Melissa Bagley tries not to start her workdays before 6 a.m. If everything goes to plan, nine hours later she’ll be heading out the door to deliver dozens of freshly baked cookies, decadent cakes, and soft loaves of bread that customers ordered from her business, La Dolce Vita.
During her childhood, baking was a big part of Bagley’s home, where she saw her mom and other family members making wholesome goods. Some of her favorite childhood memories are walking in the door after school to the smell of bread in the oven.
Sans gluten
To purchase La Dolce Vita goods online, visit dolcevita.market. The bakery delivers and has pickup locations at several businesses between Orcutt and Pismo Beach.
Follow along on Instagram @la.dolcevita.market for details about the bakery’s pop-up events.
“There’s no junk in anything that I make,” Bagley told the Sun. “It’s just the way I grew up eating baked goods. … My mom baked a lot, so I got to learn what good home-baked goods tasted like, and she spoiled me for life.”
One thing changed: Bagley hasn’t eaten gluten for more than a decade. She launched La Dolce Vita in 2022, a couple of years after moving to Orcutt and noticing a lack of gluten-free options.
“I was having a hard time finding things, and I started baking more at that point because I couldn’t buy anything,” she said. “I was feeding it to gluten-free people and ‘regular’ people, and people were really loving it.”
In her three years of business, Bagley has built up a list of regulars, or her “freezer queens” as she calls them. They’re the customers who order everything all at once to stock up their freezers.
Some have been patrons since the beginning, when La Dolce Vita set up at the Orcutt farmers market. Occasionally Bagley still sets up a booth at pop-up events, but most of her sales stem from her website. Customers pick up their orders at a few designated businesses that Bagley partners with between Orcutt and Pismo Beach.
Especially during the holiday season, customers place big orders for parties and family gatherings.
“I hit ‘big’ pretty quickly because I have one oven I’m working with,” Bagley said.
The baker remembered one recent order to the tune of one mini chocolate cake, three dozen biscuits, mini apple cobblers, cinnamon rolls, one lemon pound cake, chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies, two kinds of crackers, and one loaf of bread.
“An order like that, that’s a very long day in the kitchen,” she said.
When scheduling her baking time, her golden rule is to plan around any bread in the order. Gluten-free loaves require long bake times, usually tying up her oven for an hour.
For example, her best-selling buckwheat loaf takes three and a half hours from start to finish, with two one-hour rises in the middle. In between rises and baking, Bagley prepares other doughs.
It’s worth the effort though, because bread is one of her personal favorites.
For some, gluten-free items are an option. But for others, they’re more like a necessity. One customer told Bagley she’d starve without La Dolce Vita.
Bagley’s products are completely gluten free. She goes above and beyond the county health code to ensure everything is sanitized and that there’s no chance of cross contamination. Her cleaning process can take up to an hour.
There’s never any gluten flour in her pantry. Instead, she sources eight different types of flour, like almond and white rice flours, from a handful of grocery stores. For the ingredients she can’t find locally, she resorts to buying online.
“I love that I’m able to give them back the baked goods that they miss so much, and they can feel safe eating,” she said about customers with gluten intolerances and celiac disease. “Being able to have people feel safe and enjoy what they’re eating, there’s just nothing like it. It’s amazing.”
While there are some staples in her recipe book, like lemon pound cake and buckwheat bread, Bagley tries to bring new items to the menu every year. Sourdough has been a years’ long quest, and right now, she’s testing out a new starter. It probably won’t have the traditional tang from glutenous sourdough bread, but Bagley said she’s working on it.
Above all, her goal is to make delicious goods—and not just by gluten-free standards. She wants to feed everybody and make them all feel included.
“If you’re gluten free, don’t give up hope. There is yummy stuff out there,” Bagley said. “You can have that delicious flavor again, and you can probably serve it to your family and they’ll never know the difference.”
Staff Writer Madison White loves bread, too. Reach her at mwhite@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 25, 2025 – Jan 1, 2026.
Gluten-free baking can be tricky, so it’s cool to see someone dedicated to it. What kind of treats are they offering?