The motto at Brambles Bakery and Café might be “easy does it,” if you didn’t count the 14-hour work days enjoyed by owners Dorothy Molnar, Irene Bennett, and Sarah Molnar.

Sarah is Dorothy’s daughter, and the bakery was, oddly, her idea. Considering that Dorothy is the baking talent behind the Merritt Library’s mouth-watering Tuesday Tea (on the first Tuesday of the month), you might think Dorothy would be the author of this idea for a bake shop and café specializing in all-home-made baked goods.

But Sarah had this fresh-from-the-oven bachelor of arts degree, and needed to do something with it.

“I thought, what should I do with this degree in English? Let’s open a bakery!”

That was just a few years ago. Then she talked to her mother, and her mom’s pal Irene, and the idea rose and took form, like a fine bun with just the right amount of leavening.

Speaking of buns, there’s one in the oven, as it were, so Sara, who already has one child and will soon add to her family, insisted that the bakery should be especially friendly toward moms and kids. A room was set up for the little tykes’ enjoyment, and moms are encouraged to sit back and relax for a spell.

It’s early days – Brambles only opened about three weeks ago – and things are still settling down in the Quilchena Avenue bake shop and cafe. They’re still refining their menu of baked offerings, for instance, taking some time to figure out what the community wants, trying to get it right. “We’re just figuring it out,” Sarah said. The baked-goods display case looks a little empty on Tuesday morning and while at other times there is a good selection of scones and other treats, they’re still filling out their menu, figuring out what people want and what they’ll pay for it.

Price, said Sarah, has been given quite a bit of thought. Some of the prices might seem a little high, but only a little, and in a back shop, as in most places, you get what you pay for.

“We wanted a place where everything was made from scratch,” says Sarah. So far, customers have agreed that made-from-scratch is worth a little extra.

And the customers seem to prefer those special treats that you won’t find elsewhere, she says. “Nobody asks for muffins. They go for the fancy persimmon napoleons instead.”

In preparing for her new role as a bakery owner, Sarah took some workshops at while back, and shadowed a couple of Okanagan bakers whose products she liked. Dorothy, who was already a talented baker, took a San Francisco Baking Institute course in the spring of 2008, and some other workshops.

Sarah handles the bread, while Dorothy tends to focus on other baked goods, and Irene handles soups and the front end – along with a few staff members. “We do have some great staff,” says Irene.

Sarah produces three daily breads, and one or two featured loaves every week, like the buckwheat-pear-hazlenut loaf that’s surely going to prove popular. The bread is baked in old pizza ovens that have been rigged to produce a little steam, which improves the crust, Sarah says.

While the café portion of the Brambles facility is often nearly empty, Irene says it’s bustling at lunch time, and they’re getting to know the customers who keep coming back. “We have our regulars already,” she said.

Irene has not studied baking, but is a full partner, and uses her talent for mingling with people to good advantage. A couple of years ago, she might not have thought she’d be helping to run a bake shop and café, but when Dorothy approached her with the idea of joining them, she went for it. “I thought it’d be a good thing to do and I have two great partners,” she says.

For now, “easy does it” means taking the necessary time to come up with a selection that will please the palates of Merritt customers. You can’t rush quality, some might say. Whether the notion of completely hand-made baked goodies and bread, a relaxed setting that even provides a playspace for kids, and good quality coffee will prove successful is anybody’s guess, but there’s no shortage of ideas for making Brambles a hit. There’s a banquet room in the back where catered parties can be held, for instance, and the possibility exists of bringing in master chefs for baking workshops.

But that’s in the future. For now, there’s an empty space where the cranberry scones belong, and there are a couple of loaves in the oven that need attention.