Baking memories at Laconia Village Bakery

LACONIA — While the rest of the world is slumbering, Rachael Marsh is busy in the kitchen. She prepares dough for cookies, cakes, and a variety of sweets to tempt her customers each day. Marsh also begins preparing the specials that hungry customers enjoy on their daily lunch break.

Marsh’s business, which she has owned and operated since 2017 when she was just 25 years old, is extremely popular in the Laconia area and beyond. Her skill at baking and cooking a wide variety of pastries, breads and entrée items comes from years of experience in the kitchen. That business, Laconia Village Bakery, evokes memories of bakeries where customers could buy bread, cookies and other treats.

“I have been baking since I was 3 years old,” she says as she stirs a large saucepan of creamy filling on the stove in the bakery’s kitchen. As she speaks, the kitchen is bustling with the preparations of her staff. No one seems stressed but rather the group works together, one handing peeled and ready-to-cook vegetables to another, while a third worker in the baking area rolls dough and makes cookies. Amid it all Marsh calmly stirs the sauce on the stove for a lunchtime menu and seems undeterred by the fast pace around her.

Marsh trusts her staff, and she intuitively knows what needs to happen to ensure the baked goods, salads, entrees and sandwiches are ready for customers who stop by for coffee and breakfast items when the doors open at 7 a.m., and later for lunch.

Her experience comes from years of working in the kitchen, in culinary school, and later as the owner of Laconia Village Bakery.

“I started baking with my great-grandparents,” Marsh recalls. “I was very young when I started baking, but I loved it. I was always making yeasted breads, doughnuts, and cinnamon rolls.”

Marsh, originally from Deerfield, attended the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vermont, for baking and pastry. She interned for six months in 2010 at the Laconia Village Bakery, which was owned at the time by Kevin Halligan. The beloved bakery was started by Ellen Giguere in 1993, and it has seen a few owners over the ensuing years.

Instead of returning to culinary school, Marsh got valuable on-the-job training and made the choice to stay on at the bakery. As time went on, Halligan recognized her abilities and handed the reigns to Marsh to manage the business.

“Eventually, I went to Lakes Region Community College and took more culinary courses for a year,” she says. Marsh was deep in the world of running the Laconia Village Bakery, when the owner at the time, Jared Champagne, offered to sell her the business. At age 25, Marsh became the owner of Laconia Village Bakery.

It was — and is — a big job, and she recalls, “I was overwhelmed at first, and in 2022, I also got married. I now have a 1-year-old son and two stepsons, so it keeps me busy.”

Marsh always dreamed of someday owning a mom-and-pop store, and Laconia Village Bakery fulfills that dream, while utilizing her skills as a baker.

Arriving at the bakery early each day, Marsh begins work at 4:30 a.m. when she turns the lights on in the kitchen and begins baking. Her work day ends at about 2 to 2:30 p.m.

Out of all the items she makes each day, Marsh is quick to answer when asked what her favorite thing to bake might be. “Bread,” she says with assurance. Perhaps that is because bread making was where she started all those years ago when she baked with her great-grandparents.

“Our customers like the hometown feel of the bakery,” she explains. “We serve breakfast and lunch and we have a lot of repeat customers. They stop by for breakfast items, pastries and also for lunch.”

The menu is extensive and includes salads and sandwiches, as well as items enticing customers such as scones, cookies, cakes, and cinnamon rolls.

“Our lunch specials rotate, and I do most of the baking,” Marsh says while activity hums around her in the kitchen.

With the Christmas season in full swing, the bakery staff are busy with special orders.

“At Thanksgiving we made and sold about 300 pies, and Christmas orders come in during the entire month. For Christmas we fill many orders for fruit tarts, pastries and breakfast items as people entertain overnight house guests.”

Marsh also creates special-order wedding cakes, another skill that requires an ability that could be likened to a blend of expert baking and an ability to create a cake in a sculptural manner.

Old-time bakeries have been around for years, but some ceased to exist as larger stores took over — but the Lakes Region has a little gem with the Laconia Village Bakery. Marsh loves the work, beginning each day long before the sun comes up, while most people are still asleep.

Rolling dough, making pastries and soups and entrees, Marsh has found her dream job. As the owner of Laconia Village Bakery, she has no plans to slow down.

“All I ever wanted to do was bake in a small town with a great community. I plan to do this forever,” she concludes.

Laconia Village Bakery is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon. Visit www.laconiavillagebakery.com.