‘We live in a cheese town, but no one was making crackers,’ baker says
Hannah Arnold is a prolific snacker, and that coupled with a lifelong love of baking inspired her to start making crackers. Last summer that grew into starting her own business: Empress Baking Co.
Her first sales were at the Deer District’s summer market, and staples and steady sellers so far include five varieties of crackers and decadent cookies. Now she’s selling from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays as part of the Braise Restaurant booth at Great Lakes Farmer’s Market at Milaeger’s greenhouse, 4838 Douglas Ave., Racine. Additionally, every week she sells online, with orders due by 5 p.m. Friday for Saturday pickups in Walker’s Point.
Arnold, a graduate of Nicolet High School and UW-Madison, lives in Walker’s Point with her husband, Ben Wright.
Becoming a baker
After I graduated college I was working in a coffee shop and got my first baking job. …I’ve done a bunch of iterations, coffee shops to bakeries and restaurants that have a bread and pastry program.
I think 2020 was a big opportunity for a lot of people to reflect. I have fantasized about doing something like this for as long as I can remember, but I’ve been too intimidated by all the logistics and getting it off the ground. I finally just did it, and it doesn’t have to be a big deal.
I started at the Deer District last summer. Cranking out crackers The crackers are the beginning.
My mom’s my No. 1 supporter, and when I first started doing this I was rolling things out on my tiny pasta machine. I could only make things that were five inches wide. For my birthday my mom ordered this Ukrainian pasta maker that is 16 inches, and I can crank out a bit more.
We live in a cheese town, but no one was making crackers. I have five varieties now.
I started with a basic cracker dough that is olive oil based. That’s the base of the majority of the crackers. The one that sold the most this summer was garlic and herb. Then I have a sesame millet, a pretzel cracker with butter in it, and I just added sesame scallion with some East Asian flavors, some dark soy sauce in the dough to give a punch of umami. Then I have a parmesan peppercorn that is like a better Cheez-it.
Salty, sweet, satisfying
I’ve got two cookies I’ve been making. One was just this freak accident. It was a friend’s birthday and I was rushing to make something. I’ll just make a batch of peanut butter cookies. I thought I had chocolate chips and I didn’t, but I had marshmallows. Why not?
It was a bit of a disaster. They exploded all over, but it tasted good. What If I put it inside? It is by far my bestseller. There are like four ounces of peanut butter in each cookie, and that’s been really popular.
The other cookie is just an oatmeal walnut chocolate chunk. … I firmly believe everything should be sweet and salty. If you can have the best of both worlds, why wouldn’t you?
Beyond crackers and cookies
On my website I have a section if you’re dreaming up something and you want to collaborate, I am open to special orders.
I had this experience this summer and a friend ran into someone at the grocery store. A wedding cake baker backed out at the last minute and her wedding was in two days. Can you do it? I figured it out.
In support of snacks
I’m a lifelong passionate snacker. My goal is to do without a bunch of questionable additives and weird stuff and food dyes. Who knows what long-term effect those have on your body? We don’t need to eat them. Then it is about sharing that.
My favorite part of baking is always the part where you share it with other people.
Becoming Empress Baking Co.
That was one of those cosmic things. I spent weeks developing recipes and thinking about things with grains in the name. I was talking with someone saying I have wanted to do this for so long, and I know I can do this.
I’m not a big tarot aficionado, but the art appeals to me. I’ve never gotten into it, though I have a book and was paging through it after this conversation. I happened upon the Empress card. This book has a poem that goes with every card. The end of the poem is “All is well you knew you could.” She’s sitting in a field of wheat, and one of the secondary meanings is “for success in a new adventure.”
It was like the stars aligned. Empress Baking Company kind of chose me.
Her comfort food
I’m a sucker for Cafe India, like he knows my phone number when I call. It is right down the street from my house, and it is so consistently good.
What fuels her
This is two parts of me, being creative and making connections with people. My day job two days a week is working as a physical therapist assistant in the Oconomowoc School District. There is no question you are putting your energy into someone else and there is a return, but at the end you can feel depleted.
I have those other days to recharge in my kitchen and go back refreshed.
Looking ahead
My husband is a cabinet maker. The big plan down the road is he’ll make the boards and we’ll do some nice things together.
Where to find her
Braise needed help at the Milaeger’s market in Racine. I’ll be there every Sunday. I also just opened up a pre-order and pickup in Walker’s Point every Saturday. I am coming up with ways, even though I don’t have my own spot right now.
Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables (within the food community and without) have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email psullivan @gannett.com. For more information on Empress Baking Co., see empressbaking-co.square.site.