Proofing Concepts

TikTok discovered L’Arc Patisserie in central Oklahoma City in late spring this year; like so many trends on that platform, the long lines were filled with users who knew Chef Li Xiaoli made beautiful food, but who by and large knew nothing about French patisseries. At roughly the same time, Jean-Baptiste Saint Amon started dealing with long lines outside his eponymous Saint Amon Baking Co. in south Tulsa, and again, the lines seemed to be forming for Dubai chocolate croissants or other pastries guests had seen on the platform with nearly zero understanding of what constitutes a viennoiserie. 

The components of traditional European bakeries — mirror-glazed desserts, croissants and loaves of bread — have long been present in Oklahoma, even as the specifics of patisserie, viennoiserie and boulangerie were literal foreign concepts to average consumers. Alongside that truth is the fact that Oklahoma has not been home to the highest quality of those products, until recently. 

Explosion is too strong a word to describe the growth in high-end bakeries in the state, and as Saint Amon points out, there are only a handful of classically trained bakers in Oklahoma, but their influence far exceeds their number. The trend probably truly began with Chefs Matt Ruggi and Laura Szyld at Ganache Patisserie in Chisholm Creek on OKC’s northernmost edge, but Ganache has always been a combination patisserie and viennoiserie, making chocolate desserts, cakes and croissants. The husband-and-wife team did introduce many locals to the idea of European baking, and within the past few years, spots like L’Arc Patisserie, Quincy Bake Shop, Saint Amon Baking Co., Creme de la Crumb and Twisted Tree Baking Company in Edmond and Tulsa’s Country Bird Bakery have drawn regional and national attention, including a James Beard Award winner Chef Cat Cox of Country Bird. 

Chef Noel Nugent opened Creme de la Crumb in September 2024 in an area of Edmond near Arcadia that is seeing substantial growth. Nugent grew up in Dallas, and after high school moved to Europe. She worked in a bakery in Vienna, which reignited her childhood love of baking, so she enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu School of Culinary Arts to pursue her dream of becoming a pastry chef.

“I chose the London location, because you had to be able to speak French to attend the school in France,” Nugent says. “The program was militant in some ways, but I’m glad it was so regimented, because that’s exactly how a commercial bakery operates—on a very set schedule where seconds mean everything to quality.” 

Nugent came back to the area to be near her mother, and did what bakers do; she looked for bakeries around OKC. “I found so many chains and franchises, especially out where I am, and I’m kind of a food snob in that I think we should use as much local sourcing as possible, and Oklahoma has great co-op options.” 

Saint Amon came to Oklahoma to attend OSU, and his experience mirrors Nugent’s in one important way. “The plan was for me to go to the OSU international program,” he says. “Instead, I started working right away. I quickly realized that Tulsa was lacking in high-end bakeries. There were a lot of cupcake shops or cookie shops, but not that many bakeries. And even those few bakeries were making basic desserts and pastries, and that’s when I knew an authentic French bakery would work.”

He opened Saint Amon Baking Co. in 2016, but it wasn’t until 2021, when he relocated to his spot near Oral Roberts University, that his business exploded. “We tripled our volume with that move,” he says. Born in Dax in southwestern France, Saint Amon was going to be an engineer before opting for a baking career, which entailed a five-year pastry program. He came to the U.S. in 2010 for the first time, and relocated permanently in 2013. 

Why the sudden interest in Oklahoma among high-end bakers? This is not a national trend. When L’Arc and Saint Amon hit TikTok, people were driving in from Texas, Arkansas, Kansas and even farther to try the offerings. The curiosity has been good for baking, and all the bakers said they didn’t know for sure how things would go. Li says, “I wasn’t sure if people in OKC would understand my product well enough with the components, but I am sure they will understand eventually. I did not expect long lines, but I have faith that I can do well.” And she has. But the answer to “why now?” might be as simple as economics.

“The program was militant in some ways, but I’m glad it was so regimented, because that’s exactly how a commercial bakery operates — on a very set schedule where seconds mean everything to quality.” –Chef Noel Nugent

Nugent said Oklahoma is a desirable location for bakers, both for the lack of high-end competition, and because it’s just less expensive to operate here. “You can open a burger joint for $20,000,” she says, “but a bakery is equipment- and resource-intensive. A laminator alone is $40,000, and that’s only one of the pieces of equipment required. It’s easier to invest in the necessary equipment when the rent is low.” 

Chef Li trained in Anhui Province, China, before taking a position at a Macao bakery that serviced multiple concepts, including Chef Joel Robuchon’s 3-Michelin-star Robuchon au Dôme in the Grand Lisboa Hotel. The pastry chefs there furthered her understanding of French pastry techniques, and as with Nugent, her program was at times regimented to the point of militant. It’s a similar story for all the pastry chefs who hope to create and succeed at their level.

To make it happen at that level requires a couple of shifts in the culture, and the first is the current lack of specific educational options. Some of our state’s best pastry chefs, including Chef Alyssa Ulrich at Harvey Bakery, attended generalized programs. Ulrich said she was fortunate enough to come across chefs like Chef Claes Passmark at Francis Tuttle who took a personal interest in furthering her education by helping her drill down to the important techniques that make her so good with viennoiserie products. 

Saint Amon said the other thing Oklahoma needs to continue to improve is a better supplier network. “Some states have suppliers specialized in baking only,” he says. “They can get a wide variety of quality ingredients, equipment, etc. Here the main suppliers are Ben E. Keith and Sysco, and they don’t have much to offer. Often we will have to find things online and pay crazy shipping costs or drive to neighboring states.”

Finally, the shift that most needs to happen is a culture that understands and respects the baking niches: boulangerie, patisserie and viennoiserie. Understanding that you can’t run into a patisserie and expect a mass-production environment where you can grab what you want when you want. Chef Li’s process is 2-3 days, so when she’s out, she’s out. Same with the viennoiserie’s proofed dough. Once you sell through it, it will be the next day before more is ready. Will we Oklahomans sacrifice convenience for quality? These bakers are betting on us.