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'Busy Baker' sets up shop after travels from Nebraska to Alaska and back
TRENTON, Nebraska -- While teaching in Hitchcock County, Nebraska, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Cliff Bach happened upon a hobby that has not only given him many hours of enjoyment, but has also brought sweet tastes, bright smiles and lifetime lessons to his students, friends and neighbors in Nebraska and Alaska.
Now--after a quarter century of donating his time and talent--Mr. Bach is turning his favorite hobby into a home-based enterprise providing baked goods for the people of the area.
The business will be home based, and will not be inspected or licensed. This just means that the health inspector is not required to inspect our site, but that we are not allowed to sell to the food service industry ( cafes or retail businesses) for re-sale, but we are legal to sell from our home, at farmers' markets, and food and craft bazars. We can and do deliver our goods up to ten miles from Trenton.
The Busy Baker anticipates getting enough baking business to keep him plenty busy. His clientele is already ready and waiting. They've been tempted by dozens upon dozens of delicious samples, passed out by Cliff since returning to Trenton to live a little over a year ago, after nearly 20 years in Alaska.
"Cliff's baked goods are the best," says Mel Record, who works for Southwest Fertilizer in Trenton. "He brought some by for us to sample the other day. The taste was wonderful. 'Ah,'" I told him, "This is a taste of heaven.'"
The Gazette's news, business and advertising staffs agree. They quickly consumed a big pan of sour cream coffee cake, smiling and licking their lips as they briefly microwaved and quickly ate Cliff's delectable sour cream creation.
Cliff's baking hobby has come full circle. It was born between 1988 and 1993 while Cliff was living in Trenton and teaching special education in Culbertson and Palisade. "To help the Boy Scout Troop and my youth group with fund-raising, I started baking stuff. I always liked baking, which I learned from watching my mother when I was growing up. My father was a minister, so we moved around a lot, and baking was something Mom and I could do where ever we went."
After getting started with baking as a hobby in Hitchcock County, Mr. Bach carried the baking bug with him when he and his wife pursued educational careers in Hoonah, Valdez, and Noorvik, Alaska. That's where he became known as "The Busy Baker," with the Tlinget Indian and Noorvik Eskimo children expressing their affectionate appreciation for his baking and life lessons.
"Our years in Alaska were wonderful but we wanted to come back to be near our children and grandchildren, who live in McCook and Lincoln," Cliff said. The closeness to kids has worked out wonderfully well, with the hopeful success of the baked goods business an added bonus.
The home-based bakery's main line of products is cinnamon rolls, sour cream coffee cake, fruit pies, banana nut bread, white bread, dinner rolls and chocolate chip cookies. Prices range from $2.50 for a dozen dinner rolls to $14 for a dozen cinnamon rolls. Orders are accepted by calling 402-540-5313. If there is something not on the menu that you desire, we would be most happy to try and accommodate you.
We are available now to bake for meetings, conferences, birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, any small gatherings, but especially for anyone at anytime who just wants to satisfy that desire for freshly made home-baked goods.
Cliff and Phyllis live at 112 West B Street in Trenton. "That's where I do all my baking," The Busy Baker said. "I have an oven in the upstairs kitchen, and another oven in the basement if I need it."
If early taste testers are any indication, he's going to need both ovens. His baked creations are melt-in-the-mouth good.