John Aversa, who trained as a pastry chef and is now head baker of the Bagby Restaurant Group, turned to bread-making after burning out on making the sweet stuff. “Bread is one of the few foods you can eat every day and never tire of,” he says. “In the grand scheme of things, making bread offers instant gratification.” 

Aversa drafts his designs on paper using a pencil, then traces it in pen and overlays the stencil film on top of the paper the design gets baked into the bread. Click through below to see what Aversa has to say about some of his most clever designs.