Every morning before the sun rises and her family wakes up, Stacey Thompson heads down to her kitchen, gathers ingredients and bakes. As the owner of Rendy’s Challah and Babka, Thompson spends her free time baking approximately 120 challahs and babkas weekly.
“When I first started baking, I was making them for my friends and family,” says Thompson, a Pikesville resident. “As time went on, I started getting orders from people in the community. It’s since become a way for me to see people in person at a safe, socially distanced, masked way and has helped tremendously with my mental health.”
Prior to last March, Thompson never baked a loaf of challah in her life. But when the pandemic hit at the same time as her husband getting sick with an illness unrelated to Covid-19, Thompson needed an outlet for herself.
“I work at Krieger Schechter Day School and when everything happened, people told me making challahs and praying for someone who isn’t well can help,” Thompson says. “At first, I couldn’t get yeast because there was a shortage, but I eventually got my hands on some and ordered more than you can imagine. My first-ever challah tasted like a brick wall, but I kept practicing and got really good. Now, every Friday people come to pick up their challahs and babkas.”
Thompson’s customers include both old and new friends, as well as some people whom she never met and others she hasn’t seen in years.
“I had a friend who I went to sleepaway camp with come pick up a challah,” Thompson says. “I hadn’t seen her in 20 years, but she recently moved to Finksburg and saw I was selling challahs and babkas, so she drove to get some. It was amazing.
“Reconnecting with people and making people happy during this tough time makes me happy,” she says. “Everyone is struggling, and if giving someone a challah for Friday night Shabbat dinner helps them, that makes me happy.”
In addition to connecting and reconnecting with friends and family in a safe way, Thompson finds the baking process highly therapeutic.
“I don’t use any mixers. Instead, I knead the dough with my hands,” she says. “I don’t know if it’s the textile sensation, but that part is very relaxing for me. I also bake very early in the morning, starting around 4:45, and it’s become my alone time where I just listen to music or podcasts. I find being in the kitchen soothing and takes my mind off what’s going on around me.”
While Thompson bakes alone, the business has become a family affair, with her husband and sons acting as her taste-tasters. Her company’s name, Rendy’s Challah and Babka, honors the memory of her late father.
“My maiden name is Rendelman and growing up, people always called us both Rendy,” she says. “Everything I do I have my dad in my mind, and he would find me baking challahs and babkas very entertaining. I used to live in New York and had a microwave for a kitchen. I was never a cook or baker, but my dad was always a lover of food. I picture him sitting in my kitchen taste-testing every flavor I make. He would love it all.”
Rendy’s Challah and Babka offers plain, sea salt and everything-flavored challahs, which cost $10 each, as well as chocolate chip, cinnamon sugar, Oreo and s’mores-flavored babkas, which cost $15.
“My boys love the chocolate chip or Oreo babka, and my husband’s a big fan of the cinnamon sugar,” says Thompson. “If I had to pick, I would say cinnamon sugar is mine. There is never not challah or babka in my house for my kids at this point, and they think it’s the coolest thing.”
Thompson’s kids aren’t alone when it comes to finding challah-baking cool. Through the use of Instagram and social media, Thompson’s discovered an entire challah-baking community that spans across the globe.
“There is a whole community out there of people teaching other people how to make the perfect dough, wishing each other, ‘Shabbat Shalom,’ and tagging each other in their challah-baking photos,” Thompson says. “I love it.”
Thompson also loves giving back to her community through making challahs and babkas. She is partnering with local nonprofits to donate proceeds of her sales of challahs and babkas.
“I started this for fun, so my goal is to find things within my community I can give back to,” says Thompson. “The people I surround myself with in this Jewish community are my extended family, and I feel very grateful to have such a huge support system when things are really good and when things are really bad.”
To order Rendy’s Challah and Babka email rendyschallahandbabka@gmail.com or through Instagram @rendyschallahandbabka.
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