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STEFI SERVES UP ARMENIAN BAKED GOODS AT DEARBORN FARMERS MARKET
By Sandra Boulton
Patch.com
Sept 30 2011
Stefi Hovious, a Northville resident but long-time lover of Dearborn,
has become a popular staple around the market this year.
Stefi Hovious has been selling specialty baked goods, from
traditional Armenian pastries and pies to original recipes that grew
from experimenting in the kitchen, all season long at the Dearborn
Farmers Market.
"My biggest thrill is seeing that I have pleased people's palates
and now that extends from my home to the Market" says Hovious, owner
of AnoushStefi.
Anoush means sweet in Armenian, according to Hovious, who chose the
name because it reflected how she started her business last year:
baking sweet pastries for sale. Shortly thereafter, she added savory
goods into the equation and continues to sell them both today.
A former Ford employee for 35 years, Hovious resides in Northville
but considers Dearborn her second home after spending so many working
years in the community. She started the bakery business after losing
her job and looking for a way to help supplement income.
Hovious has a passion for baking that spans many years, often
entertaining family and friends in her home, so this seemed like
a natural extension. Now she and husband Earl take the show on the
road and sell Hovious' homemade specialties in four markets in the
area-including Dearborn.
Hovious had a hard time choosing her favorite item that she bakes,
but said, "My special cream cheese cookies are a customer favorite
and, according to my husband, they are to die for. These cookies are
wrapped like a cigar, the dough is made with cream cheese, butter
and flour and they are filled with ground walnuts and sugar, then
sprinkled with powdered sugar."
She also regularly bakes katah, cheoreg and bourma-all sweet Armenian
pastry treats. Katah is like a coffee cake, usually with a filling
inside. Cheoreg is a sweet pastry bread and bourma is a sweet nut roll.
Another mouth-watering specialty item that Hovious bakes is called
khadayif. "It is shredded filo dough, and I put heavy whipping cream
thickened with vanilla in the center, bake it and drench it with
sugar water," she described. "That is a delicacy."
As for the savory department, pies are stuffed with lamb, spinach
or cheese. She finds that anything with lamb seems to be popular,
but it changes each week.
"Sometimes it is fickle, and all my spinach sells in a certain week,"
she explained. "Tastes and markets change week to week."
She finds it challenging to prepare for the markets because of this
fluctuation, sharing that her baking is very labor intensive and
she isn't always sure what is going to move the next day. Building
a steady clientele does help, as people try something once and then
return to purchase it again. These repeat customers give her great joy,
because it means they enjoy her baking.
AnoushStefi is in the Dearborn Farmers Market every other
week. They also take special orders and can be reached by email
[email protected] or by calling 248-515-0309. The Dearborn Farmer's
Market is open every Friday from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. now through the end
of October and is located in the Muirhead Plaza by the Bryant Library.
http://dearborn.patch.com/articles/anoushstefi-serves-up-armenian-baked-goods-at-dearborn-farmers-market
By Sandra Boulton
Patch.com
Sept 30 2011
Stefi Hovious, a Northville resident but long-time lover of Dearborn,
has become a popular staple around the market this year.
Stefi Hovious has been selling specialty baked goods, from
traditional Armenian pastries and pies to original recipes that grew
from experimenting in the kitchen, all season long at the Dearborn
Farmers Market.
"My biggest thrill is seeing that I have pleased people's palates
and now that extends from my home to the Market" says Hovious, owner
of AnoushStefi.
Anoush means sweet in Armenian, according to Hovious, who chose the
name because it reflected how she started her business last year:
baking sweet pastries for sale. Shortly thereafter, she added savory
goods into the equation and continues to sell them both today.
A former Ford employee for 35 years, Hovious resides in Northville
but considers Dearborn her second home after spending so many working
years in the community. She started the bakery business after losing
her job and looking for a way to help supplement income.
Hovious has a passion for baking that spans many years, often
entertaining family and friends in her home, so this seemed like
a natural extension. Now she and husband Earl take the show on the
road and sell Hovious' homemade specialties in four markets in the
area-including Dearborn.
Hovious had a hard time choosing her favorite item that she bakes,
but said, "My special cream cheese cookies are a customer favorite
and, according to my husband, they are to die for. These cookies are
wrapped like a cigar, the dough is made with cream cheese, butter
and flour and they are filled with ground walnuts and sugar, then
sprinkled with powdered sugar."
She also regularly bakes katah, cheoreg and bourma-all sweet Armenian
pastry treats. Katah is like a coffee cake, usually with a filling
inside. Cheoreg is a sweet pastry bread and bourma is a sweet nut roll.
Another mouth-watering specialty item that Hovious bakes is called
khadayif. "It is shredded filo dough, and I put heavy whipping cream
thickened with vanilla in the center, bake it and drench it with
sugar water," she described. "That is a delicacy."
As for the savory department, pies are stuffed with lamb, spinach
or cheese. She finds that anything with lamb seems to be popular,
but it changes each week.
"Sometimes it is fickle, and all my spinach sells in a certain week,"
she explained. "Tastes and markets change week to week."
She finds it challenging to prepare for the markets because of this
fluctuation, sharing that her baking is very labor intensive and
she isn't always sure what is going to move the next day. Building
a steady clientele does help, as people try something once and then
return to purchase it again. These repeat customers give her great joy,
because it means they enjoy her baking.
AnoushStefi is in the Dearborn Farmers Market every other
week. They also take special orders and can be reached by email
[email protected] or by calling 248-515-0309. The Dearborn Farmer's
Market is open every Friday from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. now through the end
of October and is located in the Muirhead Plaza by the Bryant Library.
http://dearborn.patch.com/articles/anoushstefi-serves-up-armenian-baked-goods-at-dearborn-farmers-market