When Rachel L. Koch couldn’t find a Jewish bakery or deli after she moved to Bend in 2021, she chose to launch her own.

Rachel’s Bakery is a Jewish bakery that sells classic challah and babka, in addition to dark chocolate babka, ribboned with velvety, single-origin dark chocolate ganache and lemon zest and flaky chocolate rugelach with creamy chocolate hazelnut.

Koch found early success with her bakery, originally named West Coast Babka. She sold out at her first market, then her second. The demand kept growing and she was shipping across the country, including to New York, she said.

“I was really not sleeping. I was baking all the time and just trying to keep up

with demand, but then demand never stopped growing.  So, at some point, a few years into it. I got burnt out. And so I took a year off,” said 27-year-old Koch.

After taking a year off, Koch has found her way back to baking. This time around though, she’s growing more sustainably, rather than keeping up with demand.

However, the hours are still long. Last week, Koch worked from 5 a.m. until midnight daily in preparation for the Mother’s Day event at Schilling’s Garden Market, where she sold out by noon on Saturday and Sunday.

Baking for others

Despite all the time Koch dedicates to baking, she can’t eat the babka or challah she makes. She has a sensitivity to gluten and dairy due to Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune condition she’s had since the age of 7. But that doesn’t stop her from making it for others.

“I just love feeding people. I think that’s what really brings me the most joy is when someone eats something that I make and they enjoy it. That’s what keeps me going,” Koch said.

Koch’s babka has stirred up nostalgia for some customers, who remember their mother’s or grandmother’s baking.

The Jewish baker inherited her love of the craft from her grandmother, from whom she was also handed down Crohn’s.

“She was a huge food pusher,” Koch said of her grandmother. “While we were eating any meal, she’d be like, ‘Can I get you some nuts? Can I get you something else? What else can I bring you?’”

Koch’s baked goods are available for purchase at Bodega Market in downtown Bend and Shimshon at The Grove in NorthWest Crossing and delivered by 2 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays. Deliveries are also made to Central Oregon Locavore on Wednesdays. Koch will have a booth at the NorthWest Crossing Farmers Market, which begins May 31.

Details

What: Rachel’s Bakery 

Location: Delivers to: 

• Bodega Market, 915 NW Wall St., Bend (Wednesdays and Fridays)
• Shimshon at The Grove, 921 NW Mount Washington Drive, Bend (Wednesdays and Fridays)
• Central Oregon Locavore, 1841 NE Third St., Bend (Wednesdays)
• NorthWest Crossing Farmers Market, NW Crossing Drive, Bend (Saturdays, May 31-Sept. 27)

Contact: rachelsbaked.com, facebook.com/rachelsbakeryco and @rachelsbakery.co on Instagram

Price Range: $7-$30