Expats

Recipe for career change

By Todd Balazovic (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-26 13:30

Jennifer Yeh went from the frenetic lifestyle of a TV commercial producer in downtown Manhattan to the owner of a small artisan bakery on the fringe of Beijing's Shunyi district almost entirely on a whim.

The 41-year-old Taiwan-born owner of Boulangerie Nanda says the transition from the fast-paced world of TV to the quiet work of baker was not as big a leap as many would think.

"The lifestyles aren't so different," she said, smiling as she dusted bits of flour from her white baker's coat. "As a producer I liked the amount precision required and I liked the challenge of putting out fires as I went along."

Baking a loaf of handcrafted bread, she says, requires just as much precision.

Though the fires are metaphorical, every day she faces different obstacles.

Yeh began her passion for baking in the mid-1990s while working as a producer in Manhattan. Concerned that she wasn't getting proper nutrition in her diet, she started experimenting with recipes as a way to relieve stress.

When she first started out, Yeh says she would have never conceived of doing it for a living. But when her family moved Beijing in 2006 she says it was almost impossible to find a "small, homey" bakery that turned out artisan bread.

So, as someone who's used to taking command of a situation, she made her own.

"Sometimes an unexpected turn in life can leave you with a new profession," she said. "It was a calling and baking was the thing."

Artisan bread is defined as a handcrafted, organic product made by a skilled baker who has an understanding of the chemistry and conditions that underlie the process, which though ancient, remains remarkable.

"We're at the opposite end of the spectrum from supermarket bread," Yeh said holding up her hands. "It's all here."

Using as many local ingredients as she can, including flour from a small mill owned by a farming couple in Hubei province, Yeh says she makes it a point to try and visit the source of all of her ingredients.

"I don't use anything that I don't know. Even with the things I do know, I have to be skeptical," she said.

Yeh says her most prized baked good, one that is the biggest hit among both Chinese and expat customers, is her clove-shaped Walnut raisin bread.

She first tasted the bread at small bakery nestled on a side street near her apartment in Manhattan.

After arriving in China she reconstructed the recipe solely though what she remembered from eating it.

"It took me two months to perfect that recipe - I made it from memory (of the taste)," she says.

Though her breads are more expensive than other shops, ranging anywhere from 10 yuan for a basic loaf of wheat to 30 yuan for French country bread, she says that people are paying for quality.

"You pay for the passion, and you get every penny's worth," she said.