Morehead siblings open bakery next to family's restaurant

Siblings Kelly and Paul Bishop grew up making pizzas and sandwiches, but now they're baking pies and cakes.

Their parents, Jan and Tom Bishop, bought Pasquale's Pizza & Pasta in Morehead in 1989. Because Kelly and Paul wanted to attend culinary school and had a passion for baking, Jan promised her hard-working daughter and son that she would put in a bakery at the restaurant when they finished school and on-the-job training.

The pair graduated from the Baking and Pastry Arts program at Sullivan University's National Center for Hospitality Studies in Louisville.

Paul, 35, received on-the-job training at The Seelbach Hilton Hotel in Louisville, the Biltmore Forest Country Club in Asheville, N.C., and the Inn on Biltmore Estate. Kelly, 31, followed her brother to Asheville and worked at the Bistro at the Biltmore's winery.

When the siblings returned home, their mother kept her promise. In December, the family opened The Bakery on Main, next to the restaurant.

With help from Tim Harman of the C. Worth restaurant-supply company in Lexington, Kelly and Paul built their dream kitchen. They perfected their bread recipes first and filled the cases with cookies and desserts made from old family recipes.

Each work day, they bake dozens of loaves of country wheat, cracked wheat and cinnamon raisin bread, plus pretzels. On Wednesdays, they make rye bread that's used at Pasquale's for Reuben sandwiches. focaccia and semolina are made on Thursdays, and Fridays are for challah breads.

Most of the desserts are made in individual servings because the bakery serves many Morehead University students and downtown workers. Whole pies and cakes are made to order.

The bakery is one of a few places in Central Kentucky that makes gelato, which has less fat than premium ice creams, which are made with fresh cream and have air whipped in. Gelato has no air added. The Bishops also make sorbetto, a more intense Italian version of sorbet.

"Several years ago, I discovered gelato in a tiny little town in western North Carolina and really liked it," Jan said. "We've had the machine to make it at Pasquale's for a long time. When we opened the bakery, we moved it over here."

As the bakery business increases, the Bishops are adding items.

"We're slowly bringing in new things. We started small because we didn't want to overwhelm ourselves," Kelly said. "We've got the breads going."

As simple as doughnuts are to make, these accomplished pastry chefs, with their command of the chemistry of chocolate and expertise in stretching and pulling hot sugar into delicate designs, haven't tackled them yet.

"I don't know why, but we don't have that up and running," Kelly said.

Kelly attributes the bakery's success to the reality that "a lot of people can cook, but not a lot of people can bake."

The bakery is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Paul and Kelly usually split the work hours, with Kelly taking the morning shift after she drops off daughter Madison, 10, at school. Madison is "learning the ropes," her grandmother said. She's measuring ingredients, folding boxes and wrapping products.

Kelly and Paul share business decisions, and sometimes sibling rivalry comes into play, but "by and large, they get along really well," Jan said.

"It has its good moments and bad moments," Kelly said.

When things get tough, it's Jan who steps in. "I'm still the mom."

This story was originally published October 13, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Morehead siblings open bakery next to family's restaurant."