GOSHEN
When customers of Rachel’s Bread arrive today, they’ll actually be among the first customers of Anna’s Bread.
The beloved European bakery in the Goshen Farmers Market, 212 W. Washington St., reopens this weekend with a new owner, a new name and a few changes, but not many. For now, most of what customers will see and taste will be the same, said Anna Mast, a 31-year-old who has been apprenticing under owner Rachel Shenk for a number of years and bought the business from her.
While in high school in Scottdale, Pennsylvania, Mast and her sister Katie sold baked goods they made for several fundraisers and fell in love with the process. Katie came to Goshen College and started working for Rachel’s Bread, which started in Shenk’s own home 30 years ago, opened in the Old Bag Factory in 1994 and then became an anchor at the farmers market starting in 2002.
As Katie left for study in Ethiopia, her sister arrived in Goshen and took her job at the bakery.
“I actually started this job before I started college,” Anna said.
After working there during her stint at Goshen College, she returned to central Pennsylvania to bake there.
“When I left here in 2008, Rachel non-pressuringly said it’d be nice if you’d take over the bakery when I retire,” Mast said as she made danishes this week to prepare for the opening weekend.
Mast came back to Goshen in 2011 and came back to the bakery to try out whether she wanted to be in Goshen and take over the business. She fell in love, married and had two children. Over the last five years, Shenk and Mast, with spouses involved, worked toward this transition.
“Hands down, this is the best job I ever had. Rachel built an amazing atmosphere,” she said.
The staff learned about food, but had creative freedom as they made hearty breads with organic ingredients, croissants with loads of butter and breakfast or lunch items.
“Rachel taught me all about food. She exposed me to all these things and it’s easy to fall in love when you know how good it is,” Mast said.
For the last six months, Mast has been the primary baker. Shenk said she’s pleased to see Mast become the new owner and expects she will make it even better.
“I’m happy for the community that she has the desire to do it so it can keep going,” Shenk said.
Changes at Anna’s Bread will include:
• A point of sale system that will allow customers to use credit cards rather than only cash or checks.
• Two new breads: a multigrain offered daily and a multigrain sourdough on Saturdays.
• More cookies. Mast loves making cookies.
• A new logo and website that will offer regular menu updates.
One thing that won’t change is the regular, long vacations where the shop closes for a couple weeks at a time. Baking is hard work, Mast said. As Rachel and her husband, Jim, Shenk retire from baking, she hopes to work on a cookbook and operate The Wedge, a cheese shop they opened on the other side of the bakery door in the farmers market. Hours for the shop featuring several dozen cheeses will be 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and, in the summers, 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays.
Anna’s Bread
Address: 212 W. Washington St., Goshen
Contact: 574-534-0769 and www.annasbread.com
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. (3 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays in the summer)