Word of Mouth
by Emily Raij
Ms. Challah Mama
Plenty of people have tried their hand at baking bread during the pandemic, but not everyone’s loaves rose to the occasion. Lucky for local challah lovers, Sarah Krantz, a Winter Park mother of two young girls, mastered the braided bread in a variety of flavors when her daughters’ preschool at The Roth Family JCC was closed.
“The J was shut down, so I was doing it with the girls because they were so used to having challah Friday,” Sarah says. “My older daughter wanted to try recipes she saw in Shabbat books. After I learned how to make challah, we started doing all the variations.”
She and a friend would trade challah, and Sarah also began giving loaves to other people.
“Everybody thinks what they cook is good, but when other people tell you, you feel sort of vindicated,” Sarah says.
Not only were people complimenting her challah, they were asking for more and requesting different flavors.
What started as a personal project became a cottage kitchen business eight months later and can be found on Instagram @MsChallahMama. Now Sarah makes 15-20 varieties and about two dozen challahs per week. She can ship within Florida and delivers close to her home or the JCC, where she also offers pickup on Fridays. Sarah bakes on Thursday nights and Friday mornings in between working as a lawyer three days a week.
Sarah says she’s always up for trying new fillings. Some of her most popular add-ins are goat cheese, feta, olives, sweet cream cheese, regular cream cheese, pesto with mozzarella, and jalapeño with cheddar.
“You can pretty much stuff anything into a challah if you want to,” she explains. “The dough is very versatile, so it works well with savory and sweet. I’m not sure how the dough does that, but it does. The possibilities are sort of endless, which is what makes this so fun.”
Sarah has experimented when it comes to eggs, yeast, and sugar but says she will not bake with anything other than King Arthur flour due to its protein content, which is consistent in every bag. Sarah also learned how to best store her yeast, which can be finicky.
“It’s not some secret family recipe,” Sarah says of her challah and the enjoyment it brings her and her family. “It’s just about finding the time and location to make it.”
B’s Delights
Winter Park High School sophomore Brooke Chepenik and her mother Marni do have a secret family recipe, but they also rely on plenty of planning and hard work to make the four varieties of B’s Delights knishes they’ve been selling since the end of last October.
The “B” in B’s Delights refers to Brooke’s name and Marni’s grandmother, Beatrice Sherzer, whose knish recipe has garnered lots of local fans.
“I’ve always liked baking,” says Brooke, who first started making the knishes with her brother as a b’nai mitzvah project. “My dad cooked, and I liked helping in the kitchen.”
This past year, Brooke’s grandma on her dad’s side suggested she sell the knishes, and through word of mouth, B’s Delights started taking pre-orders only. This became difficult because of Brooke’s busy IB program schedule at school and Marni’s job as the membership director at The Roth Family JCC. So, Brooke set up a website, Bs-Delights.com, and the mother-daughter team switched to baking once a month and freezing the knishes. They typically make 120 each of the potato, spinach, and cheese varieties, plus 60-75 brisket knishes, for a total of 400-450 monthly. Brooke estimates they spend nearly 30 hours shopping and baking every month.
“It’s kind of been her baby, and I’ve given her the support and direction with the business,” says Marni, who adds that Brooke put a business plan together, started a checking account, made a spreadsheet with food costs, created flyers, and took all the photos for the website. “We’ve definitely learned along the way what to do and what not to do.”
B’s Delights also takes orders through Facebook and gets the knishes to customers through both delivery and centralized pickup at The Roth Family JCC. The B’s Delights website includes photos, descriptions, an order form, heating instructions for the oven and air fryer, and testimonials from some very happy customers.
“It’s a partnership,” says Brooke. “One person is baking while one is pulling knishes out of the oven.”
Ooga Ooga Cake Art
Yael Miller prefers to work alone when it comes to making the specialty desserts and cake masterpieces for her home-based business, Ooga Ooga Cake Art.
“I need everything to be perfect,” she says. “I do get a kick out of carving and making things very specialized. It’s a one-woman show. I take only what I know I can handle.”
This trained baker and pastry chef can handle it all, from hamantaschen for Purim to flourless cakes and chocolate-dipped macaroons for Passover. But her Rosh Hashanah baking brings customers back year after year.
“I do a lot of the large, round challahs,” says Yael. “They’re huge, and they’re a centerpiece.”
Originally from Israel, Yael lives in Dr. Phillips near The Rosen JCC and started baking for her two children, who are now grown.
“After I had kids, I wanted to stay home, and then I just got into baking for them,” she explains. “I was making elaborate sculpted cakes for them, and others asked me to make them, as well.”
Although she started selling cakes before receiving her professional training in baking and pastry management at Valencia College seven years ago, she wanted to “make it official,” Yael says, with the degree. She follows Florida cottage laws for her home-based business and sometimes bakes at Congregation Ohev Shalom if a customer needs something to be certified kosher.
In the beginning, her Facebook page was her strongest advertising, but now, Yael says, “It’s all word of mouth.”
And word continues to spread, despite having to pivot from big, elaborate party cakes for weddings and b’nai mitzvahs to more individual treats when large gatherings were put on hold. Yael also hosts fundraisers or classes if people want to get together to learn some cooking skills.
“Lately, since the pandemic, I’ve done more breads and cookies and more unique things,” she says. “I’m doing cookies that are two different cookies in one, like a brownie in a cookie.”
If you want to learn more about Yael’s treats, visit Facebook.com/oogaoogacake.