Thanksgiving was very busy at Suchele’s this year, according to John Whalen, the bakery’s newest owner.
Whalen baked over 100 pies for various family feasts. He was at the bakery until 3:30 a.m. that Wednesday — flour sacks are very comfortable to nap on, he said.
Whalen has owned the bakery just over a month, but this is not the first time he has baked a pie there. He used to work at Suchele’s with Amy Loveless, its second owner.
About this time 10 years ago, he said, Loveless sold the business to Sue Berzinis.Whalen helped to train Berzinis, clean the place and work on recipes, during the transition. He worked at the bakery five years in all, and made wedding cakes.
Whalen moved to Florida after he left the bakery. He moved back to the Berkshires in time to work at Bistro Zinc as a pastry chef the year it opened. He was most recently a pastry chef at Wheatleigh, in Lenox. This September, Whalen was walking around town and saw the for-sale sign in the bakery’s window. “It’s nice to be back here,†he said, watching people in the street walk by.
“The other merchants are really welcoming ... it’s going well,†he said. Since he is familiar with the bakery, coming back has been “kind of easy. I could just walk back in the door.†He has had to learn a few little things about running the bakery though: he had had to get 50 pounds of flour and two cases of butter in Adams that morning.
Whalen uses “the freshest ingredients: High Lawn Farm milk and cream, Crescent Creamery butter, Baldwin’s vanilla, local produce.†He said he has to give these local vendors credit for the flavor of his ginger cookies and Swedish rolls. The bakery uses no mixes. Everything is made on the marble table behind the counter, with the help of a big basement mixer and the “workhorse†electric mixer upstairs, and baked in the back pizza oven.
The bakery is beginning its Christmas cookie push now. Whalen has introduced a few new recipes, he said: “perked up the croissants.†He has not yet had much chance to play, though. He has been working for the business. And while he plans to play with recipes over the winter and spring, he said he will not do too much. “If I tamper with people’s favorites, I know I’m going to hear about it.†In summer, he said, he will not have time to experiment. The bakery becomes a “little theater in the summer. People come to watch us roll out the Danish. We have a line out the door sometimes.â€
The bakery will have Challah, Whalen said. He has added a sundried tomato and oregano white bread, and brought back beer rye bread on Saturdays. Despite the cookie rush, Whalen added that this is a hard time of year. No fruit is really fresh. The bakery will stick to apple, pumpkin, pecans, and wait for the first raspberries.
The staff have all worked at the bakery several years, Whalen said. He said they have been holding it together these last two years, and he would be lost without them; they are keeping him on track.
Suchele Bakery is in its 30th year. It is a fixture, one of the original shops on the street, Whalen said. The building it lives in was the County Courthouse from 1791-1815 and the Lenox Town House from 1815-1901. Whalen said the bakery has an appropriately scary, rocky basement, and he has to work around its heating units.
In 1971, Michelle Miller and Susan Felton bought the building and combined their names into Suchele’s. Loveless ran it for 10 years. Berzinis ran it from 1991 until Dan and Lorraine Miller bought it last February. Whalen said he is hoping to be here at least another 10 years.
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Winter Storm Warning Issued for Berkshires
Another snowstorm is expected to move through the region overnight on Friday, bringing 5 to 8 inches of snow. This is updated from Thursday's winter weather advisory.
The National Weather Service in Albany, N.Y., has posted a winter storm warning for all of Berkshire County and parts of eastern New York State beginning Friday at 4 p.m. through Saturday at 1 p.m.
The region could see heavy to moderate snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour overnight, tapering off Saturday morning to flurries.
Drivers should exercise caution on Friday night and Saturday morning, as travel conditions may be hazardous.
Saturday night should be clear and calm, but warming temperatures means freezing rain Sunday night and rain through Monday with highs in the 40s. The forecast isn't much better through the week as temperatures dip back into the teens with New Year's Eve looking cloudy and frigid.
Samuel Currence served his country in the Air Force with distinction, professionalism and unparalleled humility from 1962 to 1985, retiring as a technical sergeant. click for more
Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.
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