A Versailles woman’s talent for gluten-free baking has become a thriving business, offering others living with food sensitivities an opportunity to enjoy her healthy baked goods for themselves.
Denise Walsh (left) started experimenting with gluten-free baking after she and her son, Connor (right), were both diagnosed with food sensitivities. She later opened Miracles Bakery on Burt Road which offers a variety of gluten-free, keto and vegan baked goods.
Denise Walsh had already been gluten free for a few years due to her own health needs. About 14 years ago, her son, Connor, now 21, began having difficulties and eventually was also diagnosed with celiac disease. According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, gluten generally refers to the protein that acts as the “glue” to hold foods together and is found in traditional wheat and its variants, as well as in rye, barley and triticale, which is a barley/rye cross.
Not just found in bread, crackers and pasta, gluten can also pop up in everything from salad dressings to milkshakes and beer, causing severe gastrointestinal and other issues for those with sensitivities. Even oats grown alongside wheat can cause problems, the Celiac Disease Foundation warns.
Though today there are reputable cookbooks and gluten-free bloggers to turn to for inspiration, Walsh said years ago there wasn’t much information available, even online, about gluten sensitivities and adaptations.
Always a baking enthusiast, she bought every kind of gluten-free flour at Whole Foods Market and set about adjusting her usual recipes.
“I took a lot of [my grandmother’s] recipes and reformulated them over and over and over again until they tasted good,” she said. “It’s kind of like with science: Once you understand the formulation, you get it, and you can do a lot with that.”
Walsh learned to work with swaps like almond meal and brown or white rice flour, coconut flour, quinoa flour and buckwheat flour to bake bread, biscuits and rolls the whole family could enjoy. And in 2014, she launched her own business, Miracles Bakery, on Burt Road in Lexington so that other families could as well.
The menu includes scratch-made buckwheat quinoa bread, buckwheat quinoa rolls, almond paleo bread, vegan dinner rolls, vegan sandwich bread and garlic cheddar biscuits, often containing more healthy fiber and protein than their commercially made glutinous counterparts.
Baked goods here are made with no preservatives and must be kept frozen until ready to be thawed and served.
The bakery’s on-site cafe had been popular with patrons, but in fall 2022, due to the employment crisis affecting many restaurants and other sectors, the bakery became pickup only. Once fully staffed with 16 employees to assist with orders, the bakery now only has three.
Walsh announced in late December that Miracles Bakery would be moving to Mustard Seed Hill in Millersburg, Kentucky, in January. "We have a brand new commercial kitchen there to use for as long as we need while we make plans to grow into manufacturing and build a facility," she said. "We will begin filling orders again in February."
Select items are also available at Whole Foods locations and at Good Foods Co-op, Walsh adds.
Mother of four Britney Howard, of Lexington, said she’s been a loyal customer of Miracles Bakery for several years when, after the birth of her second child, she experienced health issues later traced to gluten sensitivity.
“It was a really scary time,” she said. After avoiding her favorite baked goods, when she went into Miracles Bakery for the first time, Howard said she was overjoyed to see all the things she could once again eat in a tastily modified way and bought many items to try.
“We have often joked that we were keeping them in business!” she said.
Eventually her daughter was also diagnosed with gluten issues, and she and others in her family have a variety of food allergies as well. She appreciates Walsh’s bakery for its ability to serve her family’s favorite baked goods that they can safely enjoy, like vegan bread and muffins.
“They became a part of our family because they know us and love us,” she said. “It’s just being able to trust somebody like that with your kids’ health.”