TORRINGTON – From pastries drawing inspiration from around the world to family traditions, the Bread Doctor serves the community.
Serving pastries, pies and other goodies for the past four and a half years, and the community through medical needs for long before that, Ezdan Fluckiger and his family are the owners of the Bread Doctor.
During the holidays visitors, to the bakery can find special lines of chocolates in festive flavors and French celebration cakes called Busche de Noel. Busche de Noel, in English, is a Yule log that can be used as an eye-catching centerpiece to become dessert after meals.
“It’s a cake in the shape of a log in the forest and has twigs and berries that are all edible. It’s a chocolate cake with a chocolate tart truffle in it,” Fluckiger said. “We do that every Christmas.”
The Bread Doctor also offers chocolate dipped peppermint shortbread, peppermint crunch brownies and all of the chocolate bark is made in-house.
Always venturing out to new foods to serve the patrons, they are currently working on a peppermint crunch chocolate cupcake filled with a peppermint crunch buttercream and a mint truffle inside.
Fluckiger said, “it’s all of the minty, crunchy holiday kinds of things.”
Along with French inspiration, they also will have some Panettone, an Italian holiday bread and New York Style Cheesecakes available. All of the candied fruit that goes along with their dishes is candied in house as well.
Fluckiger has some help in the kitchen with the recipes that the bakery uses.
“I went to baking school in Bend, Ore., at the International School of Baking, and so I got my formulas from my teacher Marda Stoliar,” Fluckiger said. “There’s a few that I brought from home from my baking experience before the bakery.”
When it comes to the holiday traditions of the family, the Fluckigers spend a lot of time, not just during the holidays but all year round, working in the bakery. Fluckiger said they don’t do much baking at home during the holidays, but they do still bake “stained glass” and spiced cookies during this time. There is a little taste of they Fluckiger family recipe for the holiday season at the bakery. Stepping inside, guests will notice garland strung around and two Christmas trees with twinkling lights.
As far as traditions, there are some cakes that Fluckiger uses at home as well as in the bakery and the decorations are brought into the bakery. While they spend a lot of time a the bakery during the holidays, they find time at home to celebrate with a “Cheese Fest.”
“We get all kinds of cheeses and some salami and use bread from the bakery, or crackers, and we have a couple of cheese nights during the holidays,” Fluckiger said. “It involves game playing, and putting together puzzles and music – lots of music.”
The Fluckigers have some German-rooted traditions like making Latke, which is a potato pancake.
The Fluckigers can also at times be found putting on musical numbers at evening church services and spending time at home with the family. Fluckiger added that Stoliar has been helping him hone his skills at home and has become part of their traditions as well.
Fluckiger said, “Having her here for Christmas has become a fast-growing and well-loved tradition.”
