Bobby James and Reggie Ferguson move about in a well-choreographed routine. Cutting, weighing, flouring, and kneading, the men crank out tray after tray of dough ready for baking in the grand oven.

Occasionally, a group of field-trippers will crowd into the historic shop, and the bakers will — without ever breaking character — tell the well-rehearsed tale of this, the oldest continually operating bakery in the United States.

“The kids love to ask questions, sometimes the same ones over and over,” Ferguson says. “Most of them are really curious about what we’re doing. And some just want a cookie.”

Old Salem Museums and Gardens’ Winkler Bakery was started by Christian Winkler in 1807. Although more than 200 years have passed since its founding, the shop still employs recipes and methods steeped in tradition. It’s this appreciation of the past that brings an estimated 250,000 visitors to the bakery annually. And at no time is the shop busier than the holidays.

Today, James and Ferguson will be baking 122 squares of sugar cake, by far the bestseller in December. Last Saturday, they made 250. By the end of the year, more than 30,000 squares will have been purchased from Winkler.

Moravian Lovefeast buns are another holiday hit. Last year, orders came in from churches as far away as Phoenix. This year, they’re anticipating baking more than 2,300 dozen handmade buns for Christmas celebrations, says John Wald, operations manager at Winkler. And that is in addition to the many other delicacies that come from the bakery’s wood-fired oven.

“We pay attention to what’s going on in town — conventions, ball games, Candle Tea,” Wald explains. “Last year’s Candle Tea left us with a line out the door and back down the street. This time of year is great for business.”

In order to keep up with customer demand, not all of Winkler’s products are baked in the historic bakery. But those that are, such as breads and sugar cakes, are baked in an oven built to the exact specifications of the one Brother Winkler used when he moved to Salem.

Dubbed “Old Ethel” by the bakers, the squirrel-tail beehive oven — named for the dome with a flu that curves over itself — is 9 feet deep, 7 feet wide, and 2 feet high. Stacks of white oak (selected because of its clean burn) are lighted in the early morning. When the bricks at the top of the oven are white-hot (typically 600 degrees), the embers are swept away. At that point, the oven is left to cool to between 350 and 450 degrees. This process is dependent on many factors, including outside temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure, and it takes skilled bakers to gauge when the oven is ready.

While they wait, the team prepares the dough, which is left to rise in a proofing room warmed by the oven. Breads go in first — up to 96 loaves at a time — when the oven is at its hottest. Next, sugar cakes are baked in the gradually cooling oven.

The bakery’s goal is to honor traditions in an efficient, modern way, Wald says. “We create good quality products, while keeping things as much the way it was as possible.”

The bakery was run by the Moravian church when it was founded in the 18th century. At that time, the town elders were able to regulate the prices of baked goods and the quality of ingredients. In November 1807, the church brought Swiss-born Winkler, an experienced baker, in to head the shop.

Winkler and his descendants worked and resided in the bakery until 1927. Two years ago, Old Salem hosted a reunion for the family, and more than 75 Winklers gathered in Winston-Salem for the affair, likely impressed by the bakery’s success two centuries later.

But for the bakers who spend their days recounting the story of this fabled place, the success is a result of hard work and customer service. “We meet so many people from all over the world. In one week, we met folks from Israel, South Africa, and Denmark,” James recalls. “You repeat your story, but you repeat it to different countries. In that way, we become ambassadors.”

Winkler Bakery is at 525 S. Main St. Extended hours are offered for the holidays. For more information, call 336-721-7302, or go to oldsalem.org.