It’s time for another Kindred Kitchen, where I get the chance to share with you a cool food business around town that you should get to know. This KK is all about another Kitchen 66 launch class, Bakeshop. Emily P., Emily L. and Morgan all work together towards building the Sourdough Empire of Tulsa! I invited myself to one of their prep days for a Kitchen 66 Takeover (when they served breakfast and lunch), so I got to see all sorts of things being prepared, and not just bread.
It was great to chat with them about life, and bread, and food in Tulsa (and food in New York, too)! I hope you enjoy this little “summary” style of our time together, graciously prepared by them after the fact!
Tell me how you started making bread together. How long have you been friends?
Emily P & Morgan met at Stonehorse Cafe and worked together there for 3 years. Emily was the bread baker, and Morgan was the pastry chef. Emily had been working on her starter and making sourdough bread at home for most of those three years. We started making it together at home because we had the idea that we might want to start a bakery one day. Then we learned about the Kitchen 66 program through our friend Robbie Wing, and he encouraged us to apply. Emily L. was always around helping us think through marketing, administration, and operations issues, and at some point we realized she was really going to be part of Bakeshop as well. We brought a fresh loaf of bread and fancy butter and salt with us to our interview for a spot in the Kitchen 66 Launch program, got in, and it all grew from there.
What makes your bread/products special? (Also, can you share the history/development of the chocolate chip cookies?)
We started with the sourdough bread in the late summer of 2017 because it was something we wanted access to and had a hard time getting our hands on in Tulsa. From there, we’ve grown into making creative twists on classic baked goods, and of course the Kitchen 66 Cafe Takeovers have given us the opportunity to start developing our recipes around cafe food as well. We always like to say that we make salads that taste like the person who made it actually wants to eat it. We both love putting humble, familiar vegetables together with exciting spices and flavors to come up with something fresh and new.
From the beginning, we were talking with other local businesses, exploring ideas about how we could collaborate with them. Our Spent Grain & Cardamom Chocolate Chunk Cookies came out of our relationship with Melissa & Zach at Heirloom Rustic Ales. They were looking for someone who would want to use spent grain to make food, and we are always up for the challenge of “What could we do with THIS?!” Morgan was immediately excited about the idea of using spent grain to make Bakeshop’s chocolate chip cookie, and had a lot of fun thinking about different flavor combinations to elevate it beyond the normal sugary cookie, playing up the toffee flavor and highlighting the chunks of chocolate.
What is your favorite product that you make?
This is a tough one! It’s probably a little different for each of us. I mean, we are all obsessed with this bread. It’s sort of funny when people ask us how long it will last because in our houses, we’re lucky to see bread that’s more than 2 days old. We still just devour those loaves. Emily L. really loves our Savory Snacking Granola right now, and won’t turn down any opportunity to eat the Lemon and Herb Chicken Salad. Emily P. loves the rich coffee/chocolate flavor of the Malted Mocha cookies. And Morgan has been digging the Lemon Apricot Scone!
How do y’all make such a great team?
We are so lucky to still like each other so much after the craziness of our first few months of business! Emily P and Morgan really built a solid working relationship working around and with each other in the small bakery that Stonehorse used to occupy. And they have really clear, strong, and compatible sensibilities when it comes to food. Also, Emily L and Emily P are married and have been together for years, working together on lots of different projects. Between the three of us, we all have our strong skills and areas where we each focus, but there’s a lot of respect between the three of us. We each know that if it weren’t for each of us, there would be no Bakeshop! We get a lot out of talking through our challenges, ideas, and plans together.
What comes next for you?
Bakeshop is so excited to open our first brick-and-mortar, full-time location at the Mother Road Market this summer! We will be expanding our bakery menu to include more bread styles, pastries, and laminated doughs (think croissants and danishes!). We’ll continue to offer bread, soups, and salads on our cafe menu, as well. You’ll be able to visit us on your way home from work for a loaf of bread, and some take-away soup or salad to round out your dinner!
Where are all the places around town we can we find Bakeshop goodies?
We have pastries, salads, and sandwiches at Heirloom Rustic Ales, Fair Fellow Coffee, and Press Cafe x Yoga right now. You’ll also find us a the Farmer’s Market quite often this summer. And by the end of the summer, you’ll find us six days a week at the Mother Road Market!
Well there you have it! You definitely need to get your hands on their grilled cheese/tomato soup combo ASAP. I’ve been eating it even though it’s summer. And the cookies. All the cookies. I’m so excited for the Mother Road Market to open and we’ll have access to Bakeshop all the time!!
To read about my first installment of Kindred Kitchen on Sovereign Chocolates, another Kitchen 66 launch business, click here!
xxHillary
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