Success of Hot Bread Kitchen

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - La Marqueta can easily be called an East Harlem gem hidden under the Metro North train tracks on 115th Street. It's been around since the 1930s. Inside you will find Hot Bread Kitchen, an innovative and successful business that was started by Toronto native Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez. After working for a U.N. agency she got the idea to combine her love of cooking with a commitment to improve the lives of the community and many of the immigrants who live here.

You can buy bread here and at several farmers markets throughout the city. Hot Bread Kitchen also supplies the bread for many of the city's restaurants. There is such a delicious variety that it's hard to pick a favorite but the day I stopped by I felt up for the challenge. I picked concha, a Mexican sweet bread that was absolutely delicious. 

All of the bread is made right here on the premises.  The kitchen is always a flurry of activity:  kneading, rolling, slicing. 

For every baker, there is a success story or a success story in the making. Clarisse Sango is from West Africa. She learned of the program at Hot Bread Kitchen through a friend.

Now you can bake like a professional with a little help from "The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook," a comprehensive compilation of simple breads from around the world.