The winter night wasn’t supposed to be that warm. But one evening, temperatures went up to 60 degrees. Great for a stroll. Disaster for the croissants Jay Metzler had proofing at Idle Hands Bread Company.

“We [were] making everything we can in that tiny kitchen, but the prep area is right next to our big bread oven and even when it’s turned off, it holds heat,” says Metzler.

In the summer, Metzler, whose breads all begin with a sourdough starter, puts less starter so breads rise slower. Winter gets more active starter. These croissants had a winter mix, but ambient heat plus the cramped kitchen meant the butter folded carefully between laminated layers melted to create a kind of brioche. Nothing wrong with brioche, unless you’re expecting to bite into a flaky croissant.

“We were transparent in letting people know what happened and we discounted all the stuff affected. It was a pretty good day, customer-wise, even though it was a rainy day outside. Our customers have always supported us,” Metzler says.

Overproofed croissants are just one of the reasons Metzler decided to move from his spot on Strawberry Street, where he was for eight years, to Robinson in the spring — they officially opened in their new space Friday, March 20.

That customer loyalty is why he was determined to stay in the same neighborhood and have room for customers in the new space.

“We’ve just maxed out on volume and capacity in the space [on Strawberry],” Metzler says. “I cut out wholesale before COVID because I couldn’t keep up with it, but even without the wholesale demand, sometimes on weekends we run out. We’re making everything we can in that tiny space.”

He started making sourdough in the early 2000s — you won’t find any commercial yeast making his bread or croissant dough rise — as an extension of his love for all things fermented, and it became a bit of an obsession. Metzler says that sourdough is far more gut-healthy than commercial yeast.

“I was working in a coffee shop and I was a little bit bored so I started with sourdough,” Metzler says. “My wife thought it was an unhealthy obsession. There was flour everywhere! I kept doing it, I kept messing up and then succeeding, and eventually we said, ‘Let’s just try it.’ We opened Idle Hands in a 200 square-foot sublease in someone else’s building, but it worked. I feel like it has all been just a happy accident.”

That first iteration of Idle Hands may have been almost on a lark, but Metzler soon found he had a successful business on his hands.

The nationwide obsession for all things sourdough during the pandemic helped pique an interest in the tangy taste. But as people discovered that nurturing a sourdough starter at home can be like having a demanding pet, customers began to want Idle Hands sourdough; he sold loaves throughout COVID, and also gave loaves away. The interest didn’t die down even after things opened up post-[the worst days of the] pandemic.

On Strawberry Street, Metzler was selling about 3,000 pastries a week, including cookies, scones, biscuits, plus the bread and croissants. When he was selling bread wholesale to places like Adarra, Shagbark, Dinamo, two locations of Tazza Kitchen, Edo’s Squid and Ellwood Thompson’s, he was making between 600-800 loaves a week. He says he wants to restart wholesale in the new location.

“I really miss [wholesale],” he says. “When we move, I will focus on getting bread back out into the city.”

Idle Hands has moved to their new location at 404 N Robinson St. Its current hours are Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m.- 3 p.m.