Meet Our Vendors: Water Tank Bakery
Photo credit: Water Tank Bakery
We are so excited to welcome Water Tank Bakery to the University District Farmers Market starting November 6! Water Tank is an artisan bakery that specializes in naturally leavened bread, made the slow way. One loaf can take 13 hours to make, but it’s the time and care that goes into each loaf that makes them so good.
Owner and head baker, Rachael Sobczak, taught herself how to bake “one lonely winter” after graduating college. She realized her passion for baking and decided to move to Skagit Valley and work at Breadfarm for ten years before she moved on to pursue a masters in order to become a dietician before the pandemic started. Once the lockdowns and economic uncertainty began, it forced her to rethink and she turned back to her skills from Breadfarm and decided to try baking professionally.
She rented a kitchen in June 2020 and started doing a bread CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture program), which totally took off. In November 2020, Rachael received a hearth-style oven from the Tom Douglas Restaurant Group, and with support from her community and a lease right next to a flour mill, Rachael was able to build a commercial bakery space. Water Tank has been very successful, and has been expanding quickly. “I feel so lucky at a time when things are so uncertain and challenging,” Rachael said, expressing gratitude for all of the community support she received in the early days.
Every product that Rachael makes is made with flour from NW-grown grains and is milled at Cairnspring Mills, which is right next door to Water Tank in Skagit. This means that the products are never made with white flour, and that they have higher nutritional content than baked goods that do use bleached flours.
Water Tank specializes in breads, but Rachael occasionally experiments with new cookie recipes, and always has a few cookies and pastries on the menu. Currently, the seasonal menu features cinnamon brioche buns and durum apple cake. Some of the staple menu items include a Skagit wheat loaf, raisin walnut loaf, and a roasted onion loaf.
As the owner of a bakery with only 6 employees, Rachael no longer has a lot of time to experiment. The bakery is still in the early stages of hiring and creating a workflow. Rachael is looking for more staff to come on board. Learn more about joining her team on the Water Tank website.
You can try some of Rachael’s legendary loaves for yourself this Saturday at the University District Farmers Market from 9-2!