Although Marc Jalbert had a background in graphic design, he desired a job where he didn’t have to sit behind a computer.
So he left his home in Maine 20 years ago and took a road trip along the East Coast to search for the perfect location to set up a bakery.
However, with little to no background in the baking business, Jalbert didn’t want to locate himself near other artisan-style cafes, which he found farther south.
It wasn’t until a friend of his spoke of Gettysburg and all it had to offer that Jalbert visited the borough. He felt it had many desirable features and it held a promising outlook.
In 1996, Jalbert introduced his artisanal breads and baking style to the community. Now celebrating 20 years in the business, he owns the successful Gettysburg Baking Company located right in center square.
Customers are greeted with an array of sweet pastries as soon as they walk through the door. Loaves of homemade bread are located directly behind the counter, freshly delivered from the company’s production location in Biglerville.
Cinnamon raisin brioche, pecan raisin, seeded twist, focaccia and cranberry walnut are just a few of the breads Jalbert and his baker, Ben Muller, create.
Jalbert considered himself a little naïve when he began his bread-baking business, thinking, “There’s only four ingredients, how tough can it be?” But he quickly learned it was a complex system that involved fermentation, flour chemistry, oven management, timing issues and finding the right temperature.
Muller and Jalbert spend their days creating bread by mixing dough and finishing the process with resting, shaping and cooling, Jalbert said.
Sweet goodies created by pastry chef Sheila Luckenbaugh range from flavored sticky buns to apple handpies and danishes.
Luckenbaugh grew up baking, she said, and holds a pastry arts degree from culinary school. She’s had experience in everything from country clubs and catering to fine dining.
She joined Jalbert at the Gettysburg Baking Company about four years ago and takes the lead on all the sweets and runs the store on the square.
Her pastry menu has more flexibility to change, Jalbert said. For example, Jalbert has used a sweet brioche dough base, folded raisins into it and shaped it into a different twist instead of its usual form.
But the bread menu stays the same, as he utilizes certain base dough to create variations.
His French bread formula provides a base for making baguettes, seeded twist and focaccia, whereas his sourdough base can transform into multigrain bread or something sweeter by adding fruit and nuts.
“You try to do this so you’re not reinventing the wheel for every single bread,” Jalbert said. “You try to find ways to elaborate from something basic.”
In addition to breads and pastries, the baking company also offers sandwiches and deli-case items such as house-made soups and artisanal cheeses.
Although Jalbert has been baking bread for 20 years, the Gettysburg Baking Company on Lincoln Square took some time to find its location.
He started with a shop at the lower end of York Street in Gettysburg and then moved into a building on Chambersburg Street. But he had the last straw and burned out.
Yet a few years later, he knew he still wanted to bake. So he took some business courses, created a plan and finally found a location in Biglerville in 2008 to begin again.
Jalbert had a plan to use that location strictly to wholesale his breads but then decided it was time to get into retail. So he opened Pomona’s Bakery and Café in the building on East York Street and sold his Gettysburg Baking Company breads there along with other café goodies.
During that time, he’d been looking for a location in Gettysburg. When the space at 17 Lincoln Square became available two and a half years ago, he jumped.
“I wanted the namesake to match the location,” he said.
Fidler & Co. Craft Kitchen & Grocery may be in Jalbert’s old Biglerville location, but he still uses the site for production and delivers all of his and Luckenbaugh’s creations to the Gettysburg shop.
The baking company finally found its home selling breads, pastries, deli items, sandwiches and to-go lunches in the heart of the borough.
Guests can enjoy their meals and snacks inside the shop or outside on a shared deck area.
“It’s a nice, positive feel when you walk in,” Luckenbaugh said. “It’s a happy place. I want everyone to work as a team. It’s huge—I want everyone to feel welcome.”
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Find Gettysburg Baking Company at 17 Lincoln Square, Gettysburg; phone: (717) 334-2367.
- Photos: Davin Jurgensen
