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Family recipes help her make bread
BREAD--New-Biz-Pic1
Michelle Gallon fills up a rack of her fresh-baked break for customers at Michelle’s Golden Brown Breads – located at 273 W. Louise Ave. The business opened up last week, and specializes in home-style treats, sweets and desserts. - photo by JASON CAMPBELL
Michelle Gallon’s fresh-baked breads aren’t new to Manteca residents.

For the last three years, her homemade treats were available every week at the Downtown Manteca Farmer’s Market, and she has sub-leased space in some local businesses so that she can sell her delectable favorites to customers that loved her approach to baking.

Now that Michelle’s Golden Brown Breads is up and running at 273 W. Louise Ave., Gallon hopes to reach out to an even larger group of people through her own storefront – carrying the family recipes she learned long ago to an even larger number of people.

“I’ve always been into baking for as long as I can remember,” Gallon said. “I used to bake with my grandmother, and I would send banana nut bread to friends and family and they all loved what they ended up getting.”

After starting at a bakery in downtown, Gallon moved to Modesto for two years where she focused on her craft and building a steady clientele through farmers markets in the immediate area and throughout Northern California.

When she started looking for a space that she could lease, the former home of the Burgess Baking Co. – which moved to Ripon – had become available, and jumped at the chance to move in.

With more than a week of catering to the customers that have come through the doors, Gallon – who says one of the things about self-employment that excites her the most is being able to employ other people and give them work – is already looking at how to expand the business even more.

While items like banana nut bread, sweet potato bread and Boston bread are big sellers for her, Gallon says that she wants to incorporate a deli into the business that include favorites like Philly-style cheesesteak sandwiches and other deli favorites.

“That’s something that we’re eventually going to add to the business,” she said. “It’ll provide something different and give people a place where they can come for lunch.”

Like any bakery, the day starts long before most people even get out of bed.

Gallon says that her baker usually shows up at around 4 a.m. and readies items like eggs and flower to get the batches started. His assistant usually shows up two hours later to help with the packaging and the filling, and to open the doors for business at 6 a.m.

And despite being open for just over a week, customers have already started to trickle in – thanks in part to being located near Manteca’s busiest intersection and thanks to the flyer campaign that friends and family members have started on her behalf.

“We were really happy to see our first customers come through the door,” Gallon said. “We had a pastor that came in that had posted our flyer on his billboard, and things like that have really helped bring us customers.”

Michelle’s Golden Brown Breads is located at 273 W. Louise Avenue, and is open seven-days-a-week from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. For additional information, call 629-8295.