Bakery manager preps for Pi Day, and numerous other vegan endeavors
Mastering the art of the pie was Jesska Nava’s first venture into vegan baking at East Side Ovens. It’s been more than a decade, and she’s now the bakery manager and baker.
She still loves pie.
With that in mind, she’s celebrating Pi Day on March 14 by making pies and mini pies. Though the wholesale bakery’s retail shop in Cudahy is typically open only on Sundays, Pi Day has become incredibly popular. Pies and mini pies will be available at East Side Ovens’ bakery from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, March 12, and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 14.
Nava, a familiar face to East Side Ovens customers at the South Shore Farmers Market each summer, not only bakes the pies and other desserts at the vegan bakery, she’s added both tamales and chili to the take-home meals (including pot pie and curry) available in the cooler weekly.
East Side Ovens bakery shop, 5430 S. Packard Ave., Cudahy, is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays. People can call and place orders for pickup at the bakery as well.
She started by cleaning, then learned 'baking and making'
When I first started working here, I was the cleaner. I was just looking for a part-time job. I’d just had a child and wanted something close to my house. The bakery used to be located in Bay View, and that was a 10 minute walk from my house. I had an interview with Amanda, the owner. I liked her, and she hired me.
I was the cleaner for a few months, then I decided I could learn everything that was going on around me. I started with finishing, things like frosting and packing. Then I was trained to make pies and muffins. We moved (the bakery) to Cudahy and I just started baking and making.
What she wants you to know
Everything we make is by hand, and it does not have preservatives. It is all vegan.
The first thing she learned was pie dough
The first recipe I learned here was making pie dough. We make a very large batch, as in one batch makes 150 pies. Everything we do here is large. We are a production bakery. Most of our business is wholesale. When I make something, I make large quantities.
Vegan bakery is for anyone
We’re a vegan bakery. Our pie crust, you use a shortening, flour, salt, sugar and water. I know people used to use lard, but that is actually very expensive. I’m not vegan, but we are a dedicated vegan bakery and I take pride in that.
There are so many people that don’t just choose it as a lifestyle, but they are allergic to something. I have to make sure everything I make is 100% vegan. I have learned about different sugars, food colorings that we can’t use. There is a lot of knowledge that goes into this. One of the cooler things is learning how to veganize things.
Beyond the baked goods are vegan tamales, pot pies
One of the things I came up with on my own and "veganized" is a family recipe. I am Mexican American. My family makes tamales for Christmas every year. I veganized those and we started selling those in the bakery. That is one of the things I am really proud to have done. The tamales sell really fast, and I try to have them as often as I can. I’m the only person who makes them, so it is fitting them in the schedule.
I also make take and bake items, and we have a cooler for those. That includes the vegan tamales, a vegetable pot pie, veggie sloppy joe, a vegan curry, and a chili. I just created the recipe for the chili, the newest thing on the menu. I just put that on the menu about two weeks ago.
On Sundays, they splurge on doughnuts
On Sundays we also sell doughnuts. We only sell those out of the store. We try to find fun things, gummies without gelatin, vegan sprinkles. I was making my own sprinkles here for a bit, but it was very time consuming and it hurts your wrist a lot. I ended up finding some vegan options on Amazon.
Early influences are all about her family
I grew up with a mom who cooked almost every day of the week, everything from scratch. I have four siblings. My mom was a stay at home mom till I was in middle school, then she worked at Potawatomi Bingo Casino as a salad chef for years. Everybody in my family is chefs, so there’s a lot of good food. We all know how to cook.
She learned a lesson about moving too quickly
The biggest thing, especially making such large quantities here, is to take your time. I would find myself wanting to rush or not double check the recipe. Just one little off thing can ruin a whole batch. Slow down, take your time, and double check everything.
Her favorite recipe to make is brand new
In the bakery right now, we came up with a recipe for churro shortbread cookies. The cookie melts in your mouth and it has lots of cinnamon sugar.
My favorite recipe is any new recipe, because we make the same stuff every day as long as I've worked here. So to taste anything brand new I am very excited.
Simple switches help save money
Eggs are so expensive right now. There are actually lots of alternatives. We use applesauce or banana puree to replace eggs. That is a really good tip, because eggs are so expensive, but just a teaspoon of banana or applesauce can replace egg.
There are also so many vegan butters now, and some are just as good as regular butter! That’s especially nice if you're trying to cut cholesterol. Actually, now there is a good plant based option for everything, but using the applesauce and banana is easy and not expensive.
Cudahy has vegans covered
Down the street from us Twisted Plants opened. I was a little apprehensive about them in Cudahy. Everyone loved it, and they opened another location on Brady Street. That was so cool to see them move in, grow and get another location. This area, now we have just in a small area Charleston Cafe, Twisted Plants, X-Ray Arcade does vegan pop-up brunches, and then us, all catering to vegans.
More:Vegan restaurant Twisted Plants plans second location on Milwaukee's Brady Street
Where to find the baked goods
We go from Kenosha to Madison. Our biggest retailers are Woodman’s, Outpost, and the Metcalfe markets in Wauwatosa and Madison. We sell to Beerline Cafe, Layton Fruit Market, Health Hut, Beans & Barley, Koppa’s on the east side, a coffee shop called Blum at the Bluemel’s garden shop. We go to Madison’s Willy Street co-op, then a coffee shop called Mother Fool’s.
We also recently started selling to Charleston Cafe in Cudahy, and recently added St. Luke’s and Froedtert and back at Good Harvest in Pewaukee.
Vegan varieties include cookies, cupcakes, fruit dumplings
We have 10 different varieties of cookies. We make muffins, cupcakes, something called fruit dumplings. Actually, that is probably our bestselling item. It is like a miniature hand pie with frosting on top. We also make pies, brownies and cakes. People can custom order special occasion cakes, and we do wedding cakes. That is not something a lot of people call and order, but the owner, Amanda (Maierhafer), is amazing at decorating.
Her indulgence is a fruit dumpling
The thing I still want all the time is a cherry fruit dumpling. It is one of the things I still crave after working here so long.
Also, on Sundays we sell yeast doughnuts. I love just a good chocolate doughnut with sprinkles. Vegans don't often get doughnuts, so a lot of people come out for those. We also just celebrated Mardi Gras and I made paczki.
Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables (within the food community and without) have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email psullivan@gannett.com.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: East Side Ovens in Cudahy ready for Pi Day with vegan bakery items
