Community Bread

Subscribe to Lisa Davis’ Delicious Baked Goods

Lisa Davis has always dreamed about running a bakery. She’s finally on her way to transforming ambition into reality. Self-taught, Davis grew up baking. As a tween, every Friday and Saturday night, she’d make bread or croissants with some help from her mother’s cookbook. Davis says, “It was a great way to start; my parents were open to my exploration as long as I cleaned up my baking messes.” Raised in a family of eclectic eaters, she was exposed to a variety of foods early on. Her “Oma,” who fled Germany during the Holocaust, introduced the granddaughter to some of her national pastries. Davis reminisces, “I grew up eating her Lebkuchen and Stollen.”

That love of culinary adventure stayed with her, as did the wish to pursue her passion. In the past, Davis worked as an elementary school special education teacher and as a medical trainer. When the opportunity to take a professional baking class presented itself, Davis jumped at the chance. Already a seasoned baker, she wanted to perfect her skills at The King Arthur Flour Baking Education Center in Norwich, Vermont. During a three-day advanced-level class, Davis learned how to make bagels, bialys and pretzels. Combined with instruction from The Bread Bakers Guild of America, the classes provided Davis with the confidence she needed to proceed with the startup idea that she had envisioned six months prior.

Davis sees bread as fascinating and interesting because “every time you bake it, it’s different. It’s a constant challenge to put out quality bread.” When asked what her favorite item to bake is, she says that she likes “baking bread, cookies and treats that are full of good stuff, that people enjoy eating.” Davis shares that, surprisingly, the simplest breads, such as French, are the hardest ones to bake. Every time she makes bread, she has to backtrack and start the slow process 12 hours before she begins the actual baking. The taste of the finished product proves that the painstaking method is worth the effort. Just biting into her delicious boiled New York-style bagel is a reward in and of itself for her. Davis says, “There’s nothing like a fresh bagel from a wood-fired oven.”

With Community Bread, she feels that she has found a means to pursue her passion: “There’s always a way to figure something out.” She devised a business model that allows her to operate at low cost and do what she loves. Davis rents space from Sandywoods Incubator Kitchen, where she makes her handcrafted artisanal bread, bagels, bialys and sweet treats – all out of natural products. Be it Challah, Pumpernickel or Rye bread, all of Davis’ offerings are kosher – Community Bread is under the strict supervision of Rabbi Barry Dolinger of Congregation Beth Sholom.

As the seasons change, so will Davis’ breads. For example, in the fall, she likes to make Normandy Apple Bread and Cheese Bread with Narragansett Creamery cheese. Other delicacies include Yeast Pumpkin Bread and Corn Bread with ingredients from Kenyon’s Grist Mill. Subscribers will receive an email newsletter detailing what goodies they can expect in the coming week. Davis hopes to sign up at least 44 families to get the business off the ground. So far, she has already planned out the first ten weeks of the breads and treats families will receive.

Davis offers three types of 20-week memberships. Petite Membership ($180) consists of one loaf of bread. Standard Membership ($320) includes a loaf of bread and six bagels, bialys, rolls or a second loaf of bread. Double Membership is the Standard Membership times two. To participate in the subscription program, Davis invites everyone to visit the Purchase a Membership page of CommunityBread.net, fill out the membership form, and submit their payment online.

In addition to the memberships, she plans to bake extra bagels or bialys on alternate Fridays; a dozen costs $12. Currently, the membership pickup site is the JCC Alliance on Thursday afternoons from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Davis is also hoping to offer a second site at Temple Torat Yisrael in East Greenwich. She says, “If there is enough demand, I’m open to other pickup sites.”

Davis encourages bread lovers to check her website on a regular basis because she will be offering supplementary goods for the Jewish holidays: “I’m excited to be baking kosher bread, bagels and treats. I look forward to working with people so they can enjoy great products every day and for special celebrations.”

Proud of her product and eager to allow the community to sample it, Davis held her first tasting on December 18 at the JCC Alliance. Yaakov Ellis, an elementary school student was impressed. Asked to describe the bread, he held up his thumb, exclaiming that the taste was “not good, but great!” Rabbi Elan Babchuck of Temple Emanu-El is another fan. He shares, “When Lisa first told me about her plans to start Community Bread, I knew it would be a great success. Not only is she an incredibly talented baker, but when she put the word ‘Community’ in the name of her company, it wasn’t just for show. In her personal life, she’s somebody who is always thinking of others, caring for others, and supporting others, and I’m sure that care will shine through in her professional life, as well.”

Those who missed Davis’ visit to the JCC Alliance in December can sample the bread and treats on January 8 from 10:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. She’ll also be at Temple Torat Yisrael on January 5 (check communitybread.net for the time).

Editor’s note: This is one of a series of profiles of local businesses, some of which advertise with The Jewish Voice.