1/9/2008 10:08:00 AM A one-woman bakery, from Romania to PT
Anca Hasson often sold out of baked goods at the Port Townsend Farmers Market. Crystal Hammon helped her at the market last summer. - Photo by Allison Arthur
Anca Hasson started experimenting with melting sugar when she was a girl growing up in Romania. She remembers rations of a half a kilogram - about a pound - of sugar per person a month. And the only nuts available were walnuts from local trees.
Today Hasson owns her own wholesale bakery business, Pastry Design by Anca.
It's a one-woman show, and she's just finished her first successful season with the Port Townsend Farmers Market, where she routinely sold out of baked goods such as pecan toscas, almond croissants and nut tarts with four kinds of nuts, including macadamia.
With the market now closed for the season, Hasson is focusing on serving other customers, including the Seven Cedars Casino, which carries her red velvet cake; the Port Ludlow Inn, which features her almond croissants for breakfast; Provisions and The Food Co-op, both of which carry items picked from her repertoire of about three dozen pastry choices. She also sells to Sunny Farms in Sequim and Mor Mor Bistro in Poulsbo.
Help from Graf
In April, the 35-year-old mother of two bought the bakery equipment and rented space on Seton Road that Gunther Graf had had for years. A master chef who started Ferino's Pizzeria in Port Hadlock, Graf also had sold his pastries at the farmers market. When he sold Hasson his equipment, he threw in some business tips as well.
"He gave me pointers about local people. He was really helpful overall with everything," she said.
Hasson admired his skills as he showed her how he did things. "He's fast. It was like he was 20 years old. It seemed like he was flying through the air with the dough," she said.
What Hasson loves most about being a one-woman show is that "nobody tells you what to do." That said, she also acknowledges that she has a lot of help from family, including supportive husband John, a chef on a tugboat who plans to get his master's license. He both inspires her and supports her, she said.
"Where there's a will there's a way, he always tells me," she said, noting that the two talk about flavors and enjoy coming up with ideas together.
Family members from Romania come to live with her at her home in Port Hadlock for six months at a time so that her two young daughters are always with family.
"It's nice to have the family," she said, "It reminds me a lot of my childhood to have my daughters speak my language."
Her father came to help her last summer, and although he couldn't speak English, he understood enough of what customers wanted so he could help her at the market. "He was handing out business cards and always smiling. He can fix anything."
Romanian home
"It's got so much potential," Hasson said of her business. She figures she can make almost three times as much as she would if working for someone else.
After the market on Saturdays, she said she would often go to the bakery to "assess the damage" and then decide to get baking on Sunday to replenish her supplies. When she bakes is up to her. She also packages and markets all the goodies.
"Being on your own, you have so much freedom. I don't have to call in and say I'm going to be a little late. You can determine your schedule," she said.
Hasson also admits that putting in just an eight-hour day doesn't make her feel as if she's accomplished much. She often puts in 10 hours a day with her chef husband pitching in with dinner, a meal she feels is important for the family to share.
Expanding the business is not on the agenda for now, since that would entail hiring an employee.
As she watched over some key lime curd that had yet to set, Hasson also talked about her roots.
Born and raised in Romania, Hasson's knack for sugary treats emerged early. "I've always melted sugar and experimented with ingredients when my mom was not at home," she said. "I'd have to be fast and finish before she got home."
One of one of her first creations was a praline. "There were not a lot of fancy ingredients like I have now."
Hasson remembers the cookbook her mother used. It had a photo of a traditional Romanian woman on the cover. She started with easy recipes and fed the results to her brother, who ate everything with a cup of coffee. He didn't complain.
By the time she was 12, her mother was inviting her to make éclairs for the family meal.
"Everything was from scratch. The economy over there is difficult," she said. "My parents were frugal. The ends of the apple strudel, I try not to waste. You never throw anything away.
Nursing choice
Hasson's mother was a nurse, and she was expected to follow in her mother's footsteps. In fact, she graduated from high school and from a nursing program that coincided with that education. As the top student in her class, she had first pick of what she wanted to specialize in. She opted to work in obstetrics and deliver babies. She helped deliver five or six babies but didn't enjoy nursing.
Shortly after starting at a hospital, she was invited by her father's sister, who was living in Alaska, to come live and study in the United States. The University of Alaska was interested in diversity, and Hasson was accepted into a nursing program there.
For fun and extra money, she worked at a bakery called Café Europia, where she said she learned a lot from a pastry chef from South America who taught her how to make roses for birthday cakes and butter cream frostings.
She also had her own small bakery in a mall in Anchorage. Quality, not quantity, has been a continuing focus, she said. Her calling card for Pastry Design by Anca says: "When quality and elegance count."
"I would rather make one item awesome and great than a lot of something. If it's not up to my standards, I wouldn't buy it or have anyone else eat it."
Anca loves baking so much that she made her own wedding cake and her own baby-shower cake. Her daughter Isabella, 6, looks forward to birthdays because of mom's baking skills.
And that could be the future as well.
"I wouldn't be surprised that as soon as she could reach the stove, she tries something," Hasson said. "But she also told me she wants to be a doctor for animals."
Hasson plans to return next spring to the farmers market, where she was surprised by her success.
"Just to see the same customers come back day after day - even when the weather was bad they'd show up. It was like everybody was supportive of everybody."
(Contact Allison Arthur at aarthur@ptleader.com.)
Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, April 13, 2009
Article comment by:
Amanda Hammon
I have tasted Anca's fine pastery's before and I can personally say that I have never in my life tasted anything so trully amazing. She really does work wonders with her food. I watch the food network all the time and I think that she should defenetly compete in a compotition. This woman is truly amazing.
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