This is the first morning in over a month that I’ve felt moved to write. An urge strong enough to pull me away from the kitchen, grab my computer, and steal a table outside to scribble out my thoughts. It’s our fourth Sunday morning here at the bakery I opened in July, Saison, and there is a steady stream of now-familiar faces—something I truly couldn’t have imagined just a few weeks ago. The counter is filled with bakes straight from the oven, the room humming with the rhythm of a schedule that finally feels a little more settled. For a brief moment, I exhaled.
I opened my first bakery on July 11. Tucked onto a sunny corner in Bed-Stuy, big windows and café seats line the sidewalk, and flowers peek out from every corner. When you walk through the door, you’re welcomed by warm, buttery bakes, ripe stone fruits cooking down into jam, our orange blossom candle softly burning, and vintage treasures I’ve sourced over the years displayed on our antique hutch. It’s welcoming, sweet, a little bit whimsical—and after six years of baking out of my apartment, it feels like the most beautiful fever dream.
Photo: Kate S. Jordan
The bakery has been years in the making: dreaming, plotting, planning, and, most importantly, baking. Saison started during COVID as a project to keep my anxious hands busy, and a way to offer comfort to friends, family, and strangers in the only way I knew how—a homemade treat. I had no business plan or goal behind it, but it felt right. I instantly became obsessed, constantly thinking about the next thing I wanted to bake or try, waking up excited to get into the kitchen, and I still do. So I kept with it, and slowly and organically, Saison grew.
As a self-taught baker, I’ve learned nearly everything on the fly. There is a freedom in having no formal training—I don’t necessarily know how things are “supposed” to be done, so I tend to just follow my gut. But for a long time, this came with a pretty healthy dose of imposter syndrome. I’d hear the occasional condescending question from people who had opened food establishments before: Do you really know what you’re signing up for? The honest answer was always: Probably not. I don’t think anyone can fully know what they’re signing up for when they take a leap like this, but at some point, you just have to trust yourself and go for it.
