Although Tim Schenk and his wife, Heather, opened Montgomery Bakehouse in 2013, the scratch bakery boasts the slogan “A Family Tradition since 1938.” The bakehouse follows family recipes dating back nearly 80 years. The Schenks’ baking legacy began when Tim’s grandparents, John and Pauline, emigrated from Germany to the U.S. and settled in German Town, Pennsylvania, where John apprenticed as a baker. Several years later, both of John and Pauline’s sons became bakers, and another generation later, Schenk and his family continue the tradition. “[Baking] is all that I know—I grew up in this business,” Schenk said. “I love the connection I have to my dad and my grandfather because it’s kind of cool to think that they did the same thing I’m doing. Everything is still my grandfather’s recipes, and we have a display case here with a lot of his handwritten recipes still in German.” The bakery first opened at a location off South Frazier Street in Conroe, however, the couple relocated their business closer to I-45 in 2016 to a building off Longmire Road. Schenk said he named the bakehouse after Montgomery County, as he primarily serves patrons from Conroe, Montgomery and The Woodlands. The bakery boasts custom cakes, pies, cookies, pastries and breakfast baked goods, such as muffins, kolaches and doughnuts. Schenk said one of the bakery’s most popular items is the Texas Tornado cookie, which is a shortbread cookie with chocolate filling. The bakery also has a party room, which can be reserved, and custom orders can be placed by phone, online or in person. All bakery items are on a 24-hour rotation cycle, and the open kitchen concept allows patrons to view the bakers making fresh items behind the counter. Additionally, Schenk said the bakery is expanding its services to include delivery. “We just partnered with a delivery service so we can now deliver, so we’re pretty excited about that because we’ve been working on that for awhile,” he said. “We’re still working on shipping things outside of our area so that will be part of our future plans.” Schenk said he hopes to continue the family tradition by passing the business down to his son one day, who already works at the bakehouse full-time. “Conroe is such a cool place because it feels very small town even though it’s big,” he said. “The community is very supportive and our customers have watched my kids grow up here and they always ask about them. So we definitely have a lot of customer friends—that’s for sure.”