“Bread and bread baking has been a constant in my life,” says the Vineyard Baker, Theresa (Teri) Culletto. “I have fond memories of aromas in my grandmother’s kitchen, sitting on the red vinyl kitchen stool, baking for my own family as a way to support our home through commerce, and now as a passion to pass on the knowledge I have accumulated over the years, and to help build bread confidence in our beautiful community.”
Culletto is perhaps best known for her beautifully decorated, artistic focaccia bread. Her journey began in childhood as she watched her grandmother, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, bake stunning artisan bread. At 8 years old, she got her wish from Santa — an Easy Bake Oven. “I exhausted the supplies in just one day. After that, I foraged in the fields, the forest, and the kitchen cabinets, creating what I thought were edible combinations of wild berries, wild apples, and flour. Crushed Cheerios often served as a base when there was no flour in the house.”
Arriving on the Island in 1985, Culletto worked at the Black Dog Bakery and Tavern, married, and had children. Later, as a stay-at-home mom, she baked for family and friends. One day, a friend involved with the West Tisbury Farmers Market suggested she sell there. Culletto, by then single with four sons, shares, “I set up a cottage bakery at the house with the support and help of our lovely community, and sold bread at the Farmers Market and farmstands. It was a family affair. The boys would help on Friday evening and at the stand on Saturdays.” In the off-season, Culletto worked at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School as a special education assistant, and had a part-time job at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. But in 2003, Culletto stopped baking commercially: “The hours were grueling. It took 24 to 48 hours of straight baking with little sleep to prepare the full orders for Saturday. ‘Burnt’ was not just a term for overbaked bread at that point.”
The art-inspired focaccia journey began in 2013, after her sons had left the house. “Empty nest syndrome is a serious disorder where, all at once, not so gently, a used home becomes suddenly quiet. Food preparation was now just for me. It was one of these days that an inspiration occurred, and I could not have imagined the future impact. To this day, I have trouble fathoming the inspiration this bread would bring to so many.” She explains, “I was chopping vegetables for a salad, and the veggies were lying on the cutting board in such a way that it reminded me of a recent trip home from dropping the boys off at college. The median of the highway was full of beautiful wildflowers. A particular section was abundant with colorful poppies. The way my peppers and chives lay on the cutting board reminded me of that very scene. I had been making focaccia, and decided to decorate it to see what would happen. Filled with delicious herbs and vegetables, the focaccia was not only delicious, but beautiful, like a work of art.” And thus, her bread art form was created.
Culletto began sharing her talents in 2017. Familiar with Adult and Community Education Martha’s Vineyard (ACE MV), she thought it would be fun to teach a breadmaking class: “I came up with a plan. I made some delicious baked treats, including croissants and other delightful breads, as samples. I took them to the office, and left them with a proposal. No more than 15 minutes later, Program Director Jeannine Lenehan called, excited to offer me an evening slot.”
Culletto designed a six-week program around artisan breads — baguettes, German rye, challah . . . and focaccia. The word derives from Latin for “from the hearth.” “Because the focaccia class fell during Valentine’s week, I thought it would be more interesting to make ‘focaccia from the heart,’ decorating it with various vegetables, herbs, and other condiments to create beautiful, edible scenes.”
The classes stopped, along with everything else in the world, with the pandemic in 2020. Everyone was home for the unforeseeable future, so to keep in the spirit of community, Culletto put the “Focaccia from the Heart” project online, built a website, and posted some of her earlier creations on Instagram: “I do not exaggerate when I say they were an overnight phenomenon. The next day, my cell phone was lighting up constantly. I had no idea what was happening. I knew nothing about social media, and thought my phone was broken or stuck on some setting.” When she showed it to one of her sons and asked him to fix it, he told her, “You’re really trending!” “I said, ‘What is that?’” says Culletto. “I thought it was a tech term. Who would have thought that the simplicity of a rustic bread dough beautifully decorated would soon be among the top baking trends of 2020–21?”
The New York Times, Paris Match, Indian Express, and “Good Morning America” all contacted Culletto, and her 15 minutes of bread fame bubbled over into hours and days. Race Point Publishing also courted her to create a cookbook. Culletto worked for two years with local photographer Jocelyn Filley, and “Beautiful Bread” was released in October 2023. “To this day, I am still in awe that such a little bread project born and ‘rised’ on Martha’s Vineyard could have had such a far-reaching influence. It is quite humbling and yet inspiring.”
With her passion for community-oriented baking, Culletto teaches adults and children at the FARM Institute. “The idea of building community through bread baking is evident in the classes. People come together, make new friends, laugh, and genuinely enjoy each other while learning a useful skill. Creativity lives in all of us. We are inspired by the world around us, and each other. I could not have ever imagined the influence one particular bread would have on the community and worldwide.”
For more information and recipes, visit vineyardbaker.com. For an MV Times review of “Beautiful Bread,” visit mvtimes.com/2023/09/06/masterpieces-on-the-menu.
