By Daliah Singer
Special to The Gazette

The line at Threefold Bakery, Breckenridge’s newest café, is more than 20 deep on a Sunday morning. Stacks of gleaming croissants, crisp scones, frosted cinnamon rolls and golden loaves of sourdough await behind the counter, with more being rolled, folded and baked in the open kitchen.

The crowd isn’t here simply to carb-load before a day on the mountain. They want to taste the latest creations from one of Summit County’s top culinary talents, Matt Vawter.

Vawter is the James Beard Award-winning chef behind two of Breckenridge’s finest dining concepts, Rootstalk and Radicato. (Front Range diners may have previously tasted his prowess at the now-shuttered Fruition or Mercantile at Denver Union Station.) Threefold is his hat trick in the region where he grew up (Vawter attended Summit High School and Colorado Mountain College).

Threefold opened in December and has quickly amassed a growing fan base of locals and visitors.

“I saw a void in what’s going on here in Summit and wanted to create something that could feed the community and also feed our restaurants,” Vawter said.

Vawter was also aware of the fact that his other two concepts have a less accessible price point. A bakery offered a more approachable, everyday option for patrons.

“That was important to me for the community,” he said. “The idea of having our bread in people’s pantries and that they’re at home being able to make sandwiches for their kids or make toast in the morning with our product is really cool to me.”

What’s equally enticing is the creativity with which Vawter and his team approach the menu. Guests will find the expected — and well-executed — croissants and cookies and kouign-amanns. But they’ll also find surprises among the dozen or so pastries on the menu. The scone, for example, is split down the middle with a thin layer of marzipan and seasonal jam (quince, cranberry and strawberry have all been featured), and the sugar-dusted morning bun hides a dollop of tahini diplomat cream.

Diners should expect even more innovation as the bakery settles and matures and as local produce, both sweet and savory, grows more abundant with the changing seasons.

“What it looks like six months from now could look very different and allow us to play and evolve into the space,” said Vawter, who’s already excited about a tomato-and-cheese Danish.

Sandwiches make an appearance at around 10 a.m. each day. Of the six available, the roasted carrot, lamb pastrami and chicken salad are local favorites — and they’re big enough to last for two meals. All are served on slices of house-made, naturally leavened sourdough, baguette, superseed or Siciliano (an Italian sandwich bread) made by baker Aaron Beatty. Diners can also take home the pizza-sized, rosemary- and oregano-speckled focaccia, which was previously only available at Radicato.

“We’re really proud of the flour and the grains we’re using,” Vawter said. Most come from Boulder-based Dry Storage (headed up by another of Colorado’s culinary superstars, Michelin-starred and James Beard Award-winning chef Kelly Whitaker) and Utah’s Central Milling. Vawter plans to expand with more regional partnerships.

Coffee drinks are made with blends from another local purveyor, Denver’s Huckleberry Roasters.

Collaboration isn’t only about ingredients. It’s built into the foundation of Threefold, which itself is a merging of gastronomic prowess. Vawter partnered with two of his former colleagues, Sean and Melissa McGaughey, who now own Quail & Condor and Troubadour Bread & Bistro, both in Healdsburg, Calif., to create the mountain hot spot. (Director of Hospitality Patrick Murphy and chef Cameron Baker are also partners in the project.)

Vawter met Sean McGaughey in a Breckenridge kitchen 20 years ago, and the local community continues to be top of mind. Leftover product (you won’t find discounted, day-old pastries at Threefold) is given to Cafe Food Rescue, which redirects surplus provisions to those who need it, through food banks and the like.

The bakery itself was designed to be a gathering space — if you can nab a spot among the crowd, that is. A triptych mural by Anna Hileman celebrates the scenery of Colorado and California coming together, while the blue color palette is reminiscent of the Centennial State’s azure skies.

“We wanted the space to feel fun, vibrant with color and just a place you’d really want to hang out,” Vawter said.