O’Brien continues mission at French Camp
On Aug. 1, Kevin O’Brien took his 66,000th loaf of bread from the oven at the bakery of French Camp Academy Welcome Center, an accomplishment in his fifth year as baker of the bread that has become synonymous with French Camp.
Freshly baked bread began as a ministry in the 1950s by FCA President Sam Patterson who took loaves of bread baked in the school dining hall, as a means of saying thanks to those he visited throughout the state promoting the school.
His method of “thank you” continues. Each year at Christmas, 4,500 to 5,000 loaves are mailed to those who support FCA with donations and at Easter 2,000 loaves are sent to donors. These figures partially account for the fervor with which O’Brien goes about his daily baking. Many of the loaves coming from the oven today are going to the freezer in preparation of the upcoming mail-out in December.
Sale of the bread adds funds toward the operation of the school. The Council House Café, operated by FCA in the Historic District of the town, has become well known for its sandwiches made with the fresh bread.
O’Brien said he first became acquainted with FCA in 1982, coming from his home in Corinth to work as an intern with the late Jack Johnson who was responsible for much of the construction of buildings on the campus for many years.
“I fell in love with French Camp,” he said. In the years that followed he never forgot French Camp. In 2007, he returned with his wife Hannah and they became house parents in a dorm on the FCA campus. He spent three years working with students who resided at the Onesimus House on the campus, in the dining hall and wherever he was needed, he said.
“When I was told there was a need at the bakery with the retirement of longtime employee Annie Carter, I accepted. Miss Annie was a blessing,” he said. Taking her recipe for white bread, which he said was “in her head,” he formalized it and began baking and experimenting.
His experimenting has resulted in wheat bread sweetened with sorghum instead of honey. The variety made with sour dough includes breads of jalapeno pepper and cheese, blue cheese and bacon, oatmeal, cranberry apple, raisin and potato bread.
His experimenting has branched into cookies with the development of recipes for sorghum cookies, oatmeal, Snickerdoodle, and chocolate chip. A dark chocolate fudge caramel cookie is in the planning stage.
As Production Kitchen Manager for the Council House Café he not only provides the sandwich bread, he makes the honey mustard, garlic mayonnaise sauces and dressing for the broccoli salad.
O’Brien said his love of cooking and baking stems from time spent in the kitchen with his mother. “When my sister left home, I took her place in the kitchen,” he said. Under the watchful eye of his mother, he said he prepared the Thanksgiving dinner, from turkey and dressing to pecan pie the first year his sister was not at home to help.
Rhonda Booth of Eupora is a daily helper in the bakery. FCA students also make a contribution to the success of the bakery by assembling boxes and storing in the freezer. When mail time comes at Christmas and Easter students again do their part in the process.
