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Six years ago, the Artisan Market sprang to life in downtown Brownwood. Now its creator, Rebecca Morelock, has her own brick and mortar bakery, Baked Artisan Goods, which is flourishing.
Baked Artisan Goods, located at 207 East Lee Street, has been open less than a year and has received rave reviews. But Morelock has been baking for the general public since 2015.
“In my home for seven years I have baked artisan breads and pastries, croissants, scones, stuffed pretzels, sourdough breads, homemade marshmallows, and more,” Morelock said.
Regarding the decision to open a downtown store, Morelock said, “Working out of my house required not being able to get away from my house. I only took pre-orders and with pre-orders there’s a lot that goes into it. Having a downtown bakery, a store front, offers me the opportunity to bake what I want each week. People come and if I don’t have it, that’s fine. If I don’t want to make it that week, I don’t make it that week. Plus it’s an awesome building and I wanted to provide a place for people to come and hang out and enjoy their baked goods.”
Baked Artisan Goods is open from 4 to 7 p.m. Fridays, and Morelock explained the store’s schedule.
“That’s the biggest question I get from people,” Morelock said. “I would like to say I don’t have plans of opening more than one day a week. We work all week long, we bake from Monday until Friday when I sell. I have two employees and it requires us to work all week long just to provide enough for the community for the three hours that we’re open. I feel like if we were open any more than that we wouldn’t have as much business, we wouldn’t be able to get it all done. Everything we make is by hand, from scratch, and most of the breads and croissants require 3-4-5 days to make. People don’t understand how much goes into it and why we can’t open more than we do.”
Morelock has, however, started opening the bakery during the 2nd Sunday events in downtown. Though the hours are limited, sellouts have been the norm.
“It’s unbelievable, I can’t even put it into words how much it means to me,” Morelock said in regard to the support she has received from the community. “They come and line up and the line starts an hour before we open. Sundays we have a line for an hour and a half and it’s just unbelievable.”
Being located downtown, and particularly in the building in which Baked Artisan Goods is housed, holds a special meaning to Morelock.
“It’s very important because downtown Brownwood is booming,” Morelock said. “Not only that, but the building that we’re in is the building my in-laws have owned for 15 years, and we purchased it from them this year. It was the first place my husband and I lived together. It’s a full circle 15 years later with us getting this building back, being able to transform it into what it is and being a part of everything that’s going on downtown.”
The first few months of success at Baked Artisan Goods is just the beginning of Morelock’s aspirations.
“I have lots of dreams,” Morelock said. “We’re doing lunch every second Sunday of the month with sandwiches. I would also like to do a breakfast club, I would like to do a dinner club, I would like to expand and have an espresso bar eventually. But that’s all down the road when we get more established.”
Morelock expressed gratitude to her family for supporting her in her business venture.
“My parents, my husband Jared and his parents have all been the biggest help in creating the bakery here,” Morelock said. “They’ve been supportive along the way with equipment and financially and emotionally, across the board.”