WENATCHEE — Heather Knight grew up surrounded by good food.
Not chicken nuggets and Eggo waffles.
"My parents cooked a lot, ate out a lot, traveled a lot and appreciated fine food," said Knight of Cashmere, who co-owns with her husband, Kevin Knight, the popular Anjou Bakery on Old Monitor Highway. "If we wanted cookies, it wasn’t going to be Oreos."
That culinary tradition is present in every nook and cranny of the Knights’ bakery, a converted, barnlike fruit warehouse, where bakers’ racks and pastry cases showcase the couple’s considerable craft.
A hodgepodge of secondhand furniture fills the rustic sitting area with mismatched color and texture, and Bruno, the family’s gigantic chocolate lab, peers inside from his vantage point on the bakery’s wood-plank front porch.
Even after eight years in business, the bakery still looks like a work in progress.
Knight, 41, readily admits that evolution is constant. Customers come in to buy one of 15 breads, or sit and chat awhile over an espresso and a slice of pie, a croissant-based cinnamon roll, a sandwich, a crunchy biscotti or fruity crostini.
Business is good.
"We enjoy doing things in a more artisan way, things that take time to learn," Knight said recently, speaking also for Kevin, 44, who was away in Seattle.
"We enjoy the art and craft of food. I’m not snooty about it, but I appreciate food made by hand."
The Knights moved to the Wenatchee Valley 10 years ago from Bainbridge Island, where they worked for Seattle businesses; Kevin as project manager for a construction company and Heather for a mortgage bank.
They settled in Leavenworth, but moved to Cashmere after falling in love with the area and deciding to stay to raise their sons, Harry, 13, and Simon, 7.
Fritz, a German shepherd-golden retriever mix, joins Bruno to round out the family. They all live adjacent to the bakery.
Heather Knight worked for a year in a successful bakery on Bainbridge Island; her only on-the-job training.
"Neither of us had (much) bakery experience but we knew what we liked, and that was a big help," she said of their decision to open the bakery in 1995.
"I think there’s a kind of renaissance going on of people who want more than what’s available. They want to know where their food is coming from."
She says many of the bakery’s customers are those kind of people.
"When they find a place that has what they’re expecting, it’s a good thing," she said.
Twelve employees now work to keep goods fresh.
Knight credits her staff with the bakery’s success.
Anjou delivers its breads daily to Top Foods, Food Pavilion, Martin’s Market, Dan’s Market and Summersalts in the Wenatchee-Leavenworth area and to Bear Foods in Chelan.
The bakery also supplies "Wenatchee" bread, a ciabatta-style marvel, served at Shakti’s and Visconti’s restaurants in Wenatchee, Gustav’s in Leavenworth and the Fiddlehead Bistro in Twisp.
Heather says Kevin is the bread man; responsible for researching and creating the bakery’s offerings.
His efforts were recognized in 2002, when his bread earned top regional honors at the Bread Bakers Guild of America’s annual bake off.
His third-place finish almost landed him a spot on the U.S. national team, which went on to take top honors in Paris.
She said the couple also market their products outside the region.
Their fruit-nut crostini — thin, crunchy, sweet bread wafers — is popular in Seattle. She hopes to go nationwide with the product.
But the Cashmere bakery remains their focus.
"We make everything that’s in here," she said. "We try our best to do things that are traditional to this industry, using time-honored standards. We’re not just here putting in our time. We’re learning as we go, and that’s what makes it challenging."
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