Gemelli Bakers

you want amazing breads… desserts… and everything inbetween in state college, pa… this is the place to be… tony is a great guy with a passion for his craft and in a town where owners just own and not run their businesses… this place is a gem… and is so appreciated and loved… normally bread is not the highlight of the meal… unless it is gemelli’s bread…
and if you drop into the farmers market or his store in downtown state college… you better come early or call ahead because its that good…

I’m so happy to have found a legitimate bakery in State College, but so sad I didn’t know about it until my second semester as a senior! The breads have a great texture and taste and smell amazing! The store is a little difficult to find. The address on Unilocal and Google are both wrong. The entrance is on McAllister Ave, to the left of Tea Time.

Where to start with Gemellis? Let’s start with Tony, the owner. Heart of gold, and he is a genius with yeasts and flour proteins. Previous reviews have shined a light on his equipment and variety… let’s talk about his technique. Every loaf I have tried has been among my favorite rendition ever. The ciabatta is so good, it’s a $ 5 loaf and is gigantic, and yet my family of four (including a six year old) can plow through the entire loaf over a soup and salad dinner. It is definitely my favorite bread EVER.
Tony has signed on with the local food co-​op, a wonderful decision that enabled Friends and Farmers members to get 10% off on his products. This helps on farmer’s market days because his bread is sold right there. His pepperoni rolls are delightful, especially for the kids. The pretzel rolls are fantastic. The salt and pepper bread is a lighter version of the ciabatta, also top notch.
Don’t miss out on the sweets, we love the chocolate and blonde brownies. It is possible to get a big one and split three or four ways with a scoop of ice cream and come out stuffed. He recently has had pies sitting on the register counter.
Whatever he sells, I’m eating it. He can even make a stellar brioche. Give him a try, if you regret it, you probably do not like gluten.

The pound cake is heavenly, the coconut macaroons are divine! So soft yet sweet and delicate, I’m in love! The sourdough bread is a lovely round loaf of crunchy exterior goodness hiding an exquisite pillowy interior.
Needless to say, I will be returning for more! (in maybe a day, I don’t know how long these treats will last!)

What an amazing bakery in State College. This is like a legitimate bakery that somehow found its way to a college town. This place is actually tucked away near the corner of Pugh and Calder, so if you only venture around College or Beaver, then you’ll miss this place for sure. Shoot, it took me about a year and a half to actually realize that this place even existed. Nonetheless, with the little time that I have left here, I’ll take advantage of Gemelli’s to the fullest.
Now if you’re driving here, you’re in luck because Gemelli’s is right next to a parking lot. This place is actually pretty damn small, so be on the lookout for a green sign, or else you’ll likely miss this place and walk around aimlessly. Once you find your way here, you’re greeted with a nice staff, whom are attentively waiting to get you what you want. As far as the selection goes, they have the usual baguettes, breads, cookies, etc. The times that I’ve been there, there is roughly a selection of about 10 – 15 different things that you can get here. Not too much, but more than enough considering that Gemelli’s is in a college town.
My personal favorite is their olive bread. It comes in a huge loaf, baked to perfection. The outside has the nice crunch that everyone loves, and the inside is moist and fluffy. On top of that, this bread is loaded with whole black olives which give it an amazing taste. For $ 5, this thing is amazing, and I literally ate this bad boy in a matter of two sittings. Gemelli’s is really a diamond in the rough. For a college town, you wouldn’t expect that there would be a decent bakery. In the crowd of your Dunkin Donuts and candy shops, Gemelli’s puts a touch of class to a town full of drunken, party-​ready 20 year olds. Don’t change your formula Gemelli’s, cause I love you just the way you are.

Best bread in State College. Excellent sourdoughs and lovely rolls. Their hours are a bit limited, and I’m usually cooking for one, so I am very happy that a number of local restaurants carry Gemelli breads for their sandwiches and the like.
I’ve never been into the storefront, only caught them at the Tuesday farmer’s market or special events where they have the mobile wood-​fired pizza oven. The pizza is … actually I don’t have words to describe how amazing it is. «Incredible» is inadequate. Every time I have some, the earth moves.

I went to Penn State and graduated without honestly ever hearing about this place. I only really noticed it when my husband started working around the corner and I started parking in the McAllister St. parking garage to visit him. I first became curious about it because of the fresh bread smell… soooo yummy!
I got a 5-​Seed bread in the fall to go with some pumpkin ravioli and it was a fantastic pairing. Just the other day, we got a deli rye loaf and made some spectacular honey French toast. Both cost $ 5. I hope some day to be able to try some of the sweets, like sticky buns, that I’ve heard about, but they haven’t had them either time I’ve gone in.
The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because the man working there wasn’t incredibly inviting either time I visited. I am by no means a bread expert, but like to support local businesses and try new things. The first time I went in, I asked what he thought would go well with a pumpkin ravioli and he pretty much just pointed out everything they had and acted a little annoyed that I didn’t already know what I wanted. Oh well, the bread is totally worth it.

I’m a bread snob. I learned how to make bread as a child. My parents made bread every Saturday. I grew up on it and still make it, I know homemade bread.
Tony & his bakers know homemade/​artisan bread.
I’ve never had a bad bite. Just the right amount of crusty outsides, the crumb is neither too dense nor too airy. Great flavor.
If you catch them at the farmer’s market or out and about with their portable brick oven you would be remiss to not purchase whatever they are pulling out of it. The individual sized pizzas are fantastic! If you can’t wait for farmer’s market season go to their shop, little hard to find but worth the hunt.

How I Eat Gemelli’s Bread:
1) Go to Fasta Ravioli and pick up a container of creamy vodka sauce for about $ 5.50.
2) Head to Gemelli’s and pick up the thickest crust, heartiest bread possible. Again, about another $ 5.
3) Proceed to cut the bread into slices, dunk it into the sauce (warm or cold), and enjoy the best filling snack ever made by a human.

My wife and I are visiting our grad student son at Penn State and we are enjoying wandering around State College late on a beautiful fall Saturday afternoon. We stumble into a little bakery (a few minutes before it is going to close) and notice a lone giant loaf of Ciabatta sticking out of the wire basket.
$ 5? We talk with the baker and exchanged that we both had lived in – or near – Seattle and enjoyed great bread! We grabbed that beauty and headed to son’s home a mile south. Half of that humongous loaf was safely in our bellies by the time we got home to make a fresh pasta – also purchased in town – meal and finish it off some beer and red vino! ‘This was the best bread and best value ever! Well worth driving for. We’re back in the morrow to buy a loaf for our trip back home in WA. Yum yum.

Bread just doesn’t get any better than this. Tony bakes an array of incredible breads that have it all, taste, texture and crust to die for. The genre is artisan and Tony is the master.
The ciabatta will feed an average family for days it is so large and on Fridays, get there early to get the fresh challah. Too big to finish in a day… no worries… it makes French toast that will have you swooning.
Bread is the perfect compliment in the Calder Square neighborhood — foodie heaven.

Adore the idea and SC definitely needs an independent bakery.
Their brioche is top notch. Unfortunately they don’t sell it in their store — you have to find it at one of their wholesalers like Nature’s Pantry or Tait’s.
The other breads, I’m not so fond of because the crust is super thick and hard. Very unpleasant jaw experience.
Updated 1÷7÷11 — So I stopped into the bakery around the holidays as I was at the Cheese Shoppe buying coffee. To my absolute delight, Gemelli is now selling their brioche in the shop. I also tried the French Country loaf and it was very good. Nice to know that things can improve!

We lived in Ann Arbor before moving to State College and never thought to replace the amazing bread from Zingermans. We would bring back loaves and freeze them and require them as tolls from visitors. Gemelli has been a boon to our bread needs. Tony’s bread is amazing. Both his training and his oven come from Italy, and the quality shows. The ciabatta and baguette are both top shelf. The real secret treats are sticky buns and other sweet treats. You can’t always get them, but when you can they are amazing. I even heard a rumor that he was making doughnuts for home football weekends. That would really make me sad to have missed. He also makes Panatone (Italian holiday bread) for Christmas time that my daughters are already talking about getting based on memories of last year.
Glad to finally have a world class bakery here in town.

Kurz vorweg, falls sich jemand über die merkwürdige Adresse wundern sollte: der Platz liegt natürlich nicht in Philadelphia, sondern mitten in der Pampa, die aber von qype nicht anerkannt wird. Ganz im Gegensatz zu Pittsburg, das ich wiederum nicht kenne. Ich kenne nur PittsburgH. OK, Ende der Durchsage.
In einem Ort, der, wie fast jeder außerhalb der Großstädte liegende, von Supermarkt– und Big Box Store-​Ketten dominiert wird, ist es immer wieder ein großes Wunder und Anlaß zu Freudentänzen, wenn ein individueller Betrieb seine Tore öffnet. Besonders hübsch auch die Adresse (129 ½ S. Pugh St.), die fast aus einem Harry Potter Buch stammen könnte.
Seit knapp über einem Jahr gibt es die klitzekleine Bäckerei Gemelli, die in ihrem altmodischen Steinofen wunderbare Brote & Gebäck herstellt, wohl auch mit organischen Zutaten, das ist mir persönlich aber ziemlich schnuppe. Pane Pugliese, Biscotti, Ciabatta, Schokoladen-​Kirschbrot, Olivenbaguette und ähnliches kann man hier ab 11 Uhr morgens, noch warm vom Ofen, abholen.
Unser persönliches Lieblingsbrot dort ist ein herrlich-​fluffig-​saftiges Roggen-​Mischbrot mit dunkler Kruste sowie allerlei Kernen & Samen — daher auch der Name Seedy Boule, den wir untereinander grundätzlich mit der Melodie von Seedy Monks vertonen. Tja, albern sind wir und können daher nicht anders ‘-)
Das Seedy Boule gibt es leider nur donnerstags, weswegen derer zweie gekauft werden und eines davon im Gefrierfach landet — für die Tage zwischen den Öffnungszeiten: Montag und Dienstag ist nämlich zu.
In einem Ort, wo fast alle Läden 24 Stunden geöffnet sind, ist das schön unkapitalistisch.