BAKERS DOUBLE

By Ivan J. Sheehan
Photographs by Michael McDermott

Riding on the coattails of the successful invention of the wheel and discovery of fire, the more adaptive and agrarian Neolithic era denizens of the Mediterranean coast from the modern Middle East to North Africa are believed to have given rise (not literally, of course) to a rudimentary unleavened bread sometime around 8,000 BC, give or take a few hundred years. The literal rise of leavened bread is often credited to enterprising Egyptians, who used a leavening agent to prepare millet and barley flat cakes. Both leavened and unleavened breads quickly became a global phenomenon, serving as the basis for the Last Supper, and from Italy spread throughout the entire Holy Roman Empire, with the bakery trade finally developing during the Middle Ages.

From naan to challah, foccacia to mantou, to the ubiquitous baguette and pretzel rolls, civilizations around the world rose with the original fab four: yeast, water, flour and salt.

For the modern baker, however, mass-produced, pre-sliced bread has been the worst thing for business since, well, sliced bread. Centuries of baking traditions and artisans of the oven have disappeared: According to the US Census Bureau, there were 7,384 retail bakeries in the country in 1998. By 2005, that number had dropped to 6,236. Thankfully for northeast Ohioans, there are more than a few bakers committed to old-style baking, including Tatyana Rehn, co-owner of the Stone Oven Bakery and Café (2267 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights; 216-932-3003), and Bennet Davis, coowner of Appetite Deli and Bakery (5143 Mayfield Road, Lyndhurst; 440-461-8000) – two individuals from disparate backgrounds linked by a common passion for creating artisan breads and pastries, and a strong sense of community.

Tatyana Rehn

"This business did not start out as something that I was hoping to make a lot of money from; it started out of my love and passion … it’s a very pleasant business, but it’s a business nonetheless." In 1980, Rehn, an only child, and her mother left Moldova, part of the former Soviet Union, with help from Cleveland’s Jewish community, which helped arrange travel and accommodations. "There was no plan," she recalls. "We were emigrating just like the rest of the Jews from Russia, and it was not for any other particular reason other than to live somewhere else where the opportunities were ample." Rehn eventually earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Cleveland State University, and worked in the field for seven years.

"I was coming from the Soviet Union, where there was very little freedom to even think for yourself," explains Rehn. "People were just not used to that. Growing up, I was sort of being groomed to be an engineer because I was good in math and science. There was absolutely nothing else in my mind." Until, that is, a trip to New York in 1986, when she was visiting her husband John’s brother, who was running an Italian restaurant. One bite of a pugliese loaf, and Rehn was hooked (it became her favorite bread): She wanted to bake rustic, classic breads. Soon after, Rehn was let go from her engineering job.

"At the time, I did not know I was lucky being laid off, but it turned out to be the best thing for me," jokes Rehn, the mother of two daughters. "My mother almost disowned me when I did this. She did not talk to me for like a year and a half – ‘I wasted my time! I came here for you! Now, you’re dragging the 50-pound bags of flour!’ She was devastated." Eventually her mother came around, but for the first few years Rehn’s husband offered support. She initially baked from her kitchen, toiling day and night, perfecting her breads, and sharing her excitement with anyone who would listen. Her first big order was 22 loaves – today, a typical order is more than 2,600 – and in 1995 she and her husband opened Stone Oven. The bakery was an instant hit with Cleveland Heights residents, and when a landlord threatened to close their space to make room for a bank, the community responded by petitioning the mayor to step in and prevent the beloved bakery from shutting its doors.

"Being made aware of such great support and love from the community was really the greatest sense of accomplishment and affirmation I have ever experienced," says Rehn. "Mayor Kelly named us ‘the fabric of the community’ – the best title we could ever achieve.

"We see our business as a place for people who have virtually become our extended family. We were always aware of our dependency on the support and following in the community, without which we would never survive. It was astonishing to find out that the dependency is mutual! Who doesn’t love being loved?"

After years of 23-hour days and plenty of sleepless nights working at her bread workshop in downtown Cleveland (the site where most Stove Oven breads originate), Rehn is happy to be in the café meeting with customers, a place she always wanted to be. Visit the Stone Oven on Lee Road on any given day during lunch, and you’ll find patrons lined up, waiting for freshly baked Siciliano, Miller multigrain, San Francisco sourdough, and asiago cheese breads, either as loaves or book-ending an assortment of sandwiches, or served with a bowl of soup, and salads (named after the members of her family). "I love being able to see the customers that are consuming our products, and I like to chat with some of them – just feel like I’m part of it," says Rehn.

"Life has become much easier for me than it has been in the past. For the last year-and-a-half or two years, I have my weekends, whereas before I worked on the weekends. The weekends were the hardest times of the week for me, because I actually had to produce: I would mix the dough; I would bake … because nobody can do it seven days a week. So, I was the weekend baker and mixer. I was able to find somebody to replace me, and now I actually have a normal life, where a weekend is a weekend."

Twenty-six-year-old Bennet Davis also knows about the laborious life of a baker after opening and running Appetite Deli and Bakery with older brother William, a fellow Culinary Institute of America graduate.

Bennet Davis

The Davis brothers, along with a host of family and friends, renovated a 3,500-square-foot space in Lyndhurst, formerly the site of Broadway Bagels. The updated interior features a people-forward, casual atmosphere, where the ovens and kitchen are as much on display as Davis, who, with his brother, brings a warm conviviality to the kitchen.

It was his family’s kitchen where Davis initially found his inspiration. "My mom used to make fresh doughnuts, breads for us, poppy seed rolls," recalls Davis. "When I was like five years old, I remember one time, I took a bunch of eggs and flour and different things, put them in a bowl, whisked them all together, and put them in the microwave … and it turned out like this cake, and I was so impressed about how those elements happen." From then on, Davis knew what he wanted to do.

His first job at age 12 was as a dishwasher at Gigi’s Chester Diner in Chesterland, where he grew up, and he eventually graduated to making various cakes and pies for them. He continued his education doing vocational training at the Beachwood High School culinary arts program, and began a job at Tuscany, a bakery once located at Eton Collection, the precursor to today’s Eton Chagrin Boulevard. Still in high school, Davis would leave the house at 3 a.m. to begin baking. Later, while Davis was cooking steaks and burgers in a tavern, his brother enrolled in the CIA’s culinary arts program. Davis would later enroll there, too – in the pastry arts program.

"I decided to focus on baking and pastries because I liked that better than cooking, and, as a baker, pastry chef, you’re more of a demand, there’s less of you," says Davis. "You have to be accurate in baking. People always call it a science. I just don’t like to look at it that way. I like to look at it like you have to be accurate, precise and then creative at the same time."

Upon graduating, Davis lived in Amsterdam for six months and traveled Europe, including France and Belgium, exploring markets and learning new foods and cultures. Davis was inspired: "You try to be part of food, and that’s what inspires you. If you don’t get involved that way, you get bored quickly."

Moxie owner Brad Friedlander and chef Jonathan Bennet (who shares more than a similar name with Davis, as both are CIA graduates) recognized Davis’ talent and hired him as their pastry chef and bread maker – a responsibility previously entrusted to Tatyana Rehn. Yet after five years at Moxie, Davis felt compelled to become part of something greater, and, just like Rehn, longed to better connect with his customers.

"There were two main reasons that I wanted to open a business: one, to get in contact with the customers; two, to have something better in the community, bring a neighborhood feel," explains Davis. "Here, our main thing is that we try to bring to the neighborhood a community feeling, fresh quality food. Everything’s baked each day, anything leftover at the end of the day, we pack up and give to the homeless, so nothing is day-old, which is a big difference [between us] and most bakeries. People come in here and ask us for things that they normally can’t get, or haven’t had in years … and we create it for them, and bring it back to them." Davis is an equal opportunity baker, counting traditional French, Italian, Austrian and Danish bread and pastry preparation among his varied repertoire. Despite his talents, he has a true baker’s humility, gladly sharing his trade secrets for classes and customers: "If you have my recipes, so be it, it’s not like you’re going to sell it to Food Network," he jokes. "And if you do, I don’t care – good for you. If you get one on me, I should’ve sold it first. I’m not a greedy person." The brothers have earned a loyal following with hearty sandwiches, inventive sides courtesy of William, Davis’ ever-changing assortment of breads and pastries, and a tangible enthusiasm.

"Having the passion is what has to keep you [going] every day. It’s the only way to go," explains Davis. "To wake up in the middle of the night, while your buddies are out, while you’re changing your whole lifestyle… you have to be passionate about what you do, like Tatyana is, you have to really want to do it."

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