Saltine Baking Company making bread worth crying over - Action News
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SaskatchewanREGINA BITES

Saltine Baking Company making bread worth crying over

Saltine Baking Company isnt about cookies and cupcakes; it is a savoury-driven bakery. Owner and head baker Ashley Schamlenberg wanted to differentiate her business from the existing bakeries in town. She was also a cook before she learned to bake, working in fine dining and developing a passion for farm-to-table cuisine.

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A woman in an apron stands in front of shelves filled with loaves of bread.
Ashley Schmalenberg has been operating the Saltine Baking Company at its current location, 3904 Gordon Rd. in Regina, since 2018. (Allan Pulga)

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Ashley Schmalenberg recalls a customer walking into her Regina bakery andannouncing she was having a terrible day.

"I just need to go eat this bread in my car and have a cry," she told the staff.

So, they cut up a loaf, buttered a slice, and sent her out to the parking lot with freshly baked comfort.

She isn't the only one to have shed a tear over Saltine Baking Company goods.

"I cried over this bread yesterday because it wasn't working," said Schmalenberg, the owner and head baker of the shop at 3904 Gordon Rd. in the city's south end.

"I like the challenge of bread," she said. "I like the physical process of it. I like being up and on my feet. I don't think I could work an office job."

Loaves of bread sit on wire shelves.
Ashley Schmalenberg says she enjoys the simplicity of bread and the triumph over its unpredictability. (Allan Pulga)

Saltine isn't about cookies and cupcakes; it is a savoury-driven bakery. Schmalenberg wanted to differentiate her business from the existing bakeries in town, many of which specialize in sweets.She was also a cook before she learned to bake, working in fine dining and developing a passion for farm-to-table cuisine.

Schmalenberg didn't have enough money for culinary school, so she learned on the job. Her first gig was in 2010, cooking at Tangerine in Regina. She credits owner Aimee Schulhauser with introducing her to the culinary world, especially because Tangerine's menu changes daily. She accumulated binders of recipes, cut-outs from magazines and cookbooks.

"It was a way for me to get to taste so much new stuff that I had never had before because I grew up eating pretty basic, like meat and potatoes, at home," said Schmalenberg. "I didn't know salads could be anything more than iceberg lettuce and Thousand Island dressing."

Next, she cooked at The Willow (before it rebranded as Bar Willow), an experience that exposed her to a lot of local producers who were featured on the menu.

A plate of four pastries.
Schmalenberg served me four items, all of which have an interesting farm-to-table story and feature ingredients made from scratch at Saltine: a pecan frangipan and pear butter galette; a sauerkraut and cheddar turnover; a pickled radish, dill and feta scone; and a housemade mustard and gruyre croissant. (Allan Pulga)

In 2013, she joined a former Tangerine co-worker and pastry chef, Lesia Matheson in Lumsden, Sask., at Fourth & James Bakery, which is now closed. Schmalenberg absorbed everything she could about baking, and started teaching herself how to make bread.

"I started making sourdough and things like that and got kind of obsessed with that on my own time," she said.

She found she enjoys the simplicity of bread and the triumph over its unpredictability.

"It's only three ingredients flour, water and salt, and then the culture but it can change. We've been doing this for years and yet every week, we're trying to figure out the bread. There are so many determining factors like the environment, where we live, the temperature changing and the culture rising slower or faster some days than others. But I like the challenge of trying to find some consistency in a product that seems so easy."

A woman in an apron stands in front of shelves of baking and jars of preserves.
Saltine sources as much fruit as they can in late summer and early fall, then they preserve what they don't use for winter. Schmalenberg made a lot of contacts working at the Regina Farmers Market, and those products are still used in Saltine baking today. (Allan Pulga)

In 2014, her obsession led her to bake bread and sell it at the Regina Farmers' Market. It was hectic at first. She took a pastry chef position at The Willow and baked after hours in Lumsden, hauling the bread home overnight to sell at themarket on her days off.

Eventually, she quit her job at The Willow to focus on making bread full-time. She ran Saltine out of her house for a few years, selling her baking at themarket and taking on a few restaurant supplier contracts. She built connections with many growers whose produce you find freshly baked into her wares today.

Four people in aprons stand behind a counter in a small shop.
Saltine feels timeless. There is antique artwork on the walls, as well as old cookie tins and housewares on the shelves. There is also a bookshelf full of cookbooks. Schmalenberg assures me there are many more at home, and she cycles them in and out, in some cases seasonally. She is a true student of the game. (Allan Pulga)

Four years ago, Schmalenberg opened her storefront on Gordon Road. She spends part of the week baking for the nearly dozen local businesses she partners with, and the latter half open to walk-in customers,many of whom have become fiercely loyal.

"We have customers that immigrated from Germany or Eastern European countries who are like, 'I haven't had bread like this since I was last home,'" said Schmalenberg. "It's amazing."

She has another customer whose young daughter plays kitchen at home and pretends she is running Saltine.

One loaf or buttery pastry at a time, Schmalenberg and her staff continue to make meaningful connections with the community.

"We're just trying to be good to one another," she said.

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