Owners William and Heather Leaman’s serendipitous discovery of a bakery for rent led them to open Bakery Nouveau in December 2006.

“Thank you for opening,” a customer calls to William Leaman as she leaves Bakery Nouveau, her arms laden with bread. “Thank you for coming,” he calls back. His West Seattle bakery has been open for less than two years, but already has generated buzz most bakery owners only dream about. Check out any food review Web site, and Bakery Nouveau consistently receives the highest ratings possible. The bakery turns customers into devotees as soon as they taste its products, which include chocolate croissants, Parisian macaroons and baguettes. One enthusiast even penned a poem for the local paper espousing her love of the bakery's famous twice baked almond croissant.

Word of mouth as well as plentiful press spurs a lot of the buzz. “There has been an article almost every month since we opened,” Leaman says. An article in the Seattle Times in September 2007 really helped put the bakery on the map, he says. “People read about it and hear about it. The most powerful thing we have going for us is word of mouth,” he adds.

Leaman is no stranger to press coverage or accolades. He was a member of the Bread Bakers Guild Baking Team USA 2005, which brought home gold from the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie in Paris, France. “Basically, the process made me a better professional. I look back at the whole thing and it still seems like a dream. We [the team] were very blessed and lucky that we did everything right on that day,” Leaman says. “That's what I tell these guys [his employees] all the time. Not every day is the right day, but hopefully, on the right day, you get it right. I feel like I'm more of an ambassador than I am anything else. And, I try to teach these guys to stay humble.”

After the competition and years of working for bakeries and restaurants in Fayetteville, Ark., Las Vegas and Seattle, Leaman began dreaming about his own bakery. That dream came true in December 2006, when he and his wife, Heather, opened Bakery Nouveau. Nobody would have faulted him if he had touted the fact he was a member of the gold-medal winning Baking Team 2005 when he was opening the bakery.

However, he wanted his products to be the draw, so he kept his team experience out of the press releases. But, he is proud of his success, and the Coupe du Monde trophy is on display in the bakery. Customers also recognized him from the Food Network's coverage of the team. “When they come in and see the product, they say, ‘Now I understand why you won.’ People take a lot of pride in knowing that they have that in their neighborhood,” he adds.

Bakery Nouveau offers a mix of sweet items, such as cakes, tarts and cookies in whole or individual sizes, as well as a variety of savory sandwiches, quiche and pizza.

It was almost destiny that Leaman found the perfect location for his bakery in the West Seattle neighborhood where he lived. On the way to get ice cream, he and his wife walked past a storefront (a bakery) that was for rent. He made inquiries about the building's owner, and eight days later, he had the space. The location had been the home of Blake's Bakery, which had been a neighborhood institution for 50 years before closing several years ago. Leaman hopes Bakery Nouveau will have same longevity.

While Bakery Nouveau has a French name, Leaman didn't set out to open a French bakery. He simply wanted to offer high quality products and preserve the tradition of baking. “We've been kind of coined a French bakery, but I'm not going to argue with it or fight it. Hey, it works,” he says.

What works is Leaman's innate sense for what West Seattle residents want in a bakery. He hit the nail on the head from the beginning with the product mix. When developing the product line, Leaman focused on creating products that would keep the bakery busy all day with pastries for breakfast, breads for lunchtime sandwiches and a variety of chocolates and desserts for all-day treats. “I try to give them [customers] something they can relate to, but also have some French cakes and pastries. I try to tap the world of artisan bakery and also high-end desserts and candy. I torment myself a lot with all three.”

Perfect product line

The bakery offers a variety of artisan breads, including ciabatta, baguettes, brioche, focaccia and fougasse; pastries, such as the twice baked almond croissant, fresh fruit Danish and muffins; cookies, cakes, tarts and many other desserts; a variety of chocolates; and lunch items that often feature fixings not common to bakeries, such as roasted duck and foie gras.