Jacob Gross: Baker Without Limits

By Kylie Ora Lobell

Courtesy of Aish.com

To say that Jacob Gross likes baking would be an understatement. After the 27-year-old, who is special needs, comes home from his shift at one of two Friendship Circle vocational programs he’s involved in, he takes a nap, wakes up, and promptly starts baking all over again.

And he doesn’t discriminate when it comes to desserts.

“I like to make babkas and cookies and pies,” Jacob said. “I like to make apple pie, peach pie, cookie pie, and cherry pie, and s’mores cookies and almond cookies.”

Getting His Start in the Kitchen

The talented Michigan-based baker started cooking and baking professionally when he was a teenager; he worked in his high school cafeteria. He also started a babka business with his brother and sister when they were all living at home.

“He baked the babkas and his brother and sister sold them, so it was perfect,” Ethan, Jacob’s father, said. “He loved it.”

Upon graduation, Jacob started working for Shalom Shomer, the director of food operations at Friendship Circle in West Bloomfield, which is where he gained the skills he uses at his jobs today.

“We really appreciate that Shalom gave him that opportunity,” Ethan said. “Jacob earned it. He worked really hard. We appreciate that he has an opportunity to work at a place he loves and have a life where he is happy and productive. He feels really good when he works a full day and does something meaningful. When everyone comes in, they’re so nice to him.”

Now, three days a week, Jacob is at Dakota Bakery, and one day he week, he’s the pastry chef for Soul Café, both of which Shomer runs. During the summer, he works in the kitchen at Camp Morasha.

“He’s been going there since he was a little kid, and now he’s vocational,” said Ethan. “The first year, he helped out with the baking. He hopes he’ll be working with the head chef in the main kitchen this year. They were so impressed by how he was in the baking kitchen that the head chef gave him his own chef jacket.”

Jacob bakes every opportunity he gets. When he gets up from his nap after work, he heads to the family kitchen and starts experimenting with different ingredients. He also bakes challahs every week for Shabbat and cooks side dishes like kugel and yapchik.  

Every year, he creates a gluten-free cholent for Passover.

The ambitious chef makes desserts for his synagogue on Simchat Torah, and his rabbi recently asked him if he could do the same for Shavuot. He also conducted a babka making demonstration at Friendship Circle in Manhattan, where his sister works, which led to another event on the Upper East Side and locally, in Oak Park and West Bloomfield.

“I just like to help people,” Jacob said. ‘I like to show them how easy it is to make pies and cakes.”

When asked what his favorite type of babka is, Jacob simply said, “Chocolate babka.”

Ethan added, “He likes chocolate.”

Jacob loves this dessert so much that he named his emotional support dog, a Havanese, none other than Babka.

“He’s black and white like a babka, so it works,” Ethan said.

Creating a Special Needs Cookbook

Along with continuing to work at Dakota Bakery, Soul Café, and Camp Morasha, Jacob is coming up with recipes for a cookbook he’s developing called “Bake Like Jake.” He’s seeking contributions from famous chefs and hopes that a publisher like ArtScroll will take it on.

“He wants to do a cookbook that’s designed to be easy for other special needs adults, or anybody who wants to cook,” said Ethan. “He’s very into the cookbook world. He knows about all the famous chefs.”

It’s clear that Jacob’s supportive family is one of the reasons he’s so successful – and they believe that he will be able to write the cookbook and accomplish all his dreams.

“We are very proud,” Ethan said. “We shepp a lot of nachas from seeing him pursue his passion. He’s been special needs, on the autism spectrum, since birth. We want him and all our kids to have happy, rewarding lives. It makes us feel good knowing he has a place he can go to every day and be productive. It gives him meaning and purpose.”

As for Jacob, his overall goal is to stay put in the kitchen and keep on making food that people love.

One of the most rewarding parts of his work? Seeing people’s positive reactions to his delicious treats.

He said, “It makes me feel happy.”