Go Eat! Award-winning baker sets up in Seattle
What do you do after winning the most prestigious award in baking and pastry?
Open up your own shop.
It's what William Leaman, formerly of Essential Bakery, did in West Seattle.
"I love bread, I love pastry, I love chocolate, I love cake. They all kind of feed off each other. Some people say, 'Well, what's the story? Which one do you like the most? Which one do you like the best?' Well, I love it all," says William, who opened Bakery Nouveau this past December in the former home of Borrachini's.
"I was walking with my wife and there was a sign in the window that said, 'Thank you West Seattle, but it's our last day and thank you for coming.' "
William started baking when he was just 14 years old, going to work for a family friend who owned a bakery in Arkansas.
"I was working at a barbecue pit, basically turning meats and mopping pigs and that kind of stuff, and my dad knew I didn't like it at all so he called his friend and we went to see the bakery and that night I went to work at the bakery. I was like 'that was for me!'"
It was such a natural fit, that William opened his first bakery at the age of 19.
"When you're that young an experience like that is invaluable."
After moving to Seattle in 1996, William quickly scored a job at Salty's on Alki before going to work at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas.
"One of the bellers could come into the pastry shop and say, 'I got a guy here who lost 8 million dollars on a hand of poker and he wants a pecan pie, so let's go!'"
But it was the real Paris, France where William hit the jackpot, leading a team of bakers to win the gold medal at the World Cup of Baking in 2005.
"I think the main reason we won was because of our chemistry," he said. "We worked very, very well together. We complimented each other very well."
After five years as the head pastry chef at Essential, William is working 'round the clock to create his own successful business. He says the trick is offering variety and balance of product.
"You know, give them the products they can identify and relate to but at the same time educate them and say, 'This is a chocolate mousse with a raspberry cream inside with a chocolate sponge cake and it has a nice raspberry glaze on the outside'; just something that's little bit different with a different shape. So, if you're going to a dinner party you can take it and say, 'Look what I have!'"
Places William likes to Go Eat!: Lola, Campagne
For More Information:
Bakery Nouveau
4737 California Avenue SW (a few doors down from Husky Deli)
206-923-0534
M-Th: 6a-7p
F-Su: 7a-7p
Open up your own shop.
It's what William Leaman, formerly of Essential Bakery, did in West Seattle.
"I love bread, I love pastry, I love chocolate, I love cake. They all kind of feed off each other. Some people say, 'Well, what's the story? Which one do you like the most? Which one do you like the best?' Well, I love it all," says William, who opened Bakery Nouveau this past December in the former home of Borrachini's.
"I was walking with my wife and there was a sign in the window that said, 'Thank you West Seattle, but it's our last day and thank you for coming.' "
William started baking when he was just 14 years old, going to work for a family friend who owned a bakery in Arkansas.
"I was working at a barbecue pit, basically turning meats and mopping pigs and that kind of stuff, and my dad knew I didn't like it at all so he called his friend and we went to see the bakery and that night I went to work at the bakery. I was like 'that was for me!'"
It was such a natural fit, that William opened his first bakery at the age of 19.
"When you're that young an experience like that is invaluable."
After moving to Seattle in 1996, William quickly scored a job at Salty's on Alki before going to work at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas.
"One of the bellers could come into the pastry shop and say, 'I got a guy here who lost 8 million dollars on a hand of poker and he wants a pecan pie, so let's go!'"
But it was the real Paris, France where William hit the jackpot, leading a team of bakers to win the gold medal at the World Cup of Baking in 2005.
"I think the main reason we won was because of our chemistry," he said. "We worked very, very well together. We complimented each other very well."
After five years as the head pastry chef at Essential, William is working 'round the clock to create his own successful business. He says the trick is offering variety and balance of product.
"You know, give them the products they can identify and relate to but at the same time educate them and say, 'This is a chocolate mousse with a raspberry cream inside with a chocolate sponge cake and it has a nice raspberry glaze on the outside'; just something that's little bit different with a different shape. So, if you're going to a dinner party you can take it and say, 'Look what I have!'"
Places William likes to Go Eat!: Lola, Campagne
For More Information:
Bakery Nouveau
4737 California Avenue SW (a few doors down from Husky Deli)
206-923-0534
M-Th: 6a-7p
F-Su: 7a-7p