Celiac-Safe Gluten Free Bakery in Gowanus: Sixteen Mill Bakeshop's Window

Sourdough is the bread most people with celiac disease assume they will never eat again. Sixteen Mill Bakeshop, at 552 Union Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn, built its whole business around proving otherwise. Everything it bakes is 100 percent gluten-free and described by the shop as safe for people with celiac disease, and it is also fully plant-based with no refined sugar. The result is a walk-up window selling crusty seeded loaves, focaccia and scones that do not taste like an apology.

The bread is what makes Sixteen Mill different from every other gluten-free counter in Brooklyn. The Seeded Sourdough Bread, a dense, crusty loaf packed with seeds, costs $24.00 on the bakeshop's online shop and is currently listed through the end of December. That price reflects a long fermentation and a heavy hand with seeds; one loaf lasts most households a week when sliced and frozen. If you buy only one thing, make it this.

The Sourdough Rosemary Focaccia is the other savory staple at $12.00. It is dimpled, oiled and topped with rosemary, and it works as an afternoon snack or a side for a dinner party. Because the dough is plant-based, the richness comes from olive oil rather than butter. Toast leftover squares the next morning in a dry pan to bring back the crisp edges.

The sweet side leans on breakfast pastry. Sourdough Scones cost $9.00, and the Chocolate Babka Muffin, which folds babka's chocolate swirl into a muffin shape, costs $8.00. The Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie is $7.00. All are made without eggs, dairy or refined sugar, so sweetness comes from alternatives rather than white sugar. They are rich enough that a scone and a coffee from a nearby cafe make a full breakfast.

October brings the seasonal Apple Cider Donut at $8.00, available from October 7 through December 1. It is the shop's nod to the upstate orchard tradition, coated in sugar and spiced with cider. A special Thomcord Grape Vanilla Cake is listed for October 17 and 18 only, which shows how the menu rotates with the harvest. Check the online shop for these limited items, because they sell out fastest.

The shop keeps a short schedule. It is open Wednesday through Friday from 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9 am to 4 pm, and it is closed on Monday and Tuesday. Because the weekday window does not open until 10 am and the shop is dark two days a week, the weekend mornings carry most of the demand. If you want the seeded loaf or focaccia, the safest plan is to arrive at opening or use the pre-order system.

Pre-ordering through the bakeshop's website is the smartest move for anything specific. Lead times vary by item, from about one hour to thirty hours, so plan ahead for loaves and seasonal cakes. For delivery, DoorDash covers Brooklyn, and courier services MetroBi and Flot bring orders into Manhattan. The shop does not take custom cake orders, but it does handle catering and wholesale, and its baked goods appear at more than fifteen cafes, including Meadow Lane and Alchemist's Kitchen.

The space is minimal by design. Customers order at a service window rather than walking into a dining room, and a couple of outdoor tables sit beside it for anyone who wants to eat on the spot. A review featured on the bakeshop's own site calls it a minimalist store concept. It feels more like a neighborhood bread window than a cafe, and the line moves quickly because there is no table service to slow it down.

The baker behind it is Talia Tutak, who was born in Poland and started Sixteen Mill in 2016 as a home baking project. According to a 2024 Broadsheet feature on South Brooklyn, she sold at the Park Slope farmers market before opening the Union Street shop. That farmers-market history explains the bread-first menu: Tutak built her following with loaves people could carry home, not with frosted cupcakes or layer cakes.

Once you have a bag in hand, walk a short way west to the Union Street Bridge over the Gowanus Canal, a low steel crossing that gives a clear look along the water at the ongoing cleanup and the new waterfront edges. Then head east and north toward Washington Park, where the Old Stone House at 336 Third Street, a reconstruction of a 1699 Dutch farmhouse, marks a site fought over during the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776.

Practical notes: Sixteen Mill Bakeshop is at 552 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215, phone (201) 474-5737. Hours are Wednesday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday to Sunday 9 am to 4 pm, closed Monday and Tuesday. Everything is gluten-free and plant-based, but the kitchen processes nuts, including peanuts, so people with nut allergies should read the FAQ before ordering.

First-time visitors should plan a bread run rather than a single pastry stop. Buy a seeded loaf to freeze, a square of focaccia for lunch and a scone or a cider donut for the walk. Bring a tote bag, since the seeded loaf is heavy and the window service is quick. If you are heading to Manhattan, pre-order and have a courier bring it to you instead.

Who will love Sixteen Mill: celiacs who miss sourdough most of all, vegan bakers curious about plant-based techniques, families in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens looking for a weekly bread source, and cafe owners hunting for a gluten-free wholesale supplier. If you are typing gluten free bakery near me anywhere around the Gowanus Canal, this little Union Street window is worth the walk.