It is no small wonder that Heather Burns can bake breads “to die for,” as the expression goes. And if you could hear the raves and praise from her customers at the Highway 61 Coffeehouse on Saturday mornings, you would know that there are few bakers in Heather Burns’ class.

Just Desserts

Fine Pastries & Artisan Breads

For sale:

Pastries and Artisan Breads

Every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 noon

Only at Highway 61 Coffeehouse

1101 Washington Street

 Special requests:

As a courtesy, call Heather Burns for information

rather than the Highway 61 Coffeehouse.

Contact information:

601-831-4428

Hbg4678@yahoo.com

When my husband and I arrived at the Coffeehouse about 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, the smell of freshly baked artisan breads and pastries blended with the house coffee to say a “Top of the morning” like is rarely heard in this river city.

Many of you will remember Heather’s “Just Desserts,” a home-based business featured in this column in 1987. The cakes, pies and other desserts were all delicious and fabulous to view.

This past December Heather retired from the Mississippi Association of Realtors, where she worked as Meetings & Events Manager for nine years. And she then returned to her “real calling,” selling Just Desserts Fine Pastries & Artisan Breads at the Highway 61 Coffeehouse, where you’ll find her every Saturday from 9 a.m. until noon.

A little background

Heather was raised in a family of good cooks and bakers, so her interest in pastries, cakes and breads was probably a natural progression.

“My grandmother,” she explains, “was part German and my memories of our extended visits to ‘Grandma’s house’ include the wonderful smell of fresh-baked bread, cinnamon rolls and apricot and plum kuchens (German coffee cakes). When Grandma baked bread, she always invited my sister and me to ‘help’ by tying dish-towel aprons around our waists and handing us our own little pieces of dough to play with.

“The kitchen in our home was always the central gathering place and my mom allowed us to cook and bake anytime as long as we cleaned up afterward. And she always celebrated our little successes and encouraged us past some of our early culinary disasters.”

An early decision

At the young age of 12 or 13, Heather announced to her family that someday she was “going to go live and study in France.” She recalls that her parents rolled their eyes and just sighed, but ultimately, she did both, from her late teens and early-to-mid-20s.

“From my first day in Paris I was smitten by the exquisite beauty and detail of the pastries on display in shop windows and by the seemingly endless number of shapes and varieties of breads,” she said, “and thought then that someday I wanted to learn how to make some of those myself.”

So after studying at a small French school for about 2 1/2 years and graduating from college, Heather was able to return to France once more and spend time in Paris working as an interpreter and ultimately on the Cote d’Azur in Nice as a buyer for a small chain of stores. And it was in Nice that she was able to move from a curiosity about breads and baking to the actual experience.

“It began when I took an apartment in a very old building in Vieux Nice (the old part of the city) that just happened to have a 17th century wood-fired bakery in the basement that filled our little quarter of the square with the smells of fresh bread day and night.

“I became friends with the baker, Monsieur Capard, and he ultimately took me on as an apprentice on my days off. My first job as his “apprentice” was to rake the ashes out of the oven late Sunday nights so he could fire up the oven and have it fully heated for Monday night baking.

“I spent almost a year with Monsieur Capard learning to fire the ovens, develop and nurture the wild yeasts, mix the various doughs and bake in the wood-fired oven before he sent me on to one of his colleagues, who made simple pastries.

“I don’t think his friend said more than 20 words to me during the 6 months I worked with him. He just didn’t talk but communicated pretty well with gestures, grunts and shrugs.”

Much to learn and more

From there, Heather took a leap for some formal (and very regimented) training in Patisserie (pastry baking) at La Varenne, a cooking school located outside of Paris, where she learned fundamental tools and skills, and, as Heather puts it, “how much more there was to learn.”

According to Heather, every pastry chef and baker has his (or her) own preferences: ingredients to use, a bread or pastry that becomes a specialty.

“While I don’t have any real specialties,” Heather explained, “I do have some strict preferences when it comes to ingredients: best butter, quality chocolates and flours, and fresh fruits.

On to Just Desserts

It’s been a somewhat circuitous route from Monsieur Capard’s bakery to Just Desserts in Vicksburg. There have been detours into manufacturing operations, marketing, sales and more for this busy and talented woman. But this past December Heather retired from the Mississippi Association of Realtors, where she worked as the Meetings & Events Manager for nine years, and began selling Just Desserts Fine Pastries & Artisan Breads at the Highway 61 Coffeehouse. 

A great place to meet

The Highway 61 Coffeehouse, located at 1101 Washington St., holds a fascinating collection of art and novel items. Here you can chat with friends, read, sample pastries, and, of course, enjoy a cup of delicious Coffeehouse coffee.

Open weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, the Coffeehouse is owned by Daniel Boone and Lesley Silver, who have created a one-of-a-kind gathering place. And you are invited.