how bread used to smell before we let factories ruin the party.

Sure! Just aim for 425°F and keep an eye on it — it’s bread, not rocket science after all. (But if you do launch it into space, please tag us.)

Unlikely. But he will tell you you’re overthinking it and to “just heat the damn thing.”

No. But we do believe in slow, natural fermentation, fiber, and breaking bread with friends — so if that makes us a cult, pass the butter.