Meet Ammiel De Leon | Owner and Baker, Spring Oven Bakery

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ammiel De Leon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ammiel, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Spring Oven Bakery is a summation of my baking journey that started in 2014 as a self-taught home baker and went on to honing my skills through apprenticeship with Bad Butter Chicago (formerly Dan The Baker Chicago), attending bread school at San Francisco Baking Institute, and professionally baking at Bouchon Bakery in Yountville, Eataly in Century City, and Poppy Cake Baking Co. in Sierra Madre. It also considers as an important foundation my experience in managing brands and marketing for many years prior to officially pursuing baking in 2021.

With discernment, I wanted to combine two of my passions – baking and marketing in my next project after an initial unsuccessful attempt at business. I’m fascinated by creating something from scratch – a concept that is present in both fields except in baking I am able to see the product almost instantaneously whereas in marketing it takes time to see results of a campaign.

I decided to focus on Viennoiseries (French: vjɛ.nwa.zʁi, English: vyen/nwa/se/rees, meaning “Things of Vienna”) which refer to baked goods made from yeast-leavened dough sweetened with sugar and enriched with butter, eggs, and milk. In particular, I wanted to distinguish my products from what is already commonly offered in the market so people can have more choices and enjoy a selection of pastries in Pasadena.

Spring Oven Bakery specializes in French-style, handcrafted, and freshly baked brioches. Using simple ingredients combined with thoughtful execution, this licensed cottage bakery is a house of brioches that also features scratch-made fillings and sauces with nature’s seasonal produce.

What should our readers know about your business?
The pillowy in a sea of flaky is how I describe what makes Spring Oven Bakery different. While I trained in croissant-making, I chose to focus on brioche as my niche. Croissant is flaky, brioche is pillowy; croissant is literally everywhere in LA, brioche is hiding in a few places waiting for its moment. Plus, I wanted people to enjoy brioche as more than just burger buns. Spring Oven Bakery is a testament that brioche is just as versatile.

Simple Real Ingredients
I use only the essentials but the ones of high quality and are known to people. I work with real food ingredients, and never with artificial flavorings. I like to highlight the natural tastes of the ingredients I put in my baked goods as well as the mindful pairings with each other: grains, fruits, chocolate, seeds/nuts, and dairy.

No Short-cuts
I honor the multi-stage process of making bread. I add time and temperature as important ingredients into every baked good on the menu. My bread dough undergoes long hours of fermentation under ideal temperatures and times that are strictly monitored. The old-world fermentation breaks down starches and compounds that make it easy for people to digest the bread without feeling bloated. The fillings & sauces made from scratch get to rest for maximum flavor integration.

Well Thought Out
The ingredients and execution come together in each bake. every item on the menu is carefully planned: inspired and influenced by French-style bread-making, California culinary upbringing & experiences, world & local travels, and Filipino heritage + hospitality. Something unique I bring to the SoCal food experience.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My best friend, his wife, and I love the beach! So, we’ll most likely start off at Carmel-by-the-Sea and Big Sur. Stay there in an Airbnb for a few days, slow down, ride our bikes, go on beach hikes, and take it all in. Grab some breads and brunch at Big Sur Bakery and Carmel Bakery; lunch or dinner at Patisserie Boissiere.

Head back to Pasadena and stay for the rest of the week – scour the South Pasadena Farmers Market and LA HomeFarm to get some fresh produce for home-cooked meals, enjoy nature at the Huntington Library, explore Norton Simon Museum, marvel at the Pasadena City Hall architecture, snag some pastries at Artisanal Goods by CAR, lunch at Miya Altadena, dinner at Betsy, hang out at home over drinks purchased from Altadena Beverage and Market, and if there is still time, watch a play at the Pasadena Playhouse. California has a lot of incredible nature and good local makers, craftsmen, and small businesses that are worth enjoying!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I usually introduce myself to customers at my popups as the baker and dishwasher and everything in between. Truly, I wear different hats which include recipe developer, ingredients-shopper, marketer, bookkeeper, and many others in the list. But, I’d like to dedicate a special shoutout to my mom who not only is my encourager and prayer champion but also helps me with some of the final touches in the pastries. She is responsible for the execution of the decoration, garnishes, and little details to complete the pretty presentation of every pastry that customers see in the case.

Also, I would like to make a special shoutout to every customer who has supported this passion project by showing up in my popups across LA. Regularly seeing your faces and chatting with you while serving you a little bit of happiness have been highlights of my weekend bakes. Thank you very much!

Website: https://springovenbakery.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/springovenbakery

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ammiel-de-leon-5100a515/

Other: https://medium.com/@ammieldeleon

Image Credits
*All photos are mine