One thing you’ll realize when listening to the story of Avery Ruzicka, the star baker and young entrepreneur behind Manresa Bread, is that tenacity, dedication and patience can take you very far away from your initial projects.

Her bread – originally famous in California but now available nationwide – is the result of tireless experimentation. Ruzicka left her home in North Carolina to study at the French Culinary Institute in New York City. When she moved to California to work at Manresa, a restaurant in Los Gatos with 3 Michelin stars, they had no open positions for cooks. So she offered to help as a baker.