If you’ve been inside Reher’s Historic Bakery, you likely already know who the woman in this photo is. Born in 1905, Sadie Reher was the sixth of nine Reher siblings. Though this photo of Sadie is one of the only images we have of the interior of Reher’s Bakery, Sadie was the only sibling who didn’t enjoy working in the family business. Rather, she preferred to support the family by cooking and cleaning for the family in their apartment upstairs.
Sadie kept a vast collection of recipes, mostly handwritten, that she used to whip up savory meals and sweet treats for her parents and siblings. Read on to check out some of Sadie’s recipes and perhaps get some delicious inspiration for the upcoming holiday season!
Sadie in the retail shop (1950s)
Sadie’s Custard Pie
3 large eggs
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
2 ⅔ cups milk
Line 9 inch pie pan with plain pastry and brush with very slightly beaten egg white (or 1 tsp melted butter). Set in refrigerator to chill thoroughly for several hours. Beat the eggs slightly. Beat in sugar, salt, nutmeg, and milk. Pour into the chilled pastry lined pan. Bake about 40 minutes (or until a silver knife inserted into side of filling comes out clean. Center is soft but will set later.) Hot oven (450 degrees) for first 15 minutes, reducing to moderate (350 degrees) to finish baking.
Pastry: 1 cup flour, ½ tsp salt, ⅓ cup shortening, 2 or 3 tsp ice water (just enough to make dough stay together), roll out onto a lightly floured cloth covered board.
Every family has their own priceless artifacts. Maybe it’s ancestral jewelry, old photographs, or a recipe book like this one. This 87-page handwritten recipe book was probably started by Ade Rose Aduchefsky, Sadie's mother and Frank's second wife, and continued by Sadie Reher. Most of the recipes are handwritten, but there are a variety of clippings from magazines, newspapers, and food packages glued to the book.
Click here to explore more pages of Sadie’s 87 page recipe book. The book contains recipes for banana cream pie, potato soup, pineapple cake, doughnuts, and so much more!
Sadie’s Golden Delicious Apple Cake
¾ cup shortening 1 ½ cup sugar
2 eggs 2 ½ cup flour
¾ tsp salt ⅓ cup light brown sugar
¾ tsp cinnamon ¾ cup warm coffee
1 tsp baking soda ½ cup chopped nuts
½ tsp cinnamon 2 cups diced apples
Peel and dice apples. In bowl, cream shortening; gradually beat in sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add to creamed mixture. Alternately mix warm coffee.
Fold in peeled and diced apples and nuts. Transfer to baking pan 9x13x2 and sprinkle combined brown sugar and remaining cinnamon [on] top. Bake in mode oven 45 min. Cut in squares to serve.
This Golden Delicious Apple Cake is one of the many loose handwritten recipes we have from Sadie. The seasonal combination of cinnamon and apple paired with the richness of the coffee might just make this recipe your next holiday go to!
Sadie’s Chocolate Cake
You’ll notice there isn’t much in this recipe regarding preparation or instructions for baking--so, make this recipe at your own risk! We’d love to see how it came out and what worked for you.
4 tbsp cocoa ½ cup butter
1 cup sugar 1 well beaten egg
1 tsp vanilla 2 cups flour
¼ tsp salt 1 cup milk
2 tsp baking powder
Add alternately flour and milk.
We’re not quite sure why this chocolate cake recipe is written on the back of a ripped calendar from the 1970s - perhaps Sadie was in a rush to get it to one of her siblings. Based on what we can see printed on this small fragment of paper, it’s likely that Sadie tore it from a calendar page for August 1978, which had its second day fall on a Wednesday.
Sadie’s Florence Recipe
This recipe might have more of a summer vibe, but maybe it’s just the thing you need to brighten up your dark winter nights! Using oranges and lemons, you’ll achieve a sweet and bright flavor that might have you longing for warmer months.
8 eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup cake flour
Rind of lemon or orange
¼ orange juice
First, add sugar. Take yolks of eggs and orange juice, beat until thick. Beat whites until stiff. Mix flour with yolks and sugar. Add whites last.
45 minutes with heat. 15 minutes without heat.
Similar to Sadie's chocolate cake recipe, the ingredients and instructions to make this Florence cake are written on the back of a calendar page--this time from April 1983.
Sadie in the Rehers’ top floor apartment at 101 Broadway (ca. 1940)
