El Pavo Bakery

For Chefs, Booming Home Businesses In New York and California

"Christina Hanks and Jacob Fraijo honed their pastry skills at Dominique Crenn's Crenn Group (Three Star Atelier Crenn, One Star Bar Crenn). When restaurants across California began closing last spring, the pair moved back to LA and, just before Thanksgiving, cooked up Pavé Bakery. Fraijo generally does breads and Hanks pastries. Nearly every closet in their house is full of packaging, and the dining room is now a kitchen extension—wooden work tables, a Metro rack, and two tabletop mixers. They do all their baking in a small convection oven—dark, rich chocolate rye sablés, crackling loaves of oat porridge bread, a bright, springy Fraisier cake (their favorite), and a simply scrumptious customer-fave kouign-amann. The duo hopes to expand their toothsome home treat business to a brick and mortar space soon. Follow @pavebakery for updates." - Sophie Friedman