Proofing in Process

PHOTOS BY JORDAN RANDALL

When you bite into a flaky, crispy, yet fluffy golden croissant at Born & Bread Bakehouse it’s the product of a meticulous process that is highly detailed and demands superb consistency that requires a rare breed of individuals to be able to replicate time and again.

As Born & Bread owner Jenn Smurr says with a smile and a bit sarcastically, “I think it’s somewhat challenging for a guest to understand that it’s not just put the croissant in and pull it out.”

Instead, to develop from a business that literally began with a folding table and plastic crates of baked goods at the Lakeland Downtown Farmers Curb Market in 2015 to a nationally recognizable brand has taken precision and dedication that few people can ascribe to, but Jenn has found a team willing to, even through the highs and lows of an unpredictable odyssey.

“First we have to get the scaling right, then the mixing. We have to get the temperatures right, the proofing has to happen, you have to lock water correctly and create the layers correctly…” she says. “And you have to store it correctly, cut it correctly, roll it correctly, let it rest correctly, proof it correctly, egg wash it correctly and bake it correctly.”

That pattern of “correctness” is part of what creates the consistency that the bakery is well-known for, even with leveling up over the years by diversifying its menu to include breakfast and lunch sandwiches, pot pies and holiday pies in addition to its signature breads and pastries.

Born & Bread has evolved from a foodie haven where people sometimes stood in line for hours on Saturdays to taste their first cruffin or devour a finger-lickin’ good cinnamon roll to a business that is open four days a week and helped define and reimagine the Dixieland area of Downtown Lakeland. But what is appetizing and comforting for the guests is the result of rigorous work that is simply not for everybody.  

One recent week was the epitome of what it’s like for the 38-year-old Smurr to oversee the high-stakes, high-reward operation she has built alongside her staff.

In the midst of finding just the right pastries and bread for our behind-the-counter photoshoot, Jenn pulled a loaf of bread off the rack and started ripping off pieces of sourdough, enjoying a little sustenance while explaining some of the intricacies of succeeding as bakery, often going stream of consciousness from one idea to another.

One moment Jenn was fulfilling an online order, the next she was offering advice in the bustling kitchen before pivoting to do an interview to try and fill vacancies left by key staff that moved on due to life changes, some predictable and some unexpected.

Late one afternoon, after closing, you could find her husband, Michael McArthur helping get the outdoor patio ready for the next day. He smiles genuinely when talking about the journey he and his wife have been on, acknowledging each season is teaching them something different.  

Jen readily admits she loves pushing limits—which explains why she is currently training for her third marathon, sometimes while pushing her twin daughters, Evergreen and Magnolia, in a stroller—but when her apron and trademark beanie come off at the end of another long shift, she is just as quick to acknowledge she has had to come to grips with her limits, especially recently.

“I was going to sleep praying and I wake up praying these days, ‘What kind of trial am I in right now, God? What is happening?’” she says, primarily focusing on trying to replace invaluable staff members who have played significant roles in the Born & Bread story. “The thing is you have to wake up…and you’ve got to put some big girls pants on over and over and over again.”

As she worked tirelessly to model the consistency that is so important to her, regardless of the circumstances, she received some unexpected news.

One afternoon in January her phone had been blowing up, but she had kept that disturbance at bay because she was visiting St. Petersburg with some friends. Finally, when she realized a former apprentice of hers had been texting her relentlessly, she decided to see what was going on. 

“I can remember feeling like, oh my god, thank you for it being outstanding bakery…for it not being outstanding baker…and thank you for knowing your timing.”

She was greeted on her screen with a flood of congratulatory texts because as she had been focused on what was right in front of her, many of her friends and family had seen the news that Born & Bread Bakehouse had been named a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Most Outstanding Bakery, an honor that is the culinary world’s equivalent of an Academy Award.

“I just kind of paused,” Jenn says. “You know, there has not been an easy year of Born & Bread ever, not one that didn’t have me questioning what I’m doing and if I’m in His will, if I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”

In the recent process of refinement, Jenn says she has leaned on God, her family and wise mentors to help her unlock something new inside her. She calls this season “humbling,” but helpful because it has created clarity that this bakery she built from the ground up—without any guarantees or without a big investor—is a place she is called to provide team members opportunities and purpose as they grow to new heights together.

She has found wisdom from a select group of mentors. She mentions Zak the Baker, her former apprenticeship mentor in Miami, who is also a three-time nominee for the James Beard Award for Most Outstanding Bakery; Bill Mutz, the former Lakeland mayor, and fan and encourager who became a key business mentor; and most recently, Jeremy Brumley who owns LoveBird Almost Famous Chicken and Grievous Angel, among other restaurant endeavors. 

She says, “Jeremy just gets me, he gets my crazy.” He provides the critical external perspective, advising her: “You are going to keep driving yourself crazy if you don’t let ‘that’ go.”

The flip in her perspective has come in waves—including through sage advice—but none has been more life-changing than finding out she was pregnant, and ultimately giving birth to her twin daughters.

She says she was convinced she was going to have one boy, but first through the ultrasound and then when she delivered her children she realized that being a girl mom was part of her destiny.  

Motherhood became the great teacher. 

“As soon as I had them and they were my own, I had this new found patience...and I realized all of these human beings (her staff) were trained differently in life things.”  She understood in a new way that her directness, while comfortable for her, might be “perceived as something else” by someone who was punished for speaking their mind growing up or had different life experiences. This realization allowed her to develop a “newfound respect for the team that I don’t think I always had.”

Now, her goal isn’t just to produce the best pastries; it’s to foster an ecosystem where high standards meet compassion.

“First we have to get the scaling right, then the mixing. We have to get the temperatures right, the proofing has to happen, you have to lock water correctly and create the layers correctly…”

Smurr said the timing was serendipitous of the announcement that Born & Bread was a semifinalist for an award that will be given out this June at The Lyric Opera in Chicago.

“I can remember feeling like, oh my God, thank you for it being outstanding bakery… for it not being outstanding baker…and thank you for knowing your timing,” she says, noting several times that her younger self may not have processed the honor quite as humbly or purposefully.

Not every moment of the bakery’s whirlwind journey has been so serious. There has been plenty of fun along the way. 

Jenn’s creations are not from a Google search or a Food Network inspiration, but from personal experiences and the relationships she’s built. For example, her savory goat cheese and pepper jelly biscuit was an adaptation of a simple dish she enjoyed at a long-ago brunch.

The global influences you will find on display on the front counter of Born & Bread is a direct reflection of her network, particularly her baker friends. She recounts a trip to Puerto Rico to visit her friend, Lucia, a baker who had sought refuge in Lakeland after Hurricane Maria devastated her home country. Lucia’s enthusiasm for a local quesito (a Puerto Rican cheese pastry) led Jenn to sample it, sparking the creative impulse: “I know what she did. I know I can create something that good.”

She also shares the story of a friend who lived in Guam and was raised on Filipino food, specifically Chicken Adobo. 

“I love being able to experience different cultures... when [someone] shares a story about a place that they traveled to, it’s just, I don’t know, it’s enlightening.” 

Her menu is thus a living, breathing autobiography, a celebration of community, travel, and shared stories. Considering she began as someone wholly and fully devoted to baking bread, hence the name of her bakery, she has allowed life to shape her ambitions as she learns how to shape those around her.

While continuing to craft stunningly gorgeous and delectable products she will continue to be a work-in-progress who has certain distinctive character traits that indeed prove her to be a rare breed.

It’s the reason she does paid, formal working interviews for potential candidates. She wants them to spend a day in the shoes of high-level bakers instead of just admiring the business that counts on people with those skills.

“[It] kind of debunks some of the young females who are like, ‘I want to be like you,’ when they come in and realize you want them to pick up a 50 pound bag of flour three or four times that day or you need them to take out the trash,” she says. “Well, who else is going to take out the trash? I used to do that all by myself…I swept the floors, I mopped, I did the dishes—somebody had to do it. I didn’t get to wake up, [go into the kitchen], just bake and be like, ‘See ya!’”

While she may be in a stage of ownership and leadership where she is learning to parse words a different way or connect with people on a deeper level, her insatiable drive continues to set her apart.

Behind every loaf of bread and every appetizing treat, there is a team devoted to brightening customer’s days and sustaining excellence.