History

History

The bakery was started in Readfield in February of 1979 by Annie Dean and Jim LeFurgy. My husband and I used to go all the way to Readfield from our home in Gardiner for their bread. It was a wholesale bread business at the time.

In 1982, we bought the bakery, keeping Michael Malek as our wonderful bread baker. We moved to a rented building in Manchester on Route 202 and expanded the wholesale business. We were delivering bread from Boothbay to Rockland, Skowhegan, Farmington, Lewiston and to the Brunswick area.

Unfortunately, in spite of the increased demand for the bread, delivery was too costly. We made a gradual transition from wholesale bread to retail bread and pastries. (We did continue to supply Slate's Restaurant until they had their own bakery, since they had been loyal wholesale customers from the beginning.)

While we had 18 good bread recipes, our pastry line was developed with help from employees, friends and customers. Sandra Smith became the manager after Mike Malek left. She was instrumental in setting the high standard for the pastries and contributed many favorite recipes. (I had a full time position with the Maine Council on Vocational Education until 1991. I had to rely heavily on Sandra and a good staff.)

Sadly, Sandra had to leave in 1991. But I was then free to devote my time to the bakery. We stayed in Manchester until the end of November, 1998, when the lease expired.

Not finding another location on short notice, as a last resort, I moved the bakery to my big old house in Gardiner. Although very difficult at the time, I have found it to be the very best thing that could have happened. I love being at home. But, re-organizing, making space for the ovens, the walk-in freezer, the working area and storage was not easy in a house that was full before everything was moved in. Well, not everything...I had equipment and things in four other locations.

My transition continues. I keep finding ways to use the space I have more effectively and how to make the house fit our needs.

Like this web page...my transition to working and living at home is an on-going process ! !

April, 2009..... transitioning away from being a "business" to occasional home baking, see home page.

I have 3 kitchens in my house, since it's an old house that had been chopped up into 3 apartments. I am leaving my baking kitchen as is, since we use the upstairs kitchen, with the front kitchen as a spare in case of guests.