The Crazy Baker® is Hall Hitzig – or - is Hall Hitzig The Crazy Baker®?

The two are impossible to separate! I started my training at a young age in New York City, where my mother treated me to the very best European bakeries. As my palate developed, so did my desire to please the sweet tooth of my family and friends. For as long as I can remember, our frequent family gatherings have finished with a handmade dessert, greeted with oohs & aahs of delight! This is the experience I want you to have when you taste a treat from The Crazy Baker®.

I prepare my pastries with care, using traditional methods and only the best ingredients available. With a committment to quality in every phase of my work, I choose quality European style butter, 100% pure natural vanilla, fresh local eggs, excellent imported chocolates, and high quality flours. These provide my basic palette. Combining these with an array of other select natural and organic ingredients, I make everthing by hand.

My small production bakery is located just a few miles from my beautiful mountain top home. This rural environment continually inspires me, and provides many of the ingredients I use regularly - blueberries, farm eggs, vegetables for quiche, and the honey I use in my granola, to name a few.

I have baked throughout my life, culminating my professional career with the opening of The Crazy Baker® in August 2002. I graduated as a pastry chef with honors from L’Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, MD, and gained additional training at hotels and restaurants in the US and abroad. I have lived in Renick, WV with my wife, Amy and our three children since 1986.

And…to answer that question…

Why, you might ask, am I called The Crazy Baker?? Well, if you ask my wife, she will tell you that instead of starting a bakery at the age when many retire, I should have just bought a red sports car!

Guaranteed to Please!

As The Crazy Baker, I love and respect what I bake. My goal is to create delicious foods using the very best ingredients that I can purchase. I look for the freshest, and most local products first, including organically raised ingredients. Your enjoyment of what I create is my primary goal. I am sure that you will be pleased with our products. If for any reason you are not satisfied, we will refund you the purchase price.

At our bakery, I respect my employees financially and personally. I provide them with a safe and clean shop to work in and I want them to feel good about their work and work place.

We provide baked goods to individuals, gourmet shops, select groceries and fine restaurants, and as always, your satisfaction is our primary concern.

Two People I Rely On Every Day:

Amy, The Crazy Baker's wife, and the Love of my Life, is also a partner in the business. Amy is brilliant at designing our packaging and labels. When there is a question about shades of flavoring or visual nuances, Amy will have an opinion that is usually right on. The Crazy Baker relies on Amy for more than she has time for, yet a request is rarely denied: she is a real trooper.

Jeff Kessler is a good friend and fellow passionate baker. Jeff and I have more in common than our passion for great food and baking. We share the bakery and its equipment here in the beautiful Greenbrier Valley of West Virginia. I was working at a wonderful resort in the English Cotswolds when Jeff found and purchased the property where our bakeries are situated. When I came home, Jeff invited me to share his space, and I jumped at the chance. After all, when does a pastry chef get to share his space with one of the country's best and foremost artisan bread bakers? It has been like a marriage in many ways, and like a marriage, we have worked out the kinks and continue to not only be friends, but have fun at our vocations. Thank you, Jeff!

To all of you, from all of us at The Crazy Baker - Thank you and We wish you a Luscious Experience!

Hall Hitzig
The Crazy Baker