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THANKS PAST BEHIND THE SCENES OF ONE OF ONTARIO’ MOST POPULAR BAKERIES For the past 45 years, the smell of fresh baked goods have been drifting onto the street from Hank's Pastries... Port Perry's famous little bakery. To find out just where those delicious smells originate, we decided to go behind the scenes at Hank's and see the bakers at work. As if crawling out of bed while it was still dark to visit Ken DeJong and his staff wasn’t bad enough... I learned they'd already been on the job four hours by the time I arrived at 6 a.m. and their day was almost half over. But despite my tardy arrival, Ken and the staff made me feel welcome and the following is an account of the early hours at Hank’s Pastries before the masses arise for another day. The minute I walked through the back door, the unmistakable smell of fresh baked goods wafts through the air, penetrating my nostrils and replacing the dank smell of the cool spring morning outside. This is the back room at Hanks Pastries. The kingdom of Ken De Jong and his staff of two, who get up five nights a week at the ungodly time of 2 a.m. to create some of the most delicious goodies you can imagine. This is the room in which flour is transformed into bread... sweet doughs morph into cinnamon buns... and sugar becomes glaze for mouth watering donuts. Welcome to the “old school bakery,” Ken says as I peek around the corner into a room already buzzing with activity. He’s referring to the fact that he and his staff are all old-time bakers who take great pride in making every- thing by hand in the small bakery. Along one wall on a large bench, mounds of dough rest like beached whales, waiting to be turned into Hank's famous cinnamon buns, while Ken prepares the ingredients to be mixed with the dough. At the other end of the room in front of the large double oven, employee Larry Reurekas checks trays of golden brown dinner rolls almost ready to come out of the oven. The third member of the staff is Debbie Reurekas, Larry’s wife and a full-time employee for the past seven years. Ken says Debbie started part-time help- ing out when she was pregnant, coincidentally the same time his wife Angie was expecti “It was quite a sight back here with two pregnant women,” Ken recalls with a smile. But we regress... Three or four hours after they arrive, the mixing of ingredients and preparations for the day are com- pleted and the baking begins. Bread is the first thing in the oven and it is followed by some of the other more popular items. Of course number one of their five top seller products are their famous cinnamon buns. The same receipe is used today as Ken's father (Hank) used when he opened the bakery 45 years ago. “There’s no sense in changing something that has done so well,” Ken says about the buns. He feels the Please turn to page 18 website: www.focusonscugog.com Bakers Ken DeJong, top roll- ing out dough for cinnamon buns, Larry Reurekas, left, checking the donuts cooking in the deep frier and above, Debbie Reurekas add- ing the yummy icing to the honey dip donuts. Photos by J. Peter Hvidsten FOCUS - MAY 2008 15