Aya Bread started with a grandmother whose favorite food is “everything”

Aya bread is a microbakery in Hilo, Hawaii specializing in naturally leavened, French-style sourdough. Aya bread was born out of a love for sharing fresh bread, and a devotion to crackling crusts and glistening crumbs. Every handmade loaf uses ancient practices of harnessing wild yeast to create bread with the simplest of ingredients.

Meet your baker

Megan Sherow is the baker behind Aya Bread. After culinary school and restaurant work in Los Angeles, California, Megan came back to Hawaii wondering where the heck all the good bread was. A year of flat loaves and dogged determination led her to the solution. Aya Bread is Megan’s way of sharing great bread with the community, because every table deserves fresh bread.

Meet Aya

Ana is a chef and grandmother from Lisbon, Portugal, who never bothered to correct her granddaughter when she was unable to pronounce her name. She raised me on big pots of meatballs, telenovelas, and an insistence that everything was her favorite. When I started selling bread, I could think of no better namesake to adorn my loaves. Aya Bread is the next chapter in a classic American story- one of immigration and sacrifice, of adapting to a new culture, and ultimately one of coming full circle to honor those who paved the way for our opportunities. But Aya Bread also exists because Grandma is hungry, and it’s my turn to feed her now.