Slow Dough supplies fresh bread to about 350 restaurants in Houston and Austin.

HOUSTON — Slow Dough Bread Co., an artisan baker primarily serving the Houston and Austin, Texas, market, is expanding its operations with the purchase of a 40,000-square-foot bakery in southwest Houston owned by Whole Foods Market, according to CultureMap Houston. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The purchase of the Whole Foods Market bakery is the latest in a series of steps that have set the stage for expansion at Slow Dough Bread Co., which opened in 2009. Slow Dough supplies fresh bread to about 350 restaurants in Houston and Austin, and earlier this year opened its first retail location in Weights + Measures restaurant, bakery and bar in Houston.

Slow Dough currently operates out of a 15,000-square-foot facility, and by adding the Whole Foods bakery the company expects to increase its retail presence into 38 grocery stores across Texas and into Oklahoma and Louisiana, according to CultureMap Houston. Additionally, the increased capacity is expected to benefit Slow Dough’s partnership with food service company Ben E. Keith and allow it to increase distribution in Austin and move into San Antonio, CultureMap Houston said.

More space means more products for Slow Dough. The company’s Slow Dough Bake Shop offers croissants, muffins, scones, brownies, cookies and cakes, and several of those products are expected to be added to the company’s wholesale lineup thanks to the addition of the larger facility.