GENTRY -- Just in time for this coming fall, a new bakery and deli named Honeywheat is serving sweet treats, bakery goods and deli sandwiches to Gentry residents and nearby neighbors, and the owner, Miriam Yoder, is preparing to serve some of her favorites to local customers.
Before the Honeywheat bakery opened for business at 225 S. Gentry Blvd., the house at the location had changed hands numerous times. Once, it was a residential house that was converted into a hair salon business called the "Kut & Kurl Family Salon." Later, the "Caswell and Company Bakery and Coffee shop" bought the house and remodeled it.
Together, Yoder and Jenna Klassen reinvigorated the house by adding some custom touch-ups like painting and redecorating. Klassen is the owner of Copper & Cream Catering, which shares the same building as Honeywheat because it is helpful to both companies.
"It's mostly during the day and evening type of thing," Yoder said. "For the bakery, you have to bake everything in the morning, so we're done with the kitchen by 10 a.m. And then by that time, [Klassen] comes in ... and can take over and do her thing."
Honeywheat has a variety of freshly baked goods such as breads, muffins and cookies. It also offers other culinary delights like deli sandwiches and quiche.
Some of the recipes are Yoder's own take on classics. She takes a familiar taste and revamps it to add her own flare to her creations, she said.
"It's just whatever we feel like making," she said. "Just odds and ends of what we've picked up here or there. I've been in the food industry for the last 10 years. And so, you just kind of pick up a little bit of what people really want."
Some of these recipes are close to home.
"The bread recipes, I got from my mom ... and the sugar cookies are actually my grandma's recipe. That's a really big hit."
Yoder says she is "so shocked over how people rave over the sandwiches" and it makes her "so happy." But the reason their sandwiches are so popular is that they bake fresh bread every day and slice the meat and cheese in the morning. "It does make a difference," she said.
Despite the bakery's variety of breads, there is one bread that stands above all: the jalapeno cheese bread. The jalapeno cheese bread is the best seller, and the bakery can't keep enough of it on the shelf, Yoder said.
Yoder says her "favorite part" about running the bakery is getting to see people enjoy her food and the association that comes with it, especially from the elders in the community.
"I just love it when people are so excited about a baked good," she said. "You know everyone has their favorite items and they're just so delighted to have it, and we actually have a lot of elderly grandmas and grandpas that come in and they're just so happy."
Honeywheat is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Honeywheat's Facebook page provides updates on new items and specials.
For more information or special orders, customers can also call the Honeywheat bakery at 479-525-6010.
Baked French toast is one of the offerings at Honeywheat in Gentry. (Special to NWA Democrat-Gazette/Olivia Reed)
Honeywheat in Gentry offers deli sandwiches with a wide variety of meats and cheeses. (Special to NWA Democrat-Gazette/Daniel Bereznicki)