The Market Street Bakery and Cafe reopened Monday after a seven-week closure to recreate the menu, and to make other changes with the help of a bakery consultant.
The downtown Chehalis bakery, which offers a variety of pastry and deli items, opened last May and subsequently enjoyed steady business, though the operation was "not exactly what I wanted it to be," said Eric Wearner, who co-owns the bakery with his wife, Lisa, and father-in-law, Dr. Helgi Heidar, all of Chehalis.
Wearner wanted to offer more uncommon pastry items, offerings that are preservative-free and that represent the Chehalis community.
The new pastry menu offers tortes, miniature cheesecakes, Danish pastries, croissants, breads, brownies and other delicacies, all made from scratch.
"We don't use any more mixes, so there are absolutely no preservatives in anything," said Wearner.
Additionally, olive oil is now replacing shortening, and honey is replacing refined sugar.
Wearner is even growing his own sour yeast culture.
"It's a vigorous sour from Iceland," said his wife.
The bakery also is offering high-end elegant wedding cakes that contain no food coloring.
The family additionally has done research into where to purchase ingredients of the highest quality, said Wearner.
"We go to Portland to buy the best chocolate, and we have also found places to buy the best vanilla, the best cinnamon," he said.
The bakery also draws from local sources, such as getting mint oil down the street at I.P. Callison and Sons.
"We are working on perfecting a mint chocolate chip cookie, kind of a signature cookie for the bakery," said Lisa Wearner.
The bakery is also purchasing its honey from Herman Baginski, who operates an artisan honey business in Chehalis.
"We are trying to incorporate local talent into our menu, and are very interested in hearing from local people who make natural products that could be used in our bakery," she added.
Other menu changes are the introduction of more salads, such as German potato salad, pasta salads, tabouleh and others.
"We also added a pannini grill so that we can make hot sandwiches more quickly to cater to our customers on limited lunch breaks," said Eric Wearner.
While the primary focus of the bakery's closure was for menu changes, the family did some work on the appearance of the eatery, such as painting it a cozy dark red lined with images of golden wheat. The wheat images were painted by a Centralia College student.
New tables and chairs were added, as was a heating and cooling system to keep the temperature comfortable throughout the year.
One section of the bakery will be a display area for local artists. The photography of Jeff Gullickson of Horizon Photography in Centralia is now adorning the wall.
Oregon-based bakery consultant Marda Stoliar offered much help during the entire transformation process, as did the bakery employees, said the Wearners.
A new employee at the Market Street Bakery and Cafe is manager Cindy Wright, who will also decorate wedding cakes.
For information about the Market Street Bakery and Cafe, telephone 748-0875.
The bakery is located at 492 N. Market Blvd. in Chehalis.
Hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Amy Emerson covers energy, business and economic issues for The Chronicle. She may be reached by telephoning 807-8231.
