Deirdre Feeley displays on how her time in Davis finally led to Driftwood Baking
UC Davis alumna Deirdre Feeley wished to be a pastry chef rising up, however like many individuals, pastry turned extra of a pastime as she grew older and her curiosity in plant science took priority as a attainable profession path. Nonetheless, throughout her time at UC Davis, her ardour for pastry resurfaced, and she or he now operates her personal micro-bakery in North Oakland, Driftwood Baking. Feeley attributes a lot of the success of Driftwood to her undergraduate experiences at UC Davis.
Throughout her time at Davis, Feeley lived within the co-operative Turtle House, the place two of her roommates started an “underground supper membership” in 2016. Feeley joined the membership — referred to as “Tortuga” — because the pastry chef after they have been getting began and principally cooking for mates, however she stated that the membership started to take off not lengthy after.
“I joined on as a pastry chef and we developed menus collectively and hosted [meals],” Feeley stated. “At first it was mates, however then it rapidly became strangers and adults from the neighborhood who have been coming and consuming.”
Ultimately, Tortuga turned a month-to-month pop-up. Feeley and the founders, Larry and Kaia, started taking reservations and serving two seated dinners every month. Feeley stated that this expertise was pivotal in her resolution to pursue a culinary profession.
“It introduced again my ardour for pastry,” Feeley stated. “I really feel like that second and that mission re-unlocked pastry for me, and I simply determined to attempt it.”
Throughout the summer time of 2016, whereas Feeley was nonetheless dwelling at Turtle Home, she started baking croissants out of her house kitchen. Croissants are Feeley’s favourite meals, however she stated she couldn’t discover high quality croissants when she moved to Davis, so she determined to make and promote her personal.
“That’s when Driftwood first got here into fruition,” Feeley stated. “That was tremendous tiny. I used to be placing out as many croissants as I might make on the weekends and taking pre-orders. I used to be promoting like 40 croissants a weekend. It was at a really tiny scale.”
When fall quarter started, Driftwood was placed on the again burner. Feeley refocused on her plant science research, internship at UC Davis’s scholar farm and work at a viticulture lab on campus. It was at that lab that she met a mentor — Professor Alan Tenscher — who impressed her to comply with her dream to change into a chef.
“He referred to as it ‘killing the dream,’” Feeley stated. “He stated if in case you have a dream, you both […] chase it down and it turns into a actuality, otherwise you put it to mattress and determine that it’s not your dream anymore and it’s not what you need to be doing.”
Feeley was approaching the tip of her time at Davis and was undecided whether or not she wished to start searching for jobs in plant science. She nonetheless felt drawn to pastry, however was undecided if it was a possible profession path.
“I used to be at the moment learning plant biology, working in a viticulture lab — I used to be on [that] monitor,” Feeley stated. “This pastry factor was a ardour that had come up, not associated to something I used to be doing and [Tenscher] stated, ‘you both chase your dream [in pastry] and then you definately come again to plant science, or that dream turns into what you’re doing.”
Feeley determined to take Tenscher’s recommendation, and upon ending her undergraduate diploma in 2018, she started working in pastry at Tartine Bakery in San Francisco earlier than getting one other place at Acme Bakery. When the COVID-19 pandemic started in March of 2020, she felt fortunate to maintain her job at Acme Bakery, the place she was working in recipe improvement, however she wished to make a change in her profession trajectory.
A lot of Feeley’s trade mates had misplaced their jobs when COVID-19 closures shut down their bakeries and eating places, prompting them to open unbiased “pop-ups” serving their very own meals. Seeing this, Feeley was impressed to depart the company kitchen and pursue a pop-up herself.
An unbiased micro-bakery “aligned nicely with the place I used to be feeling professionally as a result of I used to be feeling with out alternatives to specific myself creatively,” Feeley stated. “I wasn’t able the place I used to be chef, so I didn’t have a whole lot of artistic say. I used to be doing recipe improvement, so I used to be having extra artistic expression than others, however not sufficient for me.”
Feeley re-opened Driftwood Baking in December 2020, providing a menu of holiday-themed cookies and sweet packing containers. Since then, she has been internet hosting month-to-month pop-ups that includes new pastry menus every month, in addition to taking customized cake orders. She operates this micro-bakery out of her house oven, and creates 4 to seven new recipes month-to-month.
“I view this as a artistic outlet and a artistic mission greater than only a bakery or a method to an earnings,” Feeley stated. “I actually take pleasure in attending to repeatedly create new recipes.”
Regardless of the success of Driftwood over the previous 9 months, Feeley isn’t seeking to broaden. She not too long ago moved to Los Angeles and is pursuing a profession exterior of the kitchen, as she doesn’t need to depend on it for earnings. She additionally doesn’t significantly need to develop Driftwood, as she has discovered it invitations a “poisonous” kitchen surroundings that’s prevalent within the trade.
Feeley stated that company kitchen tradition might be filled with anger and violence, and that in company kitchens, she has discovered that sexual harassment generally goes unchecked. By maintaining Driftwood small, she hopes to maintain it away from that toxicity.
“It’s a bit of treasured factor that I don’t need to be compromised,” Feeley stated. “I don’t need to must attempt to depend on it for my earnings as a result of then I don’t need to be pushing manufacturing first. I need it to only be a artistic mission the place I’ve one other earnings after which I’m in a position to let the merchandise shine.”
Regardless of Driftwood being a “pastime” for Feeley, it’s a time-consuming manufacturing. She stated that the 2 weeks earlier than pop-up menus go reside, she spends nearly all of her time making ready recipes. Typically, recipes might be perfected in simply three iterations, however others she finally ends up testing greater than six occasions earlier than she is content material. Usually, she spends one week brainstorming recipe concepts and researching components, and one other week perfecting prepare dinner time, measurements and components.
As for recipe creation, Feeley is impressed by the seasons and what she realized about seasonal produce working on the scholar farm at UC Davis.
“I let my creativity lead,” Feeley stated. “I draw a ton of inspiration from my time at Davis. [My] expertise actually honed my love of nature and my appreciation of how the seasons ebb and circulation and the way nature actually offers for us. Each totally different season a brand new fruit is coming in. Within the winter it will get chilly, however then there are oranges which can be filled with vivid juice. I actually tried to emulate sentiments in my desserts [and] spotlight the season at that second and its magnificence.”
She additionally prioritizes sourcing native components for her recipes, each to minimize her environmental footprint and preserve the standard of her meals.
“Even for those who don’t deal with ‘sustainability,’ I believe it’s essential to emphasise the truth that these strategies simply result in higher meals,” Feeley stated. “Sustainability is interesting past environmental impression and social impression as a result of while you eat native and while you eat well-grown meals, you possibly can style it.”
Feeley sources hyper-local produce from California and neighboring states and doesn’t use merchandise grown with heavy pesticides. She additionally prioritizes working with farms that pay dwelling wages to their employees and foster wholesome working environments.
At present, Feeley is making ready for her October pop-up, for which she is brainstorming a pastry menu that captures the present season — the transition from summer time to fall. One ingredient she feels captures this essence is contemporary pears.
“I like pears and chocolate, however for me personally, it feels too heat for chocolate,” Feeley stated. “I view chocolate as very heavy in that it warms me up within the winter, so I might flip to one thing lighter like almonds. Almond frangipane goes actually properly with pear so possibly I might do these collectively and form of play on this early autumn, late summer time flux level the place heat spices are welcome, however we nonetheless need a bit of little bit of juicy brightness from the summer time.”
For data on the date and site of Feeley’s October pop-up, which might be in North Oakland, in addition to for customized cake orders, go to Driftwood’s website or comply with the bakery on Instagram.
Written by: Katie DeBenedetti — features@theaggie.org
