For the Nashville ‘Bread Lady’, bread and baking are life

NASHVILLE, Tn. (AP) — When Sarah Gonzalez bakes, it’s often in memory of the family members who came before her.

The Nashville-based baker’s debut cookbook, Baking with the Bread Lady, showcases some family-inspired recipes among more modern breads and desserts. Her 1850s Gingerbread Spice Cake, for example, is a slightly updated version of a special occasion cake her paternal great-grandmother used to make before recipes came with precise temperatures and bake times.

Even when Gonzalez’s recipes aren’t drawn from the family repertoire, they’re infused with her ancestors’ influence.

In her introduction, Gonzalez displays a can-do spirit inherited from her family’s many strong matriarchs. She describes her path from amateur cook to the owner of the successful Spring Hill Bakery as one that, at first, was filled with more failure than success.

“As you learn to bake bread, you’ll discover — just as I had to — one of the only things that needs to remain constant is your willingness to mess up without getting discouraged,” she wrote. “After all, it is just flour.”

Gonzalez persevered beyond uninspired loaves to follow her dreams, launching Spring Hill Bakery in 2015. She quickly became known as the “Bread Lady.” By the end of that year, she was baking for the governor’s mansion as customers lined up at her new storefront for cinnamon rolls and rustic artisan loaves.