Meet Rachel and Adam Beltzman, founders, owners, and operators of R&A Bread Bakers! Beginning as a small-time hobby during the early days of the pandemic, the Beltzmans transformed their love and passion for baking into a full-time business. Read about Rachel and Adam, how they got into the baking game, and the many delicious baked treats they offer.

Where are you both from?

Rachel is from the Northern Suburbs and Adam is from Farmington Hills, Michigan. They now live in the city.

What did you both do Jewish growing up?

Growing up we both attended Hebrew and Sunday school and both had Bar/Bat Mitzvahs. We had big family holidays that all centered around cooking and family.

What baking did you both do growing up?

Baking-wise, only cookies, and sweets. No bread at that point. We always had so many holidays that our families would bring a ton of traditional Jewish dishes and a ton of dessert.

ANY Jewish BAKING?

We made Matzoh balls, cheese balls, pigs in a blanket, Mandel bread, and latkes with family.

How did you get into the baking business?

Covid. Seriously we were so bored during the pandemic we started playing around with sourdough. It never stopped. We quickly started creating new sourdough items and smoking lox and meats for our friends.

What does Jewish food mean to you?

Jewish food is about family, memories, homemade, and tradition.

What items do you offer?

All of our bread is sourdough. We have bagels, boules, pizzas, bialys, and bagel dogs (daisy dogs) we also create sweets with sourdoughs like cookies, muffins, cakes, and other pastries.

What Jewish classics are you most excited about?

We are going to try and incorporate sourdough into Mandel bread. And we love making Challahs on Friday. Last week we made Jerusalem-style bagels last week. They were a big hit.

What is your personal favorite menu item?

Rachel’s personal favorite is the deep dish bagel pizzas and an asiago bagel right out of the oven with chive schmear. Adam loves the pastrami on homemade sourdough rye bread and tuna salad on an everything bagel.