Gluten-free Mexican bakery to sell at SLO County farmers market. Where to find it
A gluten-free chocolate chip cookie started the only gluten-free Mexican bakery in SLO County.
Estefany Contreras was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2020 — a diagnosis that no longer allowed her to eat gluten, including breads, cookies and her favorite Mexican treats.
When she could not visit grocery stores to get pan dulces or cookies, she decided to make them herself.
“I started that out of my own necessity, because I couldn’t find it anywhere,” Contreras told The Tribune. “I started giving it to my brothers and to my family, and then to my friends. Then a lot of people started saying, ‘Hey, you should start a bakery out of this. I don’t see this anywhere.’”
Contreras listened. Four years later, Sin Gluten Co. Gluten Free Mexican Bakery was born.
Working out of The Kitchen Terminal once a week, Contreras bakes Mexican treats like conchas and puerquitos — which are types of pan dulces — polvorones and mini tres leches, all gluten-free using rice flour.
The baker has been selling at local pop-ups in SLO County, and was just accepted to serve at downtown SLO’s Farmers market on Thursday nights starting Sept. 18, after a long road of being rejected and waitlisted for local markets.
“I’ve applied to farmers markets since last year, and unfortunately, I haven’t been accepted to any of them, even though I’ve been reaching out constantly via phone calls, emails, everything,” she said. “But when I attend pop-ups, it’s been great. I have my repeat clients, and it’s been great to connect with people.”
What keeps Contreras going? Her allergies and feeling left out at large gatherings when she could not eat anything.
“It’s so big in our family, in our culture, to have bread in our house all the time,” she said. “When I realized that I was not going to be able to have access to this bread, I felt really upset, because now when I go to family celebrations, I’m going to have to just be there.”
Sin Gluten Co. serves fully gluten-free Mexican treats in a rotating menu, including cajeta cheesecake, three types of polvorones and sugar-free Gansitos, a traditional Mexican snack cake.
Prices range from $5 to $20 for a full box of treats, Contreras said.
“I don’t want people to feel like how I felt where it’s like, oh my gosh, the world is ending, I’m going to have to stick to eating salads the rest of my life,” she said. “I want people to know that, no, you don’t have to eat like a rabbit. You can still enjoy your bread. You can still enjoy everything, just now gluten-free or sugar-free.”
Contreras is still building up Sin Gluten Co. and created a GoFundMe to help pay for ingredients and her rent at The Kitchen Terminal. People interested in donating can view that at gofund.me/0a864874.
For more information
Sin Gluten Co. will sell at the downtown SLO Farmers Market on Thursday nights from 6 to 9 p.m. starting Sept. 18.
To make an order, visit its website at singlutenco.com or Instagram at instagram.com/singlutenco.
This story was originally published August 28, 2025 at 5:00 AM.