Millstone owners move back to La Salle to open a specialty bakery

It’s not every day that a practicing lawyer and a person with a background in project management would decide to open a French-style bakery offering specialty bread and pastries.

Kent Maze, a corporate lawyer, practices law one day a week while running Millstone Bakery alongside Erin Maze, who also runs the bakery while working a full-time job.

Erin and Kent both moved back to La Salle from Grand Rapids, Michigan, two years ago. Erin was born and raised in La Salle, and the two decided to come back to start a family and to open a new business.

The two frequented specialty bread and pastry shops while living in Michigan and when they moved back to the Illinois Valley, they realized there were no similar bakeries in the area.

After having a plan in the works for over a year, they opened their French-style bakery in June in downtown La Salle. Kent said they chose the location because they love the area and want to contribute to the resurgence of the downtown.

The two worked with B&B remodeling and Erin designed the whole space. The specialty European-style oven and bakery area was intentionally designed to be open for people to watch, and the details and finishes are meant to create a rustic yet upscale atmosphere.

“It’s been a lot of work, but it’s been very rewarding,” Erin said. “People come in and they thank us for opening this place, which is kind of shocking and humbling. I think it shows we’ve made a difference in people’s lives … [and] helped employ some great employees.”

Erin, Kent and their head baker spent about six months developing the recipes for the bakery. Kent said he spent about a year and a half developing the chocolate chip cookie recipe from scratch, one of the baked goods he said is his personal favorite.

All products are made fresh and completely by hand. The breads take 24 to 26 hours, including a 12-hour fermentation process. The croissants go through lamination, a process of adding layers of dough and butter until it’s a quarter of an inch thick, which equals 29 layers, giving each one a flaky quality.

“It’s a long process, a lot of love is put into our products because we spend a lot of time with them,” Kent said. “And I think the taste reflects that.”

There are five breads offered daily: a sourdough, Italian, focaccia, baguette and multigrain loaf with a different specialty bread daily. They offer four different croissants that have sold out every day within the first two hours of opening, including a butter croissant, pain au chocolat, ham and cheese and almond.

They also offer two different types of cookies, different cream puffs, coffee and tea products and shop items, including condiments for bread like jam, mustard, honey and olive oil.

In terms of their most popular items, Erin said it has been cool to see how everyone has a different affinity. Kent said one woman came in and said their croissants took her back to when she used to live in France and frequented a bakery around the corner from where she lived.

Another ordered 12 loaves of sourdough for a party she was hosting that night as party favors. Others simply come in to try something new from the day before.

“One thing I hope for is that we encourage other people who are thinking about opening a neat business to realize that there’s opportunity there and downtown La Salle is the place to do it,” Kent said.

Millstone is open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 8 a.m to noon on Sundays at 821 First St. in downtown La Salle.