By MIKE BEACOM
of The Gazette
One of the downtown businesses that gives the village of Amherst its flavor is Margaret Ballard's scratch bakery.
Consistent with the small, personal stores that line Main Street, Ballard's bakery offers a variety of goods sure to spark childhood memories for those whose mom liked to bake regularly.
In fact, Ballard has many fond recollections of sampling her mother's baking and of the strong bond food has had with her family.
"My dad worked as an apprentice baker while he was going to school," said Ballard. "And my mom was a scratch baker from day one. Baking is definitely in the blood."
Ballard has incorporated her family's passion for baking into her own store.
Her brother, Rich Miller, is a regular employee at the bakery and her parents, Richard and Pauline Miller, and aunt, Barbara Sternik, come in on Saturdays to help with the weekend crowd.
"Saturdays are probably my favorite day because my mom, my dad and my aunt come in to help," said Ballard. "There's no way I could do what I'm doing without the help of my family."
Ballard, who spent the majority of her childhood in Amherst after the family moved from Chicago, was first interested in buying the bakery in 1993 before she and her husband, Cole, moved to Franklin, Tenn. When she found out the bakery had been put up for sale again a few years later, she took a position at the well-known Merridee's Bakery and Restaurant in Franklin, which is located 15 miles from Nashville.
In fall of 2000, the Ballards moved back to Amherst and by November, Margaret's seven-year dream had become a reality.
And, although Ballard's bakery may not have the display space available in many commercial bakeries, she does have an assortment of products bakery lovers are unable to find anywhere else.
Some of the treats that bring in regular visitors from as far as Milwaukee are Ballard's furgosa bread, flop cake and scones.
The furgosa bread was a recipe given to Ballard by a friend and consists of an egg-based dough, garlic, green onion, poppy seed, sesame seed and sharp cheddar cheese.
"It has a big popularity here," said Ballard.
Ballard's flop cake comes from a family streusel cake recipe with a heavy butter crème filling.
"We used to buy them at a bakery in Chicago when we were kids," said Ballard.
Her scones are similar to a sweet biscuit and the Village Bakery offers them in a different flavor each day.
"Next to the cinnamon rolls and our house specialty caramel pecan roll, the scones are our best moving item," said Ballard.
She feels her baked goods are given their unique taste from her Faulds non revolving oven. Faulds, which still makes ovens today, produced the ovens prior to 1938 and only made three of the non revolving style.
"I'm very proud of my oven," said Ballard.
Ballard's products stand out the most because of the way she presents them.
"The thing that makes us unique is that we are a true scratch bakery. It's a dying breed," said Ballard. "You have to be in it for the passion more than the money.
"It's a rewarding feeling every morning to lay out all of the product and be able to say, 'I made all of this.'"
The biggest thrill of all for Ballard is being close to her family and operating the bakery in Amherst. She's also very pleased to be raising her daughter, Gwen, in the community and hopes Gwen's memories of childhood will be as fondly remembered as her own.
"Amherst has so many wonderful people in the community," said Ballard. "Franklin was a very nice town with a strong history. But it wasn't Amherst."