Jan Petrasek said he’s bringing influences from across Europe into his homemade, fermented breads being offered at the Petrasek Bakery.

The artisanal bakery opened its doors at 301 Main St. on Nov. 9 to serve up homemade breads and pastries as well as decadent lattes.

“We’re going to have typical European baked goods, some organic and some not… As we are a small bakery, we can be very flexible. We will have European white rye, multigrain and white bread, most of the bread will be 100 per cent sourdough so no yeast,” said Petrasek. “We’ll also have baguettes, pastries, pretzels, cinnamon buns, croissants, and more.”

“We’ll also have coffee, we want to have all of the normal coffee shop offerings.”

Petrasek and his wife, Sylvia Petrasekova, both originally hail from Slovakia and lived and worked in Calgary, Alta., before making the move to the Okanagan.

“Calgary is growing, it’s huge … living in a city with over a million people, you’re alone. You almost feel like you’re alone,” said Petrasek. “So we prefer the smaller city, and we’re very lucky with our neighbours here and hopefully after more time we’ll feel like part of the place.”

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The two have been in the baking industry for years, gaining experience as they moved across Europe. Now the parents of three, they’ve decided to open up their own shop here in the city to offer up a unique experience for customers.

“There are not many stores in Penticton that do what we do, so we hope that people will appreciate the quality and the tastes of our breads and pastries,” said Petrasek.

Petrasek prides himself on the process he uses to make his breads. He has spent time working at various chain grocers and says there is an obvious difference between their breads and his.

“Everything is made from scratch, nothing frozen and no pre-mixes and stuff like that,” said Petrasek. “It’s old-fashioned, artisanal bread. Almost all of them are based on the sourdough, it’s organic flours – not all but we can do that by request – and I think it’s much healthier and flavour is much higher.”

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Petrasekova will assist her husband in the kitchen but was also the bakery’s interior designer. She said she chose to decorate the bakery with numerous second-hand items that give the shop a homey feel, with almost every item telling a story.

The bakery will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., serving up delicious food and hot lattes.

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