Burlington’s Water Tank Bakery keeps its roots front and center
Tucked inside a nondescript industrial park, surrounded by the fertile fields of the Skagit Valley, sits a remarkable bakery. Water Tank Bakery is more than just a place to grab a loaf of bread—it’s proof of the power of local, sustainable food and the unwavering spirit of its founder, Rachael Sobczak.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Sobczak was on a different path, studying to become a dietitian and coordinating a school garden program at her son’s elementary school. When the pandemic forced her to pivot her plans, Sobczak didn’t balk. Instead, she returned to her roots and started a small-scale cottage bakery.
“I knew how to bake,” she says. She explained that she started small—baking loaves of sourdough bread for pop-up sales and subscription orders. Apparently the stars aligned, because Water Tank Bakery took off.
Sobczak’s story reaches back to her formative years in Wisconsin, where her love of gardening and baking began inside her family’s farmhouse kitchen. Enrolling in the Evergreen State College in Olympia, she moved west and fell in love with the area, particularly the Skagit Valley. The agricultural bounty of the Skagit Valley felt much like home.
After graduating in 2007, Sobczak embarked on a decade-long stint at Breadfarm in Edison, honing her skills and gaining lifelong friends. It was her friends Scott Mangold and Renée Bourgault, Breadfarm’s founders, who gave Sobczak a sourdough starter and helped steer her on her current path. These relationships, and building community through her work, are the touchstones around which Sobczak’s business began to flourish. Today, the same gifted starter—whose origins are over 100 years old, according to Sobczak—is still used, fed faithfully, twice a day.
KEEPING CLOSE TO HOME
At the heart of Water Tank Bakery’s philosophy is a commitment to using locally sourced ingredients. Sobczak is particularly proud of her use of 100% Skagit-grown flour, milled steps from her bakery door at Cairnspring Mills.
“They literally forklift it over,” laughs Sobczak. She currently uses full pallets of flour to bake whole-grain Skagit wheat or sourdough baguettes, among others, ensuring that her bread and pastries are made with the freshest, most flavorful ingredients available. Almost every creation begins with the time-tested sourdough starter, which results in bread with a tangy, complex flavor and a chewy, satisfying texture.
Not only does this dedication to sourcing locally support the regional economy, but also reduces Water Tank Bakery’s environmental impact and their carbon footprint, a fact that makes Sobczak proud.
Her circle of community includes area farmers, millers, bakers and other business owners—like Kevin Morse, owner of Cairnspring Mills. He reflects on his friendship and business relationship with Sobczak, as he witnesses her lifelong dream become her reality.
“The community supports you, and you support the community. It’s a circle of giving.” —Rachael Sobczak
“Water Tank is a culmination of Rachael’s dreams and passions for this community, a sum of her life’s work,” Morse says. “Her collaboration with Cairnspring Mills is steadfast and continues to grow as she grows. It speaks to her commitment to sourcing locally and supporting her community.”
As Sobczak outgrew her small commercial kitchen and pop-ups, it was with a stroke of luck and help from Morse that she acquired her current trusty professional deck oven, which evenly and consistently bakes loaves of scrumptious sourdough. The oven was gifted to her venture by Seattle-based restaurateur Tom Douglas, saving Sobczak a huge expense. And then, as serendipity would have it, a commercial space came up for rent right next door to her friends at Cairnspring Mills.
So, Sobczak got to baking.
MORE THAN A BAKERY
The community support grew, as did wholesale and retail accounts. Sobczak added more products, and built a crew. Currently, she has a team of 11 employees spread out over different shifts, starting at 6 a.m., until quitting time around 11 p.m.
“They are the most amazing team, and they have grown into a small family, bringing that sense of community to what we do,” says Sobczak. Her principles run deep, and it shows in her crew. “The community supports you, and you support the community. It’s a circle of giving,” she says.
Beyond providing delicious baked goods, Sobczak and her team at Water Tank Bakery are deeply committed to giving back. They regularly donate bread and pastries to local food banks, such as the LaConner Sunrise Food Bank and Skagit Gleaners. In addition, they fill a need in school lunch programs, ensuring everyone has access to nutritious, wholesome food—a topic close to Sobczak’s heart, harkening back to her development of her son’s school garden, and her dietician studies.
Sobczak is passionate about educating the public on the importance of supporting local farmers and eating sustainably. She often participates in farmers markets and community events, sharing her knowledge and inspiring others to make conscious choices about their food.
Biting into a soft and chewy sourdough made at Water Tank Bakery is to savor all the flavors of Skagit County. Sourcing her ingredients locally not only adds Skagit’s unique terroir to Sobczak’s menu, but also ups the nutritional value.
“When everything is grown within a 12-mile radius, it changes the flavor of the product,” she says.
Her baked goods can be found as far north as Bellingham, and south to farmers markets in Woodinville and the University District of Seattle, but her main customer base is fellow Skagitonians. Like her suppliers, they are her neighbors, friends and community.
Step up to Water Tank Bakery’s walk-up window, where an array of diverse choices line the shelves—from daily bread specials to Sobczak’s famous almond biscotti, or perhaps a new shortbread fresh out of the oven. During the holidays, rows of cookie boxes filled with seasonal treats will fly out of this window as fast as they are put on the shelf. People queue here daily, waiting to sample her latest creations. Everything is delicious, made from simple ingredients, reflecting the spirit and land of Skagit County.
Water Tank Bakery
11777 Water Tank Road Unit C
Burlington, WA 98233
watertankbakery.com