Rich Gaynor is a native of St. Louis who grew up with his German grandparents who introduced him to the pleasures of coffee and cakes. These early experiences sent him on a ten-year quest to discover the lives, motivations, and relationships of the independent bakers of St. Louis. As a young child he grew up in a multi-generational home where baking was a family involvement all year long. At a very young age his father became a professional baker, making pies all day at a lumber camp in Canada. As a young adult his father moved on to Toronto to work in a bakery, and then later moved to St. Louis where he worked in several prestigious restaurants. In addition to all of these employments his father became a pure foods advocate and eventually owned his own independent grocery store. Rich Gaynor was greatly formed by the examples of both of his grandparents. From his grandfather he learned the comforts of early morning church-going and the bakery link to Eucharist from daily after-church visits to a local bakery. He was also influenced towards sweets and coffee by his maternal grandmother who taught him some of her own baking secrets . He has never lost his sweet-tooth and his appreciation for bakers who do the hard work of baking each and every morning.
Please click on the Link on the side to read a publisher review that gives a recommendation to readers about the "universality" of the book's message. It is a glowing exclamation that everyone who loves bakery goods will appreciate this tribute to bakers regardless of the city in which they grew-up and lived !