Don Guerra Is on a Mission to Bake Bread That Blurs Borders

“Generally I’m like, ‘Wow, I birthed this factor out of my storage,’” Mr. Guerra stated, laughing. “Look what number of cool issues got here out of garages: Steve Jobs, the Ramones. In different places — for instance, Mexico — man, you’re a legend in case you can equipment your home out and you’ve got slightly storefront on the aspect. That particular person is basically revered.”

In 2016, after eight years within the storage, Mr. Guerra opened his present location in a small Sixties-era shopping center. The prep space is nearly precisely the identical dimension as his previous storage; the size make him really feel most like himself, he stated.

Mr. Guerra and his spouse separated three years in the past, partly due to disagreements over his early hours and a punishing workload. (She remains to be the co-owner of Barrio Bread and manages its human assets and its funds.) This yr, Mr. Guerra oversaw the opening of Barrio Charro, a daytime spot in Tucson that serves sandwiches and baked items, a collaboration with the Si Charro! restaurant group. And he began Barrio Grains, a packaged line of the entire grains and flour mixes that go into Barrio’s breads, produced by Hayden Flour Mills of Queen Creek, Ariz.

Mr. Guerra additionally has a brand new obsession. He is determining learn how to get a 50-pound sack of natural heritage wheat north throughout the border at Nogales, in Arizona. He has reached out to small farmers in Sonora, together with Jose Luis Lámbarri, a farmer close to Ciudad Obregón, 400 miles south of Tucson. Mr. Lámbarri grows Yaqui-50, a comfortable wheat reputed to style candy and nutty.

Regardless of encountering numerous bureaucratic hurdles, Mr. Guerra appeared energized, buzzing with hope concerning the prospect of getting his palms on it, grinding it in his tabletop mill, mixing it into his doughs.

“Crossing borders, feeding this grain to my individuals within the type of bread,” he stated. “To me, that’s energy.”