Mechelle Coate

Raised in a small, Texas panhandle town, Mechelle Coate learned to cook alongside her great aunt, a woman in her 70s. “We did everything from scratch, by hand. It’s always been kind of a form of comfort,” said Coate. Now the owner of House of Bread in McKinney, open to the public in February 2022, Coate shares comfort with the community.

House of Bread offers warm, freshly baked loaves and slices of bread cradling tasty breakfast and lunch sandwiches. The sandwiches are served alongside soups and salads, giving hungry customers an extra reason to return. Additionally, House of Bread prepares a large variety of pastries, cookies, coffee cakes, pies, brownies, and lemon bars. A few gluten-free and vegan items are also available.

“I’m such a simple person,” said Coate, when we asked her to name her preferred bread. “Our grandma’s white is by far my favorite, but you can sneak behind with the marble rye.” The baker eats her white bread plain, savoring the taste and aroma of wholesome simplicity, but she tipped us off to an unusual way to enjoy rye. “A marble rye with peanut butter and strawberry jelly is one of the best PB&Js I’ve ever had,” she said. “It’s the weirdest pairing, and everyone looks at me funny until they try it.” Her favorite cookie? Triple chocolate with white and milk chocolate chips. Fresh, of course