MOREHEAD, Ky. (LEX NEWS) — Root-A-Bakers Bakery & Café in downtown Morehead has been a local staple and regional sensation for 26 years — and now, owner Lana Root is sharing the recipes that built her bakery's legacy.
Root recently released "The Root of It All," a 152-page cookbook filled with recipes for cakes, breads, breakfast pastries, and lunch favorites. Every recipe is scaled down for the home kitchen.
"I took all the recipes from the back, type them all up. We did the math to break them down to home ovens, home bakers, everything like that. We tried them in the back with those recipes, so that we knew what we were putting out there were legit going to work," said employee Rebekah Riley.
Root credits the bakery's longtime success to simple, quality ingredients.
"I think we use real ingredients, no artificial. The cookies have butter, eggs, vanilla flour, just real stuff... I think the butter is one of the big things," Root told LEX News.
The bakery draws customers from as far away as Louisville and West Virginia, with fan favorites including chicken salad and the bakery's famous sugar cookies. All food is made entirely in-house.
The cookbook, which also includes stories about the bakery and how it began, took Root and employee Rebekah Riley six months to write. In just weeks, nearly 700 copies have sold nationwide.
Root said the project had been a long time coming.
"For about 15 years, I've been telling people, yeah we're going to do a cookbook. 'Working on that cookbook yet?' Yeah we're working on it, we'll get it done," Root said.
Reflecting on how far the bakery has come, Root said the response has been emotional.
"Just to look back on that and realize where we are now to where I started, I was only gonna sell cinnamon rolls and sticky buns. It's overwhelming; it really is. But it's a good overwhelming," Root said.
If you'd like to purchase a copy, click here: The Root of it All Cookbook - Root-a-Bakers Bakery & Café
