Month XX–Month XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | Sourdough for All A hidden Little Havana bakery window has gone viral. BY RACHEL COSTA E very morning before Miami wakes, Emil Hristov starts baking. That’s how Domaselo, a tiny bak- ery hiding in Little Havana, grew from a small online business born right before the pandemic to a viral sensation selling fresh sourdough bread from a ven- tanita and shipping loaves nationwide. When New Times covered its opening four years ago, Hristov estimated the bakery deliv- ered about 2,000 breads weekly. Today, Hris- tov says those numbers have tripled, and in the past few weeks, they have been sold out even after increasing production. Word spread about the bakery even more recently when food blogger Melissa Marrero of @al- wayshungrymel posted a video about the bakery window with her followers. “We have become a destination now,” says Hristov. “People drive from Boca, from Fort Lauderdale, someone even sent a mes- sage ahead one time saying she was driving from Naples. These last four years have been a journey.” While Domaselo’s opened four years ago, its story began long before that. Growing up in Macedonia, Hristov says bread was an es- sential part of his day. From the early age of 6, he would walk to his local bakery every morning, where he was greeted daily by the aroma of freshly baked goods — he loved the sight of a room full of bread. When Hristov moved to Miami, he missed this same quality of bread he could get back home, so he decided to learn how to bake. “I would give my friends the bread fresh out of the oven, still warm, and they kept saying I should make a website so they could buy it, but I told them, ‘No, I’m not a baker,’” he recalls. “I said it a few times until I realized, ‘Maybe I am.’ I decided to give it a shot, thinking it would be some sort of hobby that my mother would help around with because she loves baking too.” Little did he know then that it was only the beginning. As the demand for his bread grew beyond what he could bake in his home kitchen, Hristov faced a choice: either open a bakery and manage it in addition to his current job or stop baking entirely. “I decided to get a bakery thinking this would be a side hustle,” he recalls. “Then, the pandemic happened, and this just went crazy. We were already set up as an online bakery in February 2020 because I wanted to deliver more bread to people’s homes.” When the pandemic ended, Hristov still questioned if he should keep the bakery go- ing. He also knew he couldn’t just give up, and thinking back on his childhood, he found he could be the one to provide that same memory of freshly baked bread in the morn- ing for the community. “It came a turning point: either I close it, or I truly become a baker,” he says. “I studied architecture, I got an MBA, specialized in fi- nance. I was supposed to work on Wall Street, and then you find yourself mixing dough. But when I embraced it, I went on LinkedIn and changed my title to ‘Baker.’ That’s when I wanted the world to know I’m a baker.” In the past year, the bakery has thrived, and slowly, Hristov has transitioned his delivery- only business to a more personable format. While there’s no space for a regular bakery, he knocked down an old and unused door, turn- ing it into a small ventanita that since then has gathered long lines each morning. Domaselo’s menu includes staples like multi-seed bread ($7), olive bread ($8), wal- nut and cranberry bread ($8), and some fa- vorites from its weekly rotating specials, including the cinnamon raisin ($10) and the garlic and tomato ($10). On weekends, Domaselo holds bread- tasting events where Hristov can interact with the community, which has supported the bakery for years now and introduces new and unique flavors of sweet and savory bread alike. “Getting to hear from them firsthand has been the most rewarding part of it all,” Hris- tov tells New Times as he gets visibly emo- tional recalling an important interaction. “I’ve had a customer make me cry in a sample event in Sunny Isles. After she sampled the bread, she told me her story. Getting to see what it means to them, you never know their story... the power of food — it’s emotional sometimes.” Hristov says his new goals for the bakery are to expand delivery to more neighbor- hoods in South Florida and to demystify bread as bad for new generations. “Bread has a really bad reputation,” says Hristov. “For me, the sort of the mission is to make real nutritional bread and to make it easily available to as many people as possible. I think bread can be way more than what we think, so I want to reverse that bad reputa- tion, especially with the younger crowd who have never had real bread. They care about nutrition, care about healthy eating, so I want to expose them to a lot of different flavors with more creativity behind it.” Domaselo. 2691 SW 11th St., Miami; domaselo.com. Pickups can be pre-ordered online or in person Sunday through Friday 7 a.m. to 9 p.m and Saturday 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Doordash deliveries or free ground delivery in Miami-Dade and Broward is available with an order of $50 or more. [email protected] ▼ Café Domaselo photo Domaselo photo Emil Hristov in his bread ventanita in Little Havana. “THE POWER OF FOOD — IT’S EMOTIONAL SOMETIMES.” 11 September 12-18, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC |
