Nothing’s sweeter than
life on the lake … with
a baker and a griller
Story by Scottie Vickery
Photos by Kelsey Bain and Graham Hadley
If it’s a weekend in the summer, chances are good there’s going to be a crowd at Leigh and Jeff Gardner’s Neely Henry Lake home in Ohatchee.
The sparkling water, the lure of a boat ride and the promise of some crappie fishing are pretty good draws, but more than likely, the group is coming for the food. Jeff’s probably got some hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, wings in the fryer or ribs on the smoker, but Leigh’s desserts are the main attraction. “I’ve been baking since I was a teenager,” she said. “Jeff says I snagged him with my chocolate cake.”
Whether it’s cakes, cookies, sweet breads or fudge, Leigh has pretty much mastered it all. In fact, her baked goods got such rave reviews from friends that she took their advice and started a side gig. “I was always making things and taking them to work; it’s just one of the things I like to do to make it a great work environment,” said Leigh, a pharmacist at Quick Meds Express Pharmacy in Oxford. “The girls at work kept saying, ‘You need to sell these.’”
Now, she gets frequent requests for her cinnamon walnut bread, her strawberry cheesecake bread with strawberry butter, as well as a variety of cakes, cookies and other treats. “People like to give them as gifts,” she said. “I’ve gotten orders on top of orders.”
It’s in the genes
Right off Leigh’s kitchen that overlooks the water is a coffee bar with a bin of snacks hanging above it. The chips are a hit with her two daughters and their friends, but it’s her great-grandmother’s coffee cups and sugar bowl that warm Leigh’s heart. The china cabinet and buffet are filled with family treasures, and her great-great-grandmother’s dough bowl has a place of honor in the center of the table.
Family is important to Leigh, and she has wonderful memories of growing up and helping her mom and both grandmothers in the kitchen. “Growing up, peanut butter cookies were my specialty,” she said. “That was my thing, and I still use the same recipe from way back when.”
History has a way of repeating itself, and these days, 10-year-old Elise loves to help her mom in the kitchen. “I crack the eggs because Mama’s not that good at that,” she said. “She gets eggshells in there.” Brooklyn, 15, isn’t a big fan of kitchen duty, but she’s always a more-than-willing taster. “Most everything she makes is pretty good,” the teenager acknowledged.
Lots of folks seem to agree, based on the requests she gets after she started selling her breads, cakes and cookies last December. She started by offering her cinnamon walnut bread on Facebook, and the next thing she knew, she was taking orders and making deliveries.
Sweet success
“The plan was to do bread, but then I had one client ask if I could bake a certain cake,” Leigh said. “I baked it for her, and her family loved it. Then she wanted me to do macaroons and a few other things. I like different things that challenge me.”
Although she’s got a collection of favorite recipes, she’s always on the hunt for more. “I look up a lot of stuff online and then I tweak it to where I want it to be,” she said. “People give me recipes now, and I love it. I like to have a story with it.”
While she takes lots of orders, Leigh often posts on Facebook when she’s got extra loaves or cakes that are fresh from the oven. Some days it’s salted caramel or butterscotch bread, and some days it’s chocolate pecan, banana walnut or sourdough. Her regular breads sell for $15, and the breads that come with strawberry butter or honey cinnamon butter are $20. Cookies are $15 a dozen, and cakes start at $40.
Although the Facebook offerings get claimed quickly, most of her customers aren’t picky – they’ll take whatever they can get and they’re willing to wait. “A lot of people just say, ‘Whenever you do your next batch, make me a strawberry cheesecake,’” she said. “Around the holidays, I got a lot of last-minute orders. People would ask what I had available, and I usually have something for them.”
Leigh has an extra fridge on the back porch and a freezer in the garage for just such emergencies. “I make a lot of things ahead of time and freeze them,” she said. “They’re just as good as the day you make them.”
So, what’s her secret? It starts with her homemade vanilla, which she makes by soaking vanilla beans in vodka for six to eight weeks. “It makes everything taste better,” she said. “I make bottles and give them as gifts at Christmas.”
Another weapon is the different starters for her breads. She uses a mixture of flour, sugar, milk, yeast and water, allows it to ferment and “feeds” it every five days by adding more of the ingredients. She’s had the same batch of starter going for four or five years now, and she uses it for the cinnamon walnut bread and her carrot cake.
Although Leigh never intended to start a business when she baked for her co-workers, she’s enjoyed making her breads and desserts for family, friends and her growing list of customers. “It’s been crazy,” she said. “Every evening I’ll come in from my full-time job, mix something up and bake it. A lot of mornings, I’ll mix up some bread, and it’s ready by the time I’m out the door at 8:15.”
Just add water
On the mornings she’s not baking, Leigh loves to get up early, walk the dogs and enjoy the scenery. The Gardners moved into their lakeside home last September, and even though they had lived in a house with a view of the lake for years, they’re still discovering the joys of being right on the water.
“We love it here,” Leigh said. “We went out in the boat all the time before, but we had to pack up the car and drive to get the boat. Now we can just walk down, get on the boat and go.”
Fishing is a lot easier these days, too. “We can go anytime we want,” she said. “The other night we fished off the pier until almost 10 o’clock.”
Leigh and Jeff, a driver for UPS, said their new home is an answer to prayer. Jeff was driving his route one day when he saw a sign in the front yard. “We had just ridden over here on the boat and said, ‘Man, I wish they’d put that house up for sale,’” he said. “That was Sunday, and I was over here Wednesday. I called Leigh and said, ‘You’re not going to believe it.’”
Their old house “was in binocular’s distance” to their new one, Jeff said, but the ease of walking out the back door to head for the water can’t be beat. “We loved both places,” he said, “but this is a whole lot more convenient.”
Want to taste some of Leigh’s breads and desserts yourself? Find her on Facebook at facebook.com/leigh.fordham to place your order.
Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- ½ tsp vanilla
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 ½ cups old-fashioned oats
- ½ cup cranberries
- ½ cup pecans
- ½ cup white chocolate chips
Combine butter, brown sugar and sugar. Then add egg and vanilla, and mix well. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, and mix well. Add remaining ingredients one at a time and then mix well.
Chill dough 2-4 hours or overnight. Drop onto cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.
Bread Starter
- ¼ cup warm water
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup milk
Combine water and yeast and let mixture sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Mix flour, sugar and milk together and add yeast mixture. Put the starter in a gallon-sized plastic1 bag or a plastic container and let it sit on the counter for five days (do not refrigerate).
After the first five days, add 1 cup milk, 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. After five more days (and every five days after) add ½ cup milk, ½ cup flour and ½ cup sugar.
For best results, let the starter ferment for 2-3 weeks before using. Save 1 cup of starter after making the bread and repeat the feeding accordingly.
Honey Cinnamon Butter
- ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp. honey
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp salt
Add ingredients one at a time and mix well. Store butter in the refrigerator. Toast or microwave cinnamon walnut bread slices and spread butter on top. Enjoy!
Cinnamon Walnut Bread
Cinnamon Walnut Bread
(Makes two loaves)
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup milk
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 boxes instant vanilla pudding
- 1-2 cups walnuts
- 1 cup bread starter
Mix all ingredients well and pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.
St. Louis-style Ribs
- 1 package St. Louis Style ribs
- Salt
- Rub of your choice
- Garlic powder
- Hickory wood chunks
Boil ribs in a pot of water with salt for about 30
minutes. Cover the ribs in a barbecue rub of your choice and garlic powder.
Put ribs on smoker, but don’t place them directly on the fire. Add some hickory chunks. Cook for about 3 hours. Eat them plain or dip in your favorite barbecue sauce.
