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Sweet Dreams

Tribune photo by D’ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

Jose Moreno’s industrial-size ovens can bake 50 loaves of bread each at one time. He did most of the work customizing the bakery on Robertson Street himself.

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 18, 2008

BRANDON - For Jose Moreno, rolling in dough isn't about making money.

It's about carrying on a family tradition that began with his grandfather in Cuba and became his American dream come true May 16, when he opened Moreno Bakery at 906 W. Robertson St.

Surrounded by industrial ovens capable of baking 50 loaves of bread at a time, enormous mixing machines and commercial walk-in refrigerators, Moreno said he can't believe the bakery is real.

What he sees before him today is so much more than what he thought he would have growing up in a communist country where free enterprise was discouraged, "unless you count the black market," he said.

Moreno's grandfather owned a bakery in Cuba, and his mother worked in a bakery. So he learned to bake breads and pastries at an early age.

Moreno said it seemed natural for him to pursue a career in the business he knew so well.

"I went to a school in Cuba where I learned all about the science of baking," he said.

Moreno's wife, Susan, said he can wax poetic about the effects of enzymes on yeast and spend hours debating just how long to let dough sit to create the best sourdough bread.

He knew he would not have the freedom he wanted to pursue his career in Cuba. So, like thousands of Cubans before him, he boarded a small motor boat with eight friends and two children and fled the country in 1993, leaving his family behind.

The only relative he had in the United States was an aunt living in Tampa who had fled the country ahead of him.

"It was very hard," Moreno said. "It was a very emotional decision."

The refugees spent seven days on the ocean. They ran out of gas somewhere near the Bahamas, where they were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard and brought to the United States.

Moreno's escape was just before enactment of the 1994 Cuban Migration Agreement, in which the United States agreed to stop allowing Cubans intercepted at sea into the United States.

"My mother's sister was living in Tampa, so I came here and began working in a bakery," Moreno said. He later worked in several of Tampa's top bakeries, including the well-known Cuban bakery La Segunda Central Bakery in Ybor City. There, he learned to make Cuban bread.

"Cuban bread is actually an American invention," Moreno said.

Because palmetto leaves were plentiful in the area, Cubans who settled in Ybor City and other parts of Florida put them on top of the bread dough, and as it reshaped during the baking process, the leaf would naturally slice the dough in half so they could make sandwiches.

Authentic Cuban bakeries, including Moreno's, still use palmetto leaves in baking Cuban bread.

While he was working and saving money to make the bakery a reality, Moreno found time to earn his U.S. citizenship. And his sister, grandmother, two cousins and two aunts have since joined him in America.

He also found time for romance.

He met his future wife, Susan Gordon Moreno, when he was a customer and she was an employee at the Bank of America in Town 'N Country. They married eight years ago. Susan Moreno was transferred to the Seffner branch in 1999, and they bought a house in the Brandon area in 2002.

That's when they realized Brandon had no Cuban bakery.

"You have to go to Tampa if you want Cuban bread," Moreno said. "There was no baker here."

"Our intent is to bring authentic Tampa Cuban bread to Brandon," his wife said.

The location next to Romano's Greek Restaurant was ideal, she added.

"It's in the heart of Brandon. We've got a great landlord who allowed us to make the changes we needed, and we're accessible to all the local restaurants, so we can do both wholesale and retail," she said.

Moreno arrives at the bakery at 2:30 a.m. each day to start baking. Although Cuban bread may be his hallmark, it's not his only focus. He also offers other Cuban specialties, including guava turnovers, flan made from his aunt's secret recipe, marzipan cookies, bread pudding, quesito, which is a type of cheese turnover, guava- and cheese-stuffed breads and pan sobao, a sweet bread.

In addition, he bakes deli breads for local restaurants, dinner rolls, hoagie rolls, brownies, cookies, holiday pies, croissants, short bread bars, cinnamon rolls and, what's fast becoming a bakery favorite, apple pie cinnamon bread.

For information, call (813) 689-0374.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Moreno Bakery, featuring authentic Cuban baked goods and sweets

WHERE: 906 W. Robertson St., Brandon

HOURS: 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday

INFORMATION: (813) 689-0374

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.

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