Furman’s baking journey began in the middle of the pandemic. Like many people, he began baking during quarantine and soon many friends were clamoring for his challah. He and his wife Jody realized there was potential demand for his spare-no-expense approach to challah and decided to look into Missouri cottage law and see what their options were.

“To our surprise, Missouri’s cottage food laws allowed us to bake and sell our challah,” said Furman. “So we took a lot of orders for the high holidays and cranked out a whole bunch of loaves (one batch at a time in our non-commercial mixers and ovens). Shortly after the holidays I developed what was our signature item for a while, Caramel Apple Challah (challah stuffed with apples and cinnamon and topped with homemade caramel). And the orders just kept rolling in.”

And soon, Artocopus Baking Company was born, but interestingly the name was chosen in a bit of a rush.

“We chose it to evoke antiquity and a sort of artisanal ethos,” remembers Furman. But, neither Jody nor I were crazy about the name Artocopus, by now we were specializing entirely in Jewish breads and the irony of the Latin name embarrassed us a bit in hindsight.”

So recently, when the opportunity to join The Bakers Hub arose,  Furman decided it would be a good time to rebrand and Broyt Baking Company is now a reality.

“The fundamental difference between the two entities, Artocopus and Broyt, is our move into The Bakers Hub,” said Furman. “Having access to commercial kitchens and ovens and also the retail space is a huge upgrade. With the need for contact-free delivery receding it seemed like the perfect time to grow.

The Challah

Broyt is Yiddish for bread, and their entire lineup is just challos and babkas so it seemed appropriate to lean into the heritage with respect to the name.

Their signature item is challah. Since the beginning Broyt has been producing long and round loaves. Challah is a yeasted, egg-enriched dough that is normally braided and egg washed before baking for its distinctive look.

“I’m a big believer in butter so my challos are milchig,” said Furman. “I’ve certainly had delicious pareve challos but it just doesn’t compare to what butter brings to the table. We set out to produce the most delicious challos we could make by starting with premium ingredients and following that up with the perfect process to get delicious, fluffy loaves.”

Eventually challah experiments made their way to the menu as well, along with fan favorite Caramel Apple Challah, their now is Garlic Chive Parmesan Challah, Orange-Glazed Sweet Cardamom Challah, and the beloved Pretzel Challah.

“I would say my decision to produce challah grew from inspiration because I just love the stuff,” said Ferman. “When we started pandemic baking for ourselves I recalled fondly my U City days and all of the delicious fresh challah I used to be served at exquisite Shabbos s’eudos.”