On any given day, you might find baker and entrepreneur, Jonathan St. Hilaire posing with a loaf of bread. The sourdough breads and pastries he bakes at Mission Bakery are as photogenic as they are delicious. Jonathan is the owner of the microbakery, and he bakes with organic flours, grains, and sugars.
"We source our flours from King Arthur Flours, Barton Springs Mill in Texas, Lindley Mills, in North Carolina, and Day Spring Farms, here in Georgia. We use only Plugra Butter in our croissants, danishes, scones, and cookies," he says, "and we use fruits and produce from local farmers when available. We believe in only natural fermentation and do not use manmade yeasts in our bread. We strive for a long fermentation process (72 hours) with all of our sourdough breads."
What menu items are you excited about for June?
I am definitely excited about all the fresh fruit including strawberries and raspberries for Danishes and tarts. I also love making my sesame semolina bread. That bread just screams summertime to me.
What advice did your dad (or other male family member) give you that has stuck?
I feel the best advice that I ever got was, "Keep your head down, work hard, treat others the same way you would like to be treated, and don’t forget to take time out for yourself.'"
What advice would you give a young man interested in culinary entrepreneurship?
I would definitely tell him to find a chef that he admires and go and see if he can work for them. You don’t wanna go work somewhere just to work, so if you’re gonna go work, it might as well be for somebody that you want to work for.
Why did you choose Roswell as your business home? I love Roswell because of the community. I feel like everyone here is always looking out for everyone else. If there’s a fundraiser for this, everybody gets involved. If there’s a pop-up over there, then everybody gets involved. It’s something that is really, really special to me.
How will you be celebrating Father's Day this year? Hopefully, I will be spending it at home with my wife and two sons, enjoying just a nice, relaxing day. Those are very tricky in the summer. I feel like it’s always go, go, go. My wife and I have been married for 20 years. Our two boys just finished their freshman year at Roswell High School. They both play football for the Hornets and one of my sons plays lacrosse for Roswell.
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I feel the best advice that I ever got was, "Keep your head down, work hard, treat others the same way you would like to be treated, and don’t forget to take time out for yourself."