Fresh bread and flaky croissants at MSA Annex's new micro-bakery

A rich, buttery aroma suddenly fills the air. It smells like warm, perfectly toasted bread with delicate, subtly sweet notes entwined.

Like a cartoon, you’re floating off the ground as the scent leads you to one particular container store.

You swing open the door and spot trays and trays of freshly baked loaves of bread, and golden brown, flaky croissants.

This baked-good paradise is the work of Alexander Phaneuf and his team.

Phaneuf, along with Adam Weinstein and Kira Dixon-Weinstein, has opened Hidden Hearth. The new micro-bakery at the MSA Annex serves up whole-grain breads, pastries and viennoiserie (baked goods made from dough laminated with butter to create many flaky layers).

Before starting Hidden Hearth, Phaneuf had an illustrious chef/baking career, which included working at the renowned Atelier Crenn in San Francisco and being a two-time James Beard Award semi-finalist for his work at the Lodge Bread Company in Los Angeles. About 12 years ago, he decided to fully dedicate himself to only owning and operating bakeries.

“I fell into a baking job in Phoenix and it was just really empowering,” Phanuef said. “It was all solo work, so all the pressure was on me and it was really rewarding. It’s all done on the same day and you get to see the fruits of your labor.”

Eventually, Phaneuf made his way down to Tucson. At his new digs, one of his friends helped him build a wood-fired oven in his yard. Now, with a beautiful oven readily available, Phanuef had ideas of being an off-the-grid baker, creating a hole-in-the-wall spot that serves the community delicious, fresh loaves of bread.

Just like that, Hidden Hearth was born in 2023, first as a home bakery. “It was great, you get to meet way more people and learn way more things.”

Phaneuf hadn’t thought about creating a brick-and-mortar until Weinstein approached him about starting a bakery at the MSA Annex, in the Mercado district just west of downtown. One of the containers was going to be turned into a commissary kitchen, until an idea for a bakery popped up.

Soon, the space was transformed into a micro-bakery. Huge ovens line the back of the walls, while tubs of dough and other ingredients cover the counters.

Phaneuf uses a stone mill, a machine that grinds whole grains into flour, to create his loaves, such as his popular rye bread. It’s that attention to detail that makes Phaneuf’s goods a step above loaves of bread you may get at a store.

He credits his slow and steady process as the key to making a solid loaf.

“Taking your time, not being too strategic and just kind of letting it happen,” Phaneuf said. “You could really just lightly mix something, let it sit on the counter over an overt amount of time and get very surprising results without constantly messing with it.”

During my visit, Phaneuf and his co-worker were bouncing around, taking trays of divine-smelling goods out of the oven. Soon, his children ran in asking for something to eat, chanting, “we love croissants,” as Phaneuf packaged some for them.

Once I took a bite of a chocolate croissant, I was also chanting “I love croissants!" The pastry itself had the most precise flaky layers I've seen. It was buttery, soft, and melted in my mouth with every bite.

It’s been days since I ate the croissant, and I can’t stop thinking about it. 

Some other baked goods on Hidden Hearth’s menu include loaves of brioche, lemon olive fugasse, focaccia slices, almond croissants and demi baguettes, each made with locally sourced ingredients. You can place your order online, and when it's ready, you can walk up to their pick-up window and take your prized loaf home.

Hidden Hearth’s new location will also act as a wholesale bakery and have in-house milling operations. In the future, they also plan to create a croissant program and to host punk-rock pizza nights on Fridays with Minibar.

Phaneuf wants this new chapter of Hidden Hearth to be accessible. “Our door is not going to be locked, you can come in, chat with us and learn what we're doing,” he said. “Our farmers walk in. Our friends walk in. It’s just great to have a very accessible place on the west side that people can come learn and take away a piece of what we're doing.”

Hidden Hearth is at the MSA Annex, 267 S. Avenida del Convento. Their walk-up window is open from Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. You can also place an order for pick-up through their website, order.toasttab.com/online/hiddenhearth.