Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Dunham.
Amy, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
As a child and teenager in Central Florida, I spent many days baking with my mother and grandmothers, learning how to make homemade pie crusts, meringues, breads, and cookies. My passion for baking continued throughout my undergraduate and graduate college years at the University of Florida, and trips to Europe, New York City, and San Francisco piqued my interest in bakeries, specifically in pastry and croissants (here’s looking at you, Dominique Ansel and Tartine Bakery). During the years my husband and I lived in Washington, D.C. after college, I decided to learn more about baking by spending my evenings after my full-time work as an engineer as an apprentice at a local artisan bakery, Pluma by Bluebird. At Pluma, I learned how to prep, bake, and operate in a commercial kitchen alongside incredibly talented bakers.
In 2016, we moved back home to Central Florida to begin our family, and when I left the workforce in June 2020 to stay home with our two children, I decided to take a chance on starting a home-based cottage bakery to put my baking passion and skills into practice. We began working on our concept in August 2020 and began baking in October 2020, and it has been incredible to see how much our little cottage bakery has grown since then. Even though my professional education and career is transportation engineering and planning, I have always had this baking dream in my back pocket, and I’m very grateful to the Horizon West and Winter Garden communities for supporting this little cottage bakery!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Our largest challenges have been optimizing our pre-ordering and pick-up processes and learning how to develop and maintain our internal production and bake day schedule. We are operating much more efficiently and quickly than during those first few weeks, which has allowed us to bake more goods and meet customer demand as we have grown.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We specialize in hand-made pastries, croissants, and other baked goods, using the highest-quality ingredients available and precise attention to detail. The pastries and croissants we bake are very time, technique, and labor-intensive and are truly a labor of love that we believe sets us apart from other bakeries. We love to try new spins on classic baked goods and incorporate seasonal fruits or flavors – one of the greatest compliments we have received from customers is how our pastries and croissants remind them of those in Paris.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
This little cottage bakery has been an incredible blessing to our family – allowing me to stay home with our two children while doing something that I absolutely love on a flexible schedule. Seeing the joy that hand-made baked goods brings to our family, to our friends, to our Summerlake neighbors, and to some of our customers who have become friends makes the hard work and long nights worth it and has truly been a silver lining of this difficult past year.
Pricing:
- Cookies from $3.50
- Scones from $3.75
- Croissants from $3.75
- Cruffins from $4.25
- Loafs and Breads from $3.50
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@atlasbakehouse.com
- Website: www.atlasbakehouse.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atlasbakehouse/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/atlasbakehouse
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/atlas-bakehouse-winter-garden
