“The very first time I ever sold bread under the name, ‘Good Hands Bread Co.,’ was at a farmers market that the Silver Slipper did,” Fisher said.
He recalled meeting Burgess Gow, who was selling cutting boards at the farmers market. Over the years, they’ve stayed in touch.
Gow purchased the Dietz Block building on Wayne Avenue in Dayton with his wife, Jeanine, through 521 LLC in August 2024. Their goal is to turn the building into a mixed-use property with a restaurant and retailers on the first floor and residential apartments on the second floor.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
At that time, Fisher was planning to open a production space in Moraine because he was desperate to get the bakery out of his house.
“I like Dayton. I like being downtown and so when he told me that he bought this building, I begged and got out of that lease eventually,” Fisher said.
With the help of CityWide Development’s First Floor Fund, Good Hands Bread Co. is opening Dec. 3 at 527 Wayne Ave.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
“I’m excited to show people what I can do with a real bakery setup that isn’t roughing it out of the house,” Fisher said. “Now, we can actually have efficient systems and we can bake enough bread to satisfy the demand at the market.”
Finding his passion
Fisher grew up in Kettering and graduated from Fairmont High School in 2006.
Growing up, he never baked. His passion for cooking began when he started living with his now wife, Morgan.
“When I lived by myself, I didn’t ever cook for myself,” Fisher said. “When I moved in with somebody else, I all of a sudden loved cooking because I got to feed other people.”
That passion led to him getting a job in the restaurant industry.
Fast forward to when he returned to Dayton, Fisher was planning to open a spot in the South Park Food Hall. As plans fell through for that development, 2nd Street Market reached out with the opportunity to be a vendor.
Success at 2nd Street Market
“I ended up giving it a try, and it was the best decision I ever made,” Fisher said. “I never went back.”
Good Hands Bread Co. started as an outdoor vendor before moving to a permanent spot indoors in 2021.
Fisher started by selling country loaves (sourdough), pumpernickel bread and pretzels. He now sells more than a dozen different breads.
“I’ve been trying to do the market three days a week for the last five years and that has helped me develop my chops, know what I’m capable of, and it’s helped me learn what the people like,” Fisher said. “It’s only through that, that I’ve been able to open up this storefront. This is a direct product of my success at the market.”
A focus on local grains
When it comes to bread making, Fisher likes using the simple ingredients of flour, water and salt.
He also likes a long, low and slow fermentation process. He cold proofs everything for 24 to 36 hours.
“You get a really nice, well fermented, fluffy, hard on the outside with a big open crumb loaf,” Fisher said. “That’s what I’m looking for. It’s what most of our breads are.”
His particular style of baking involves a lot of local grains from farms pretty close to the Dayton region.
For example, Good Hands Bread Co. sources products from Branstrator Farm in Clarksville and Ohio Till Farmstead in Marysville.
Fisher also works with the Artisan Grain Collaborative to find local grains.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
“There’s all kinds of good bread around here, but there aren’t too many people who get a lot of their flour straight from the farm, straight from the mill, and that’s kind of the niche that we fell into at the market,” Fisher said.
Most breads at Good Hands Bread Co. have close to 20 percent of stone-milled, whole grain flour. Some have 100 percent.
Customers can expect several versions of the bakery’s county loaf such as olive rosemary or raisin walnut.
The bakery likes to offer products based on the seasons. For example, during the summer Good Hands Bread Co. offered a tomato basil focaccia. They now have a potato rosemary focaccia.
As for the pretzels, Fisher said they are hand-cut, hand-weighed and hand-twisted, before being hand-dipped into a lye bath.
He described the process as a “labor of love.”
What to expect on Wayne Avenue
With the move to the new space, customers can expect a staggered baking schedule with sweet treats such as cinnamon rolls available first thing in the morning.
The bakery will also have pretzels and focaccia available before the other breads come out of the oven.
With the upcoming holidays, Fisher is planning to make a whole grain gingerbread, in addition to stollen, a traditional German Christmas bread.
He’s looking forward to adding baguettes and additional flavors of focaccia to the menu.
When Fisher was baking at home, he could only bake eight loaves of bread every 40 minutes. With an oven upgrade in the new space, he can now bake about 45 loaves every 40 minutes.
In addition, he has a 60-quart mixer that is two times the size of his mixer at home.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
“I think that a lot of people still haven’t been able to try it because we sell out so fast,” Fisher said. “We’re only at the market, so if you don’t make it to the market, you’d never know. This gives people an opportunity to discover us.”
Fisher is excited to bring life back to the Dietz Block building, which was built in 1886.
Having a brick-and-mortar on Wayne Avenue means a lot to Fisher because his great-grandfather would have walked right by the Dietz Block building on his way to work at a loan company in downtown Dayton.
In addition, Fisher’s father worked downtown at the Dayton Daily News office at Fourth and Ludlow streets.
“I’m happy to continue the tradition,” Fisher said.
MORE DETAILS
Good Hands Bread Co. will be open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Fisher plans to open at 8 a.m. Sunday with an earlier closing time.
For those who have never tried the bakery’s products, Fisher recommends buying a soft pretzel and loaf of sourdough.
Pretzels, focaccia and salted rye typically costs $4. A country loaf is $9. If there are any additions to it, the loaf is usually $10.
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
The name of the bakery, Good Hands Bread Co., coincides with the bakery’s logo, a close-up photo of Fisher’s great-grandmother making cinnamon rolls. A blown-up version of the photo has been hanging in Fisher’s parents’ home his whole life.
Good Hands Bread Co. will continue to operate at 2nd Street Market 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday.
For more information and updates, visit goodhandsbreadco.com or the bakery’s Facebook or Instagram pages (@goodhandsbreadco).
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