Bread Worthy Bakery launched in Iowa City, IA in May of 2021 as a home bakery and season vendor at the Iowa City Farmer’s Market. After years of work and outgrowing the space in their home, they opened their first storefront in downtown Iowa City in July of 2026.

After meeting back in 2012 at pastry school in Florence, Italy and then going on to travel and work around the world and US to prefect their craft, couple Colleen and Erick moved back to Erick’s hometown of Iowa City in 2020 to finally start up the bakery business that Colleen has always dreamed of. Our baked goods and pastries all come with a story - based off of childhood memories, our travels, or significant people in our lives.

Our goal is to provide the best quality pastries that we can and that starts sourcing a mix of high quality and also local ingredients. The base of almost all of our products starts with beautiful organic stone ground flour from Janie’s Mill and farm just over the state border in Ashkum, Illinois. We also use all local eggs from fellow market vendor 6 Acre Farms, local milk from Dan & Debbies, pair high quality chocolates to each of our baked goods like a good wine. And for all of our croissant items, we go out of our way to source Isigny butter from Isiginy, France.

A look into our storefronts construction!

Full Demo Phase

After our landlords purchased the building in Feb of 2025, they started on a total tear out of the previous space to be able to restore it. It originally opened in the 1860s as Union Bakery - where the surrounding breweries brought their leftover yeast to make the bread. They owners wanted to restore the history of the building and after taking to the streets business owners, decided they would love to see another bakery in the space again and reached out to us to see if we would be interested. We were actually looking for a space to call our own and the location in downtown Iowa City was perfect! 

May 2025

Beginning of our Construction

As a lover of antiques and vintage, we decided early on that we wanted to stay true to the history of the building and wanted a vintage feel to our shop. We made the decision early on to restore the original floors, and then sourced our first gorgeous antique - a 14th counter from a mercantile store in Ohio from 1890s - as for the building centerpiece and started designing based of it. Even the wall and paneling colors are based off of the original plaster colors of the building after they peeled back the many layers. 

January-March 2026

June 2026

Almost Done!

After many late nights working on construction every second that we weren’t baking, we were almost done with the full build. With a lot of help from our landlords, friends, and local woodworker Maple Table! The entire design, sourcing of materials, and furniture was done by Colleen after many trips to antique stores, Chicago, and auction houses.

  • Colleen Brennan

    Owner and Baker

    Colleen, a New Jersey native, spent most of her childhood cooking and baking alongside her mother and going on weekend trips with her father in search of the best bakeries in the tri-state area. But it wasn’t until the summer before her junior year of high school, when she discovered food blogs and started getting more into recipe testing, that she realized cooking and baking were her true passions in life.

    She went on pursue a bachelors from Penn State in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management, while also taking a semester to study abroad at Apicius University (Florence, Italy) in their baking and pastry program, before continuing to study her love of food further in The Culinary Institute of America’s Accelerated Culinary Arts Program. During and after her studies, she took jobs in both France and Australia, traveling often, before finally settling in Chicago for 5 years where she continued to work in a variety of kitchens, switching back and forth between the culinary and pastry sides whenever she could.

    Colleen is the one behind all of our baked goods, vegan goodies, and weekly specials, along with also the one who brings new croissant flavors to the menu. She is the one who fully manages all aspects of running the bakery.

    She was also nominated as one of Iowa’s 40 Women to Watch in the Restaurant Industry for 2022.

  • Erick Dole

    Owner and Baker

    Erick, who mostly grew up here in Iowa City, IA, started his career in kitchens at the age of 16 as a dishwasher before working his way up to be a kitchen manager.

    After taking some classes at local Kirkwood College, he enrolled into Apicius University’s (Florence, Italy) baking and pastry program where he studied for 1.5 years, completing his baking and pastry certificate and also earning an additional degree in Masters of Chocolatiering. After school he moved with Colleen to Australia where we worked as a chocolatier, before moving to Chicago and furthering his passion for classical french pastries.

    Erick is the one behind all the beautiful pastry items produced here at Bread Worthy. He is the croissant master and produces every single croissant item along with our cinnamon and pecan rolls.