About Gusto Bread in Long Beach, California

About Gusto Bread

It all started with a little wood fired oven called EmmyLou… In Downtown Long Beach in 2013, I was inspired by an earth oven nestled in a corner of the garden at our new home. It instantly drew me in. I felt a calling to learn to use this mysterious oven. A friend lent me a copy of the book “From The Wood Fired Oven” by Richard Miscovich and I spent my time happily thumbing through the recipes, chopping wood, firing the oven, fermenting my first wild yeast starter, milling organic whole grains, hand mixing the dough, and connecting with the old world pleasure of wood firing and baking food.

After a couple years of practicing bread making, I made it a point to visit as many bakeries as I could in my travels. My curiosity eventually led me to Spain. I visited a village in Galicia called Cea where there’s a co-op of 16 bakers, each with their own wood-fired oven. In that same trip, I was introduced to the passionate baking family behind Panadería Artesanal Manín in the gorgeous mountains of Asturias who gave me a tour of their beautiful bakery and graciously welcomed me back anytime. My partner Ana and I traveled to the Bay Area, the East Coast and Oaxaca during this time – seeking out inspiring bakeries and bakers, making new friends and learning simultaneously.

In early 2017, I was seeking a new beginning, unsure of how to apply what I’ve learned, I went on a spiritual quest to New England and by chance, I met and took a course with my greatest mentor Richard Miscovich whose book had deeply influenced me early on my path as a baker. During this trip, it became clear to me I needed to return to Long Beach, to settle down and commit to baking for the community.

In the summer of 2017, a cozy two-story house opened up and we saw the perfect opportunity to set up our cottage bakery. This became the official beginning of Gusto Bread. Together Ana and I worked tirelessly for the next few years, baking a variety of breads and pastries, opening our home to the community, hiring a small team of dedicated panaderxs, having a weekly presence at local farmers markets, and partnering with local cafes and restaurants.
The support was so enthusiastic and overwhelming that we were compelled to find a storefront to grow the bakery.

The ideal location and property owners graciously found us and we knew it was time to take the leap. We invested everything we had and secured a generous loan to build a cozy bakery in the heart of the city. With the help of our dedicated team of bakers and contractors, we worked through a pandemic towards our goal: to open the doors of our new panadería in August 2020.

Gusto Bread continues to be an incredible rollercoaster ride! We’re still growing each day/week/month/year… sometimes two steps forward and one step back but always evolving, always learning from our experiences, and always committed to improving the quality of our lives and that of our community.

Thank you for being a part of this journey!

About Our Values + Sourcing

We love putting our heart + soul into our work, constantly striving for Gusto Bread to foster relationships + community, to celebrate diversity and culture, to be conscious of our resources and waste, and to source the best and regional quality goods we have access to, with many certified organic ingredients (from flour to seeds, fruit, etc).

We believe that a high level of care and respectful reciprocity is the path forward for our humanity, and that even our small efforts contribute to this being or becoming a reality for more people, towards a more just and humane world.

We seek out the best quality raw ingredients and socially responsible products for our production and retail.

Certified Organic flours, grains, oil, fruit, etc. (and others when possible/available)
Coffee, honey, oil, spices, merch/apparel, etc purchased from local businesses.
Our specialty grocery offerings include heirloom beans, hand-packed sustainable seafood, stone-ground chocolate, hand harvested salt from Oregon + Utah, etc.
Plant-based plastic cutlery, take-out boxes, and cold cups. Recycled and/or recyclable bags, paper products and packaging printed with non-toxic inks.

About the Owners

Arturo Enciso is a baker from Lebec, California that has called Long Beach his home since 2008. As a self-taught baker, for the last decade he’s grown his hobby into a career with his business Gusto Bread, a panadería in Long Beach. The bakery, once run out of his home as a cottage operation, make breads and pan dulces with wild fermentation using masa madre (sourdough), embracing ancient knowledge and using the best quality ingredients to create nourishing food. He believes that bread provides a beautiful way for people to connect with one another and to past traditions to create community and a brighter future together.

Working alongside Arturo is his partner of a dozen years, Ana Belén Salatino, who you’ll find minding the shop, answering the phone and emails, and general day to day operations at the bakery. As a self-taught graphic and web designer, Ana was an entrepreneur herself and closed her business in 2019 to join Arturo. She is in awe of the amount of support and encouragement Gusto Bread has seen from the Long Beach community (and beyond) and knows a good part of the business’ success comes from the heartfelt passion Arturo has for baking and their shared deep commitment to the highest quality ingredients and processes. Just like him, she treasures food traditions (and has been obsessed with carbs for as long as she could reach her hand to her mouth) and finds this enterprise to be the most fulfilling work out there.

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gus·to

goos – toh
spanish / taste, flavor, liking, pleasure, whim, relish, savor

guhs – tow
english / enjoyment or vigor in doing something; zest, style of artistic execution