At her recently opened bakery, Leo’s Bread, Kate Heller offers long loaves of what she calls “party bread.”
But baking wasn’t always a party for her. How Heller went from being a novice baker in a homely wine town in California to opening her own bakery in New Orleans is a story she can’t really believe herself. Let’s just say that a lot of cookbooks and YouTube videos were involved.
Ten years ago, Heller’s baking experience was limited to making pizza dough, but she agreed to run a one-woman bakery in a town called Lompoc, after everybody else said no. Besides a winery, Lompoc had a Home Depot, a state prison and a U.S. Air Force base.
“At the time it was not a cute town,” Heller says. “The winery owner thought maybe a bakery would help attract customers.”
She got started through some trial and error.
“I’m just lucky that bakers are very nice people,” she says. “Anytime I asked a baker for advice, I got it. Honestly, the first year I sold the bread at the farmer’s market, it wasn’t very good. But it was hot and people bought it anyway.”
Fortunately for her many New Orleans fans, Heller now bakes delicious bread. She opened Leo’s Breads at the end of April, a brick-and-mortar follow-up to what started as a pop-up, which transitioned into selling at Crescent City Farmers Market events across the city. During the pandemic, she stayed very busy delivering her bread.
Originally from Washington, D.C., Heller grew up in a family of foodies and worked at a pizzeria, 2 Amys, when she was in high school. After graduating college with a degree in anthropology, employment was elusive. “A guy I used to work with at 2 Amys moved to California and became a winemaker. He asked a lot of people to come out and run a bakery for him, and I said yes.”
The learning curve was steep. “Once I got it, especially the fermentation part, it started to come together,” Heller says. Because one of the three farmers markets she frequented was a makers market, she had to mill her own flour from locally grown wheat. “I was selling 200 loaves per market, three times a week,” she recalls. She’s still making the same loaves, including sourdough and semolina versions.
After three years of nonstop work, she needed a break. “I was 26 and one day I thought, ‘Hey, I need some friends.’ I didn’t really have a plan, but I was exhausted.” She gave notice and took an aimless road trip, which brought her to New Orleans. Now Heller calls it home, living in the Bayou St. John area near the Fair Grounds.
Soon after arriving in the city, she began baking again at a Bywater commissary kitchen with an old-school, three-deck oven — at the same place formerly used by the founders of Pizza Delicious and the owner of Bellegarde Bakery. She worked at Croissant D’or in the Quarter and baked one day a week, selling bread out of her car in front of Pagoda Cafe, near where Leo’s Breads is now.
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Heller had wholesale accounts with the Mediterranean restaurant 1000 Figs. Plans for a pizza place in partnership with the 1000 Figs team didn’t work out, and the space briefly occupied by their Echo’s Pizza now holds a Pizza Domenica. A pivot from farmer’s market sales to pandemic home delivery sales left her with more business than she could handle.
Leo’s Breads occupies a former sheet metal shop at 2438 Bell St., now an inviting space with butcher block tables and seating on a small outdoor patio. Bagels are available plain or coated with sesame or a mix of toppings. There are plain croissants and versions filled with chocolate, strawberry jam or pecans. The bread selection includes crusty loaves of semolina sourdough, sesame semolina, wheat sourdough and tomato and olive focaccia. Then there’s the party bread.
“I don’t do baguettes, but this is a super long, three-pound loaf that’s great for a party,” Heller says.
Whole loaves range from $6 to $10 each. She also offers a few sandwiches on bagels or her breads with fillings such as ham, avocado or roasted vegetables. The small drinks menu includes coffee, tea and kombucha.
“I’m keeping the menu simple for a while,” she says. Looking ahead, she’d like to expand her reach into sweets. “I’m a bread baker but I’m all about lifelong learning.”
Leo’s Breads is open Wednesday through Sundays and she sells goods at a couple of weekly Crescent City Farmers’ Markets.
“I’m working seven days a week but at least I can hang out and have dinner with my friends,” Heller says. “I actually have a life!”
Leo’s Breads
2438 Bell St.
8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday
In-person events coming up this week in New Orleans.
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June 14, 2021 at 07:00PM
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