David Anderson spends his Saturday mornings packing loaves of bread, bags of bagels, and bundles of cookies into his car.
Anderson, also known as the “Bellefonte Bread Baker,” bakes and delivers sourdough-based products to the doorsteps of loyal customers around the Centre County region.
He works full-time as a chef, graduated from the Culinary Institute of America with a focus on the savory side, and is a also a hobby baker.
“It’s different than cooking savory,” he says.
The Bellefonte Bread Baker has grown since it began in Anderson’s Bellefonte kitchen during spring 2020. That’s when he began sharing his sourdough batards (short loaves of bread), boules (round loaves of crusty bread), and baguettes with friends.
As the pandemic took hold, Anderson’s wife suggested he consider selling the bread at local markets. While he initially dismissed the idea, it stuck in his head.
“I started to plan to make it happen,” he says.
The idea evolved into selling bread to family, friends, and coworkers.
“They started telling people and it kind of started as a word-of-mouth bakery out of my house,” Anderson says.
The bakery is located in his home’s basement and is state inspected, licensed, and insured.
“It’s a real bakery. It just happens to be in my house,” Anderson says. He enjoys being able to spend time with his family between batches of bread and cookies.
Because the bakery is in his home, Anderson delivers his products directly to his customers’ front doors.
He credits the new social norms during the pandemic for aiding in his bakery’s success. His customers were almost always home during the pandemic, and the public enjoyed the convenience of delivery.
“People were a lot more comfortable with some strange person dropping food off at their door,” he says.
However, Anderson says he did have difficulty sourcing King Arthur flour, as the start of his business coincided with the public’s bread-baking obsession during the pandemic.
Anderson’s baked goods are all sourdough based, which he says may take longer to ferment, but the end product is well worth the wait.
“I enjoy the craft of what I do. Yeast breads you can start and finish in two hours. I don’t think they have the flavor or the complexity that makes it worth the effort,” he says. “Sourdough bread depends so much on the temperature and the environment. I think that’s part of the reason why sourdough is better. There’s a depth of flavor and character to a good sourdough bread that you’re just not going to get from yeast bread.”
Anderson lists his products each week on his website and Facebook page and takes orders on the website, BellefonteBreadBaker.com. Orders typically open on Monday morning and are available through mid-afternoon Wednesday or when he sells out. Customers can pay online or upon delivery with checks or cash.
He spends the beginning of the week filling his restaurant accounts and, once orders close, he begins baking and preparing for the Saturday morning deliveries.
For Saturday deliveries, he averages 18 dozen bagels a week, anywhere between 18 and 36 loaves of bread, 40 packages of English muffins, 24 precooked pizza shells, 12 to 24 loaves of babka (sweet braided brioche loaf), and 30 six-packs of chocolate chunk cookies.
Anderson’s breads are made with 35-percent whole grain that he mills himself from oat groats, rye berries, and wheat berries. The loaves have the perfect crunchy crust and a soft core. His business started with breads, playing with different flavors while growing his customer bases, and first expanded to bagels.
“I think bagels are what really got the business going,” he says. “They’ve been popular since the beginning. I sell out nearly every week.”
He varies bagel flavors based on seasons and what he’s inspired to try. Recently, he’s done a savory green chili cheddar; French onion; and sweet blueberry, cinnamon raisin, and chocolate chip.
“It’s a creative outlet for me,” he says.
Anderson’s love of pizza led to his addition of pizza shells, now one of his best sellers.
“I did it just one time on a whim,” Anderson says. “I didn’t know if anybody was going to want it, but here we are.”
The shells are baked, frozen, and delivered to customers, who can keep them in the freezer to pull out when ready to use.
Another big seller is the English muffins, which are much taller and softer than those mass-produced for grocery stores. Anderson converted a recipe from a beloved bakery in Napa, California, where he previously lived.
“Those have been another thing that has built a following,” Anderson says. “If I don’t have enough of them, I definitely hear about it.”
Anderson offers sweet options like the chocolate sourdough babka and his brown-butter chocolate chunk sourdough cookies.
“I had never heard of it before,” Anderson says of sourdough-based cookies.
“There’s a certain flavor in there that the sourdough contributes to that I really think helps the cookie,” he says.
The Bellefonte Baker delivers on Saturday mornings in Bellefonte, State College, and locations in these zip codes: 16801, 16803, 16823, 16827, 16851, and 16868. Delivery is the only option; pick-up is not available. Visit the Bellefonte Baker’s website—bellefontebreadbaker.com—to learn more about this week’s offerings. T&G
Hannah Pollock is a carboholic and freelance writer based in State College.
