A Brookfield Bakery Owns Its Niche, Now Preps World Domination

BROOKFIELD, CT —The Gluten-Free Oasis on Federal Road was gluten-free long before gluten-free was cool. Owner Jackson DeSouza said that the diet first became buzz-worthy in the area about eight years ago, and his bakery has been going on 11 years.

But DeSouza never counted on attracting the health conscious. He believed his shop's edge was in the fermented tapioca flour he imported from Brazil to bake all his buns and breads. It just tasted better than any local flour, he insists, and is only coincidentally gluten-free. Today, the baker estimates his clientele is a 50/50 mix of gluten-free acolytes, and those who "just like the taste" of his tapioca flour

Although he was banking on building word of mouth because of the distinctive flavor of his dulce de leche-stuffed cheese breads and roasted eggplant sandwiches, he's more than happy with the business he gets from his ingredients' perceived health benefits.

And what are those, exactly? If you are among the less than 1 percent of Americans who suffer from celiac disease, they're pretty clear. A diet that is 100 percent free from the gluten protein family is the only known treatment for the genetic autoimmune disorder that prevents sufferers from absorbing nutrients in their food.

But there are many people who do not suffer from a rare disease who believe there are healthy benefits to a gluten-free diet. After doing a study on the topic in 2014, the researchers at the Mayo Clinic were not among them.

The gluten-free food game is estimated to be a $1.77 billion business in the U.S. last year, and bring in $7.59 billion worldwide. That's a lot of bread, especially considering the diet's dubious resume.

DeSouza advocates for his bread's health benefits, telling Patch that the "resistant starches" in the tapioca flour don't break down in your stomach, like "eating sawdust or wood chips," but instead "feed your gut bacteria." Patch told DeSouza to downplay the sawdust talk in front of the customers and emphasize the dulce de leche.

The fermented tapioca flour has more going for it than its freedom from gluten and great taste. It self-rises, according to DeSouza, obviating the need for yeast. And there's no sugar either.

"The glycemic index on tapioca is zip," the baker enthused. He said that many of his customers are diabetics for that reason.

DeSouza, who was born in Brazil, has lived in the U.S. for three decades. He insists he buys the tapioca flour from his native land because it's the only place he can score the fermented version. Regular, garden-variety tapioca flour is available from many sources, with Asia being the world's largest producer.

"I’ve tried flour from everywhere, but this one from Brazil works best for the product I am making"

Those products include the breakfast sandwiches, which fly out the door all morning long. Come lunchtime a chicken salad sandwich is king of the menu. The Punta Cana is made from shredded chicken, raisins, carrots, potato sticks, lettuce and mayo, and was named after a beach in the Dominican Republic. The actual name of the salad is "unpronounceable" according to DeSouza, who decided to just name the sandwich after "a nice place on the map."

Half of the family-run bakery's business is local restaurants. That took a hit at the top of the coronavirus pandemic, but recovered quickly as local takeout took off and the area's eateries began to reopen. It helped that the breads Gluten-Free Oasis makes can all be frozen.

"We get calls from all around the country asking if we ship the bread, and right now we don't," DeSouza said.

But that's set to change.

Currently, all the baking is done in the back of the shop, but DeSouza says his expansion plans including buying a building large enough to accommodate an industrial kitchen so that he can bring the Gluten Free Oasis brand into supermarkets.

Gluten Free Oasis is located at 594 Federal Road.