Karl-Heinz Häussler GmbH

Häussler – 1949. A Village Smithy. And an Oven That Changed Everything.

Karl Häussler founds a smithy in Heiligkreuztal in 1949. Horses are shod, metal tools and equipment are made – the classic craft of a post-war village smithy. In 1967, son Karl-Heinz joins the business and develops it into a regional farm machinery specialist. He takes over management in 1970. Up to this point it is a straightforward story: smithy, farm machinery, takeover.

Then Adelinde enters the picture. Karl-Heinz Häussler's wife comes from a farming family in the neighbouring village, where bread-baking in a wood-fired oven was still part of everyday life. After marrying, she misses this bread. Nowhere in Heiligkreuztal is there a wood-fired oven. So she asks her husband – he is a blacksmith, he can do it. Karl-Heinz Häussler tinkers, constructs, builds the first oven. The bread Adelinde bakes in it is so good that friends and neighbours praise it and soon want such an oven themselves. The first customer enquiries arrive. Then more. From a private solution to a private wish, the wood-fired oven business branch emerges in 1974.

From Smithy to Baking Specialist – A Transformation Across Three Generations

The development that follows is not that of a straightforward growth strategy, but of a company that always follows where genuine need arises. The farm machinery business grows alongside oven construction. In 1993 it is spun off – Häussler focuses exclusively on baking from that point. Ovens, equipment, accessories, know-how. In 2000 construction of a modern production hall begins. In 2006 the Backdorf opens: a covered exhibition and experience centre that attracts buyers, curious visitors and baking enthusiasts alike.

Today Rosemarie Häussler-Mayer and her brother Richard Häussler lead the company in its third generation. Karl-Heinz and Adelinde are still present – Adelinde, whose request triggered the business branch, remains actively involved in customer contact to this day. The company employs around 100 staff and regularly trains apprentices. Häussler ovens and machines go all over the world.

The Backdorf – Exhibition, Demonstration, Experience

What sets the Backdorf in Heiligkreuztal apart from an ordinary showroom is the ambition to make baking not presentable but experienceable. On over 1,500 square metres of exhibition space – complemented by an outdoor area with dream baking houses – over 200 ovens and machines are on display. The oven park is, according to the company, the largest wood-fired oven exhibition in Europe. Entry is free, no advance booking required. Demonstrations take place several times daily, in which master bakers show how Swabian pretzels, Seelen, Dinnete and other baked goods are made. Baking courses for beginners and advanced bakers complement the offering.

Those who buy a piece of equipment receive ongoing support: in the Häussler Service Centre in Heiligkreuztal, every machine and oven from their own production is known, every screw, every thread. This is not a marketing promise but the logical consequence of all equipment being produced exclusively in their own manufactory in Heiligkreuztal for 75 years – developed at the drawing board, produced on site, fully accounted for.

The Product Philosophy – Manufactory, Self-Made, Artisan Quality

What sets Häussler apart from importers and trade brands is its own production. All ovens and machines have been produced exclusively in the manufactory in Heiligkreuztal since 1949. The company develops at the drawing board, produces on site, knows every component. A Häussler dough mixer was not produced in some contract manufacturing operation – it is the product of a company that has done nothing else for 75 years but develop and build equipment for bakeries.

The product philosophy also includes an expanding range: alongside ovens, dough mixers and grain mills, the offering today includes ingredients, herb mixtures, powders for pasta and bread, and sourdough products. All with the same idea: making food by hand from high-quality ingredients should be possible, straightforward and of premium quality – from the mill to the finished bread, from the dough mixer to the vegetable powder filling in the pasta.

The Range – Milling, Kneading, Seasoning, Baking

Professional-quality dough kneading machines for breads, soft doughs and pasta. Grain mills for fresh flour in one's own kitchen – from coarse wholemeal to fine flour, adjustable by milling degree. Tiger pastes and herb mixtures for bread and savoury baked goods. Vegetable powders for pasta and bread – wild garlic, tomato, spinach, porcini, beetroot, red lentils, chickpeas. Sourdough powders and sourdough starters, Lievito Madre, baking malt. Ingredients for natural, artisan baking without industrial aids.

Dough kneading machines · Grain mills · Tiger pastes & herb mixtures · Vegetable powders for pasta & bread · Sourdough powder & Lievito Madre

Häussler at miniSchoggi

Anyone who has worked with a Häussler dough mixer understands the difference. Not because a dough mixer from a manufactory in Upper Swabia must necessarily be better than any other – but because the equipment was developed by people who live daily in what dough needs. Who know how a bread dough behaves when kneaded too briefly or too long. The Häussler grain mill grinds the grain with adjustable milling degree to what is needed: coarse wholemeal for rustic breads, fine flour for pasta and delicate pastry. Fresh flour that has not spent weeks in storage. This is not a minor detail – it is the reason why freshly milled flour tastes and bakes differently from packaged flour.

The baking ingredients – vegetable powders, tiger pastes, herb mixtures, sourdough products – follow the same logic: not ready-made solutions, but base ingredients that enable artisan home production. Spinach powder for green pasta, sourdough starter for slowly fermented breads, Lievito Madre for airy baked goods with natural leavening power. Ingredients that allow complete control from start to finish over what goes into the bread or pasta.

miniSchoggi carries Häussler because the range is made for everyone who takes baking seriously as a craft – not as a convenience product. For customers who want to understand what happens in their bakery, who want to know the ingredients that transform their doughs, and who want equipment and ingredients from a source that has known nothing else for 75 years. The range available at miniSchoggi includes dough mixers, grain mills, tiger pastes, herb mixtures, vegetable powders, sourdough powders and Lievito Madre and is continuously expanded.

Since 1949. From Heiligkreuztal, Upper Swabia. Because good bread needs a good oven – and the right ingredients. Häussler.