The familiar sign was gone with the wind from last years sweeping tornado, but the new one is up now. It points the way from busy Alabama Highway 157, toward the quiet country road that is home to the Dutch Oven Bakery. Sitting not far away, within site of the highway, it has become known throughout the Southeast as one of the most interesting bakeries anywhere around.

The sign is new, and the bakery has also had a facelift and an expansion since the tornado.

Not only are there the familiar staples that have made this a popular destination for “foodies” from far and wide, but there’s now a full service deli.

Owner Lowell Brennaman couldn’t be more pleased. “My father-in-law started a conversation with someone he ran into in Birmingham not long ago. The other man was from out of state, but when my father-in-law mentioned that he was coming to visit us, and that we owned the Dutch Oven, the traveler knew just where we were,” he smiled.

They have been a fixture in the rolling countryside, amid green pastures filled with placid cows, in the shadow of Battleground Mountain for 11 years. Before that they were located in Cullman, near Jones Chapel. The new addition is bright and cheerful, offering the same baked goods, canned foods, breads, candies, cheeses, jams, jellies, pickles and spices upon which the bakery has made its reputation. Now the deli offers meats, fresh sandwiches, and salads.

Susie Yoder, who has been working at the Dutch Oven Bakery for two years, greets everyone with a warm smile. Dressed in simple, traditional Mennonite garments, including a small, neat, white cap, or “covering”, she is the picture of what Mennonite life stands for. Most people unfamiliar with the Christian-based religion have trouble differentiating between Mennonites and the Amish.

Brennaman says that the Amish hold to older traditions, like not having electricity or motorized vehicles, but the Mennonites have found use for those things in their daily lives. Basically, he says, they both believe in salvation through Christ, and in a simple life.

He and some of his relatives came here from Georgia as an outreach of their church, the Emmanual Mennonite Church, several years ago.

“We love it here,” he says.

The Mennonite culture has great respect for the land upon which they live, and for nature and all the other gifts of God. Many members of their congregation are farmers. Others are woodworkers, often building portable storage buildings, gazebos and decorative arbors. They are good neighbors, many times coming to help others in a crisis, like the recent tornadoes.

Brennaman chose to make his living in the bakery. His two sons work in the afternoons after school, and his sister, Ellen Brennaman, works here in the bakery with him. “My wife helps on an as-needed basis,” he said.

The 8,000 foot bakery/deli is filled with the smells of baking. Cakes, pies, breads, cinnamon rolls, cookies, cookie bars, brownies and other tantalizing smells waft across the swinging door from the kitchen. Through a picture window, you can watch as the ladies and young men mix and pour batters into giant receptacles for baking. The spotless kitchen says much for the hard work of Brennaman’s employees, who also wear traditional Mennonite clothing.

Along the wide, new aisles shoppers “ohhh” and “ahhh” over delicacies on the plentifully stocked shelves. There is a whole section devoted to sugar and gluten-free foods. Racks near the door are filled with gourmet coffees. Freezer cases hold cakes, several varieties of cheeses, pies and other hard-to-resist baked foods.

Atop the center aisles rest every kind of basket you could ever want, long ones, short ones, baskets for breads, for gifts, and for picnics in the lovely spring weather.

Not everything is made on-site. Some things are shipped in, such as the cheeses from Ohio, but most of the baked goods come straight from the kitchen to the shelf.

When you talk about fresh, it doesn’t get much better than this.