Photo credit to Roman Cho (first photo) & Kate Thompson/katethompsonphoto.com
This month our feature is Sub Rosa Bakery in Richmond, VA!
How/when did your business start?
" Born out of Evrim Dogu's vision and desire to make and eat good, honest bread, the bakery started out of the trunk of Evrim's car. The VW hatchback served as a makeshift storefront for the 100 loaves Evrin would make every week for Richmond bread subscribers. Once he decided that these loaves needed a permanent home and started searching for storefronts, his sister, Evin Dogu, joined him. An avid eater of dessert and pastry, she collaborated with Evrim to create pastries that would suit a wood fired oven and complitment the naturally leavened bread that Evrin was making. Through a series of many fortunate events, Evrim and Evin found the corner shop in Church Hill, a former hair salon that had been empty for years, and had it retrofitted to become the bakery that it now is."
What's your philosophy/what sets you apart?
"Our philosophy is to help create a new food culture, inspire love for the simple pleasures of life, and reveal a timeless way of baking.
What sets us apart is an attention to using the highest quality ingredients possible and never skimping (organic and local when possible). This shows in the high caliber pastries and bread that we make. We use as much local, stoneground flour as possible, all of which is milled in house. All of our bread (except the ciabatta which contains commercial yeast) is naturally leavened and everything, including all of our pastries, is baked in a double decker wood fired oven."
How did you discover/find/hear about our cheese?
"We had tried the cheese at Ellwood Thompson's Natural Food Grocery Store and loved it and investigated how to purchase it ourselves directly (and at larger quantities) as we were looking for a local, delicious melting cheese that would pair well with a number of our pastries."
What's your favorite cheese dish/presentation/pairing?
"I think the Appalachian cheese pairs beautifully with almost everything we make at the bakery from our fig jam and cheese croissant to our roasted eggplant and pepper tart."
What have you got coming up in the near future that you'd like to share?
"We are outgrowing our space, and business has surpassed our production capacity so we are looking to find a second location to help offset this imbalance. We’re also hoping to use the second location as another hub to sell our breads and pastries, as well as some other lunch items (this is still top secret!). We also have to move out of our current mill space very soon and continue to search for a new location for our mill."
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