The Heart of the Hearth: Inside the Peppermill Bread Program

Long before guests settle into breakfast or restaurants begin their evening preparations, a quiet but extraordinary world is already in full motion. Tucked behind the scenes, the Peppermill bakery begins its work in the early hours of the morning. The ovens warm the room, the scent of dough and flour floats through the air, and the daily rhythm of mixing, shaping, and baking begins.

At the center of this world is the Peppermill bread program, a remarkable operation that supports nearly every dining outlet on the property. The bread program is part of the pastry department and is overseen by executive pastry chef Cindy McCormack, who has crafted an environment of creativity, collaboration, and trust. Under her leadership, the team produces an astonishing range of breads every day, guided by an approach that values tradition, quality, and passion.

The result is a bread program that is unmatched in the region, defined not only by its volume and variety, but by the people who give it life.

A Living Craft That Starts Before Sunrise

When Ron Castro walks into the bakery each morning, he begins with the sourdoughs. After working in Peppermill’s bread program for more than 25 years, Castro knows the dough, the process, and what goes into making quality products. The sourdough requires an 18-hour cycle to develop the right structure and flavor.

The sourdough starter itself is a marvel of longevity and care. It is more than 20 years old and regarded with an almost reverent respect. “We have nurtured it and taken care of it,” McComack says. “We mother it, and that is why it is called the Mother.” During the pandemic, when the bakery shut down, she even came in once a week in the dark with a headlamp to feed it apples. “It was so important to our program that we could not let it die.”

Castro adds that about 50 percent of the bread produced in the bakery uses some amount of this starter. It enhances flavor and creates a unique signature that cannot be replicated. The team feeds it only organic stone-ground wheat of the highest grade, and even a small addition of the starter transforms pizza dough, rolls, and many specialty breads.

Bread at the Peppermill is not a mechanical process. It is a relationship. Doughs are alive, and Castro respects that reality. “All the breads we do are alive,” he says. “If it is cold, you use warm water. If it is hot, you use cold water. You have to outthink it, because it is really alive. If it is moving too fast, you cannot control it. If it is moving too slow, you are in trouble.”

That level of understanding is what he passes down to others. McCormack notes that even when new bakers arrive with prior experience, they still have to learn the Peppermill way. “You may know bread, but you do not know our bread,” she says. Castro reinforces this by teaching the visual and sensory signs of proper dough development. “You have to feel, touch, smell, and recognize all of those things,” McCormack adds.

Bread for an Entire Resort

The Peppermill bread program is massive in scale while staying true to artisan technique. The team produces roughly 80 percent of all bread used across the resort, as well as for their other local property, Western Village in Sparks. Working through 700 to 1,000 pounds of dough each day, they turn out everything from deli rolls, hot dog buns, rye loaves, and sandwich rolls to pizza dough and a wide range of specialty breads for nearly every outlet. All pizza dough for the property is made in-house, then rolled and baked for flatbread wraps. The team also develops Italian-style doughs, specialty Mexican telera breads, and unique items like folded pretzel breads served as appetizers at the award-winning Western Village Steak House.

Seasonal offerings are a major component of the program. McCormack encourages the team to bring ideas, explore unusual flavor combinations, and challenge themselves. “If someone asks for something, we want to do it,” she says. The team has created everything from roasted garlic and asparagus rolls to Hawaiian rolls that have become a signature item for many of the dining outlets. They often test multiple ideas, taste them as a team, refine them, and choose what best fits the season.

The team also frequently steps in to solve problems in creative ways. When a purchased dough did not meet their standards, they created their own to replace it. When biscuits were not working, they began making hundreds a day from scratch. McCormack says proudly, “We have not had one complaint about the bread or the biscuits.”

When chefs ask for new items, the bread team collaborates closely with them. Castro says, “They will come up and say, can you make something like this? And Cindy tells me what she wants, and then we work together to make it”. One such example was a truffle bread that came together in less than an hour after a surprise tasting. It was so successful that it went onto the menu at Bimini Steakhouse.

A Team Defined by Respect, Creativity, and Trust

McCormack is clear about what makes the bread program successful. “It is not me telling them what to do,” she says. “It is a team effort. Everyone’s ideas matter.” The pastry and bread departments include 23 employees, each with an important role in shaping the daily output.

Castro agrees. “It is the freedom Cindy gives us to try new things and come up with new ideas,” he says. “She will say, go ahead, try it. Tweak it. Change it. That is fantastic. I do not know any other place that does that.”

The team dynamic is strong partly because so much of the staff has been there for years. McCormack has been with the property since 2010, and other members have stayed for 20 years or more. The shared experience creates a family-like atmosphere, reinforced by traditions like making pizzas together at the end of a shift. “We spend more time with each other than we do with our families,” McCormack says. “It has to feel like a family.”

Bread That Defines a Culinary Identity

The Peppermill bread program supports more than one million meals a year. That includes sandwiches, entree breads, basket service, banquets, and special events. Some products are held briefly to meet demand, but never beyond two days, and any excess goes to employees rather than being wasted.

Their sourdough has developed a devoted following, especially during the holidays when the team packages it with bows and recipe cards. Some items, like hand rolled breadsticks for Romanza and banquets, require a single baker to roll 2,000 sticks a day. These details illustrate the extraordinary labor behind every loaf.

Castro still finds joy in the everyday magic of bread. “When you take flour and water and everything together, and then pull it out of the oven, it is beautiful,” he says. “People look at me like I am crazy, but it is beautiful. You can eat it. It is good.”

McCormack sums up the program simply: “What sets us apart is the ingredients we use and the passion behind everything we do.”

That passion rises with the dough, moves through each pair of hands that touches it, and reaches every guest who breaks a roll or slices into a loaf.