Davis - How to Start a Home-Based Bakery Business

Detra Denay Davis is from Detroit, Michigan. Her career journey has included working as a cook, food stylist, and caterer. Denay has been a home baker and all-around food enthusiast for more than twenty-five years. In 2008 Denay designed and taught a popular Lifelong Learning course for adults titled How to Operate a Home-Based Bakery. Today she lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where she works as a consultant and online instructor working with food entrepreneurs nationwide.

Most home-based bakers start out with a favorite family recipe or product idea in mind. It might be a pie, cake, cookie, scone, bar, or bread. Some recipes start from a simple idea created from a strong desire to think outside the box and come up with something that is not currently being sold in the local marketplace.

Remember, your kitchen is your laboratory; it is the place where you put your imagination to work and create products that will delight the public. Some of the best home-based bakery ideas come from existing recipes that have been tweaked. Even more dynamic recipes have come from mistakes, adding the wrong amount of some ingredient, resulting in a product that is unlike anything the baker could have anticipated.

The following are some of my favorite home-based bakery recipes that I have developed over the years in my own business. They have stood the test of time and are sure to please even the most discriminating palates. Feel free to give them a try in your own kitchen and to use them in your home-based bakery business.

Yield: 8 to 10 large biscuits

These are the richest biscuits on the planet. Dont overmix. Serve them with a good homemade jam or jelly. You can also split the biscuit and fill it with a sausage patty, or a slice of grilled ham and shredded cheddar cheese. Once you taste these biscuits, your imagination is sure to fly sky high.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

teaspoon cream of tartar

teaspoon salt

cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

cup whipping cream, plus more as needed (do not substitute with anything else)

2 tablespoons melted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt into medium bowl.
3. Cut in cubed butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.
4. Add cream and stir until just blended. The dough should be soft, yet firm enough to hold together. If you need a bit more cream, add it a teaspoon at a time.
5. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board/surface. Knead for 10 seconds. (If you handle the dough too much, the biscuits will be tough.)
6. Pat dough into a 1-inch-thick round.
7. Cut into 8 or 10 rounds using a 2-inch biscuit cutter.
8. Arrange biscuits on a large baking sheet, spacing them 1 inch apart. Bake until biscuits have risen and tops are lightly golden brown, about 15 minutes.
9. Transfer to cooling racks.
10. Brush the biscuit tops with melted butter, and serve hot or at room temperature.

Serves 8 to 10

There are hundreds of pound cake recipes, and everyones mother, grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousin has their own version. Pound cakes are tricky, but the best way to learn is to just jump right in. If you are using a Bundt pan, purchase a heavy-duty aluminum pan or a good tube pan; both will work well for this exceptional pound cake.

Ingredients

2 cups butter, softened

3 cups white sugar

6 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon bourbon or rum

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

teaspoon baking soda

teaspoon salt

1 pinch ground mace

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon confectioners sugar for dusting

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan or 9-inch tube pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth; this may take 8 to 10 minutes. This is where a lot of bakers go wrongthe butter-sugar mixture should be fluffy and smooth; just when you think it wont get there, the structure changes and you have a cloud of buttery sweetness.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each, then stir in the vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and mace. Mix into the batter just until smooth.
5. Stir in sour cream and bourbon or rum.
6. Spoon batter into the prepared (greased and floured) pan, and spread evenly.
7. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
8. Cool for at least 10 minutes before inverting pan onto a plate, and tapping out the cake.
9. Dust with confectioners sugar before serving.

Serves 8 to 10

My cousin gave my mom this recipe, and although I rarely use cake mixes, you will understand why I do when you make this cake. You do not need to purchase expensive cream sherry, a bottle from the wine section at the grocery store will do fine; just make sure it is cream sherry. I once gave these cakes out to my staff at Christmas. Guess what? They expected them every Christmas after that!

Ingredients

1 package (18.25 ounces) yellow cake mix

4 eggs

cup vegetable oil

cup cream sherry

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 package (3.5 ounces) instant vanilla pudding mix

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease the sides and bottom of a 10-inch Bundt cake pan. Flour the sides and bottom of the pan; tap out the excess flour.
3. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, oil, sherry, nutmeg, and pudding mix. Beat until well blended. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan.
4. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
5. While cake is still hot, glaze with Cream Sherry Glaze.

Yield: cup

This glaze may be made ahead and reheated.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter, melted

cup powdered sugar

4 tablespoons cream sherry

Directions

1. In a medium pot add the butter, sugar, and sherry.
2. Whisk butter, sugar, and sherry together.
3. Put on low heat and stir until slightly thickened and reduced, approximately 8-10 minutes.
4. Glaze cake while it is still hot.

Yield: 1 loaf (about 16 slices)

This is a wonderful little loaf I found in the Detroit Free Press in 1985. It has undergone a number of modifications, but it is wonderful with coffee or tea. If you have bananas that are too ripe, this is the bread to make.

Ingredients

1 jar (10-ounces) maraschino cherries

1 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

teaspoon salt

cup firmly packed light brown sugar

cup butter, softened

2 eggs

teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (approximately 2 large bananas)

cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Drain maraschino cherries, reserving 2 tablespoons juice.
3. Cut cherries into quarters; set aside.
4. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in small bowl; set aside.