New Cedar Rapids bakery brings Asian delights, artisan bread to NewBo City Market

CEDAR RAPIDS — In the six years since she moved to the United States, Anh Le has gone from someone with no sense of direction in the kitchen to a busy bakery owner with a unique niche in NewBo City Market.

After moving to a farm in rural Connecticut to live with her husband, the former English teacher wanted a change. She couldn’t teach in the United States, but she could make the most of her time at home.

With a garden, herbs, fresh eggs and pork all raised on their farm, cooking became something of a necessity at home, where they were a 40-minute trip from the nearest market. Eventually, she came to love the trade her mother worked in as a chef in Vietnam, so she enrolled in culinary school to take her work to the next level.

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In 2019, the couple opened a bed-and-breakfast, where guests quickly warmed up to her cooking. But as the pandemic hit, a glaring omission arose in the farm’s ability to be self-sufficient: baked goods.

Back home, baked goods were something store-bought, not homemade.

“In Vietnam, baking is something untouchable for households. You do not do it yourself,” Le said. “But here, I realized that you can experience your own baked goods.”

A rising talent

By the time her husband’s new job brought Le to Cedar Rapids, she found a passion for baking she never knew before. Shortly after moving to Iowa in 2022, she enrolled in a baking certificate program at Kirkwood Community College.

Before long, home-baked goods started gaining popularity around town. A new spot opened in NewBo City Market, where she set up shop in May.

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What’s in the oven?

With a niche for Asian specialties, Anh’s Bread Therapy features three permanent fixtures anchoring a rotation of pastry specials — all baked fresh daily.

Shokupan, a lighter Japanese milk bread with a delicate crust, balances the heavier loaves of carved artisan sourdough on the same shelf.

Le’s top seller, Hong Kong Inside-Out coconut buns, is something you may have to get up early for. Inspired by a Chinese bakery she grew up near in Vietnam, it’s a specialty not offered anywhere else in the Corridor.

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The recipe, made to taste exactly how she remembers, delivers lusciously soft buns brushed with butter and filled with a hint of sweet coconut at the center.

Other rotating specials offer something sweet and savory in both European and Asian styles. Last week, customers had a choice of fruit-filled kolaches, savory beer brat kolaches, coconut lemon tarts and ube pandan cupcakes.

What makes her bread therapeutic?

Before coming to America, Le did not get along well with baking. Recipes can be boring when followed to a T, she thought. And baking involved an exact chemistry that demands precision, leaving little room for the creativity she loved to embrace in cooking.

“I hate following stuff,” she said. “The most successful factor in a recipe is the chef.”

But when the pandemic hit, Le got into the same hobby many other novices found themselves doing with their spare time in isolation: artisan bread. After getting the hang of that, she moved on to banana bread; recipes on the back of flour bags; and anything she could find online.

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While the self-described night owl does not enjoy the early mornings now part of her daily routine, the smell of fresh bread rising in the oven acts as her daily coffee.

Bread also taught her a new skill that cooking never could. And as she grappled with the culture shock of living in a new country, finding a new route to connect with home helped keep depression at bay.

“Bread gave me a lot of therapy. I’m not a patient person, that’s why I chose cooking,” Le said. “But with baking, I tried to rush it so many times. It taught me how to be patient, and how you can’t rush the good things.”

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Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.