High Dune Baking Company Channels the Spirit of Old Avalon

High Dune Baking Company, in the center of Avalon, carries on the community spirit of a bygone era, when produce, baked goods, and meats were made, processed, and sold right here in town. The new bakery uses what owner Maeve McNamara called “Old World baking practices” to bring fresh-baked yeast-raised donuts, sticky buns, quiche, scones, and other baked goods to Dune Drive.

High Dune Baking Company occupies the building that was previously Kohler’s Bakery, once owned by Maeve’s aunts. She grew up in this building; some of her first memories are of trying to “help” around the kitchen at just three years old. “I saw the whole process as a kid, how it all works,” Maeve said. She wants to keep the spirit of Old Avalon and old bakeries alive, making fresh dough daily and making almost everything from scratch on the premises.

“We’re making baked goods here the same way people did a hundred years ago,” she said.

The bakers’ days usually begin at 3 a.m., when Maeve and her husband Andrew Stanton, who runs the business alongside her, head into the bakery to turn on the ovens, mixers, steam boxes, and start preparing their fresh donut dough. These days, many bakeries utilize pre-made donut dough mixes because a scratch-made batch takes between three and four hours of prep. Bakeries are early-morning businesses, so that amount of prep is a tall order. But Maeve and Andrew believe that this commitment to freshness helps them stand apart.

Making custom dough is a science, and to outsource it is to give away the heart of the bakery.

“The basis of everything we make here is sweet dough or donut dough,” Andrew told us after prepping sticky buns for the next day.

“When you make dough, you’re working with a living organism, yeast. Our business is almost completely dependent on appeasing that living organism.”

When the days are humid and hot, the dough needs less water because it draws moisture from the air. On dry days, more water. The couple worked with famous local bakers, including Walt Hohman of the much missed Ward’s Pastry in Ocean City, to hone their dough recipes. Walt came to High Dune Baking Company before it opened to work with Andrew and Maeve, passing on some of his institutional knowledge and helping to keep the spirit of traditional baking practices alive. Some of the recipes coming out of High Dune came from Walt and other well-known local bakers who have retired yet want to see the spirit of their business carry on.

The selection of pastries at the bakery varies day-to-day, depending on what fresh ingredients they can get a hold of. Some days might bring lemon-zested scones, others savory treats like a spicy meat quiche. Fresh bread is baked most days.

“We hope people will stop in to try different things as we make them. We always have the seashore favorites, like sticky buns and crumb buns, but we’re always trying to spice things up,” Maeve said.

The new bakery is a labor of love for Maeve and Andrew, who married three years ago and juggle the early-morning responsibilities of baking with parenting their toddler. Maeve said that her life feels as if it has come full circle. She was once a young girl running around an Avalon bakery, and decades later she sees her own daughter swirling around a bakery they can call their own.

Visit High Dune Baking Co. most of the year on 2709 Dune Drive in Avalon