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Business & Tech

Brecksville Bakers Serve Up the Pumpkin

Bakers at Creekside Restaurant give a peek at their Thanksgiving work.

Thanksgiving usually brings a lot of food and, of course, a lot of pie. Following up a filling turkey dinner with pumpkin pie is a popular tradition in America, said Matt Harper, owner.  

For some, that pie makes a busy holiday a crazy-busy holiday. The bakers at Creekside sometimes have work start at midnight the days before Thanksgiving.

Cranking out more than 100 pies in a matter of days can be taxing work.

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“People are constantly placing orders, you just never know what to expect,” said Creekside baker of 8 and a half years, Heidi Pittman, who describes holidays as hectic and exciting.

Pittman teams up with co-worker, Sally Kwait, to get the baking done. Kwait is a Creekside newbie—only eight months into her time at the restaurant. Both bakers have been in the craft at least five years; for Pittman it’s 18. So, when the pie rush comes, the ladies know the drill when making their from-scratch creations.

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“We actually are measuring out the flour, sugar and eggs as opposed to buying a mix and just adding water to it,” Kwait said.

Thanksgiving is everything pumpkin. The two bake many pumpkin-themed items such as cheesecake, rolls, cassata cake and cannoli, said general manager Mark Murray—self-titled pumpkin roll connoisseur. For cannoli, they trade the chocolate chips with white chips and add in pumpkin. Coming in every morning for work means these fresh-baked goods are for anyone dining at or carrying out from Creekside.

“It’s nice to be able to give people that home-baked flavor,” Kwait said. “But they don’t have to home-bake it and spend that time doing that."

In case you do plan on taking a crack at baking Thanksgiving week, the bakers have a couple tips.

“Always read through your recipe first before you start anything,” Kwait said. “Then dive in.”

Pittman agreed and also recommended setting the timer for less than the recipe requests.

“You can always add to it, you can’t take away,” she said.

One important thing to take away from what Creekside does for the holidays comes from the owner.

“It’s really just to provide customers a way to make their lives a little bit easier,” Harper said, “whether it’s providing them parts of a meal or dessert or whatever it might be.”

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