Meet the Waxahachie Bread Lady: A Sourdough Savant

Angela Gottuso, aka the Waxahachie Bread Lady, started baking at home as a newlywed over a decade ago. At the time, baking was just a creative outlet. Lucky neighbors and friends benefited as Gottuso honed her baking skills, receiving freshly baked sourdough loaves as gifts (why don’t we have friends like this?).

“After I became a mother, I started reading ingredient labels of our favorite foods, and I wasn’t impressed with the number of preservatives in prepackaged foods on store shelves,” Gottuso told the Observer. “Cooking from scratch and baking bread became a normal part of life, and I’ve exclusively baked sourdough bread for my own family the past five years after learning of all the health benefits.”

But it wasn’t until last year that Gottuso began to seriously explore the idea of turning her hobby into a full-fledged business venture.

“Around Christmas last year, I decided to create a pretty tree design in my bread that reminded me of my hometown. I grew up in a valley surrounded by evergreen trees at the base of Mount Baker in Washington state. A few friends asked if I could recreate the design so they could have the same beautiful tree bread as a centerpiece on their dinner tables for Christmas, so I happily got to work,” said Gottuso.

When the holidays passed, a light bulb in Gottuso’s head flickered on, “That was the first time the thought of baking full-time crossed my mind.”

And just like that, the Bread Lady concept was born. Since then, Gottuso has been churning out exquisite artisan bread loaves and other baked treats weekly. Sourdough is Gottuso’s specialty – on the rotating menu, you’ll find original, roasted garlic rosemary and cranberry citrus sourdoughs (to name a few). She also has sourdough cookies on the menu: oatmeal flax, Earl Grey and salted dark chocolate.

We started with the Cinnamon Sunrise Swirl ($13), one of Gottuso’s personal favorites. With plump raisins, notes of warm cinnamon throughout and an Instagrammable swirl on the crust, this is an absolutely stellar breakfast (or dessert) bread. Whip up some cinnamon butter (or better yet, order some from the Waxahachie Bread Lady) and spread it on a slice. Heavenly. Gottuso also highly recommends using it for French toast.

Our next bread was a fire-roasted jalapeno sharp cheddar loaf ($15), the type of bread that makes you consider skipping dinner altogether and just eating that.

For dessert, we passed around a box of Soviet-inspired dulce de leche pizzelles ($10): waffle-like pastries with a sinfully sweet filling. These things are dangerous; the kind of dessert treat you tell yourself you’ll have one of, but before you know it, the entire box is gone.

Bread orders go live on Saturday mornings (you can sign up for text notifications here). Heads up: Be on your best game because she sells out fast. A couple of weeks ago, Gottuso sold out in minutes. Deliveries are made later in the week to front doors all over Waxahachie and Midlothian. (Yes, and sorry.)

For everyone else outside of Waxahachie and Midlothian, soon, Gottuso will have a brick-and-mortar store where anyone can walk in and score artisan bread loaves, other baked treats and desserts (including European pastries), whipped butters and coffee. The official Bread Lady launch is slated for September.

And when Bread Lady opens, Gottuso promises you’ll find the highest-quality bread around (we can vouch).

“I’m passionate about good health. Bread Lady sourdough is made with only simple, easy-to-pronounce ingredients. Organic flour, water, sea salt. Any sugar we add is organic and the herbs are always fresh and green. High-quality ingredients are my top priority, and if I can help anyone reach their goal of eating healthier, I feel like I’m contributing to the overall health of our community.”