The days at Gusto start at 4 a.m. sharp.
To celebrate this Sunday’s two-year anniversary of Arturo Enciso and Ana Belen Salatino’s brick-and-mortar bakery, I asked them if I could humbly shadow their bakers as they rose up many hours before the crack of dawn to make the independently owned shop’s sourdough conchas. They sell out, dozens of conchas at $5 each regularly; and more than a hundred on weekdays.
As a writer, there comes a time when simply eating and writing about a dish you love isn’t enough. I wanted to rise early in the morning, along with the conchas, and get to know them from the other side of the bakery case.
As a non-morning person, I’ve never envied the life of a panadero (baker). But it is almost worth it to tap into that zen-like state that can only be achieved when you get up at that ungodly twilight hour.
The concha is almost half sourdough. The other half made from a nearly all-organic base: flours, evaporated cane juice, eggs purchased weekly from La Bahn Ranch at the Torrance Farmers Market, and European Plugra butter. The dough was made and pre-fermented two days prior to being baked. The dough rests and then is mixed the day after. On the third day, they are shaped and baked.