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1

Roger and Beth Elkus are riding
a wave of amber grain.
Turning a love of bread into big
business, they are the proud own-
ers of the Big Sky Bread Compa-
ny, which recently opened its
newest addition in Royal Oak.
The grain, says Mr. Elkus, dis-
tinguishes Big Sky from Zeman's
and Star bakeries, along with the
multitudes of newcomers who
specialize in breads.
"Pure and simple," the menu
states, and it is that credo which
the Elkuses believe sets their com-
pany apart from the rest.
Roger, a native of Cincinnati,
met Beth while both were work-
ing toward their degrees in social
work at the University of Cincin-
nati.
After they married, they
worked in that field for a while,
and practiced their mutual hob-
by: baking bread.
"We enjoyed baking bread at
home and the challenge of mak-
ing it come out right," Mr. Elkus
says. "Beth comes from a Slova-
kian background; her family
made pierogi, kolachi— she grew
up with it."
It was a period in their lives
when the couple were taking a se-
rious look at their careers and
what they wanted to do.
"I've always looked at my back-
ground in social work as practical
education for retailing and com-
munication; talking to people is
something I enjoy," Mr. Elkus
says.
The Elkuses started taking
weekend trips, talking to differ-
ent bakers around the country.
What they found were "neat little
mom- and-pop bakeries that we
liked the feel of," he says.
There also was the influence of
their own hometown.
"Cincinnati has a very Ger-
manic community; it's a bakery-
rich town," Mr. Elkus points out.
`There are lots of sweet, fat-laden
pastries, but no one was address-
ing hearty breads."
In traveling around the coun-
try, the Elkuses' goal was to re-
tain the skills of baking with one's
hands while learning to translate
those skills and product ideas into
a production.
'We met a Mormon baker out
in Utah and his philosophies of
baking were similar to ours —
simple, natural. We said, 'We'd
like to apprentice under you.' This
[Mormon] family believed in do-
ing things in a simple manner;
they understand that wheat and

7001 Orchard Lake Road, Suite 130, W. Bloomfield, MI 48322

BREAD DREAMS page 66