After letting the dough rise for 20 minutes, she cuts it into four equal parts and then cuts those in half to roll ropes to braid.

When she’s baking zopf, she doesn’t want to be sloppy about it. It has to be just right.

“It’s like a business card from my country,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot from making bread. The quality of your work has to be excellent.”

She carefully measures and times the process and doesn’t take any shortcuts.

“I don’t want to risk it. It’s good to have patience and learn patience,” she said.

Tanner moved to the United States after meeting her husband, Mark, of Ottumwa, on a Christian Web site. They talked online and over the phone and finally met in person when Suzanne came to Iowa for a visit.

“I looked into his eyes and knew there was something nice about him,” she said about their first meeting in December 2007.

She quit her job in Switzerland and planned her move to Ottumwa.

The couple was officially married last October. It was difficult for the couple because Tanner was not a U.S. citizen, so she could only stay for a few weeks at a time. She was able to apply for a fiancé visa, which allowed them to marry.

Tanner recently found out that she was approved for permanent residence status in the United States.

“What helped me the most with adapting was certainly the love of my husband, Mark, and my precious friends from church in Ottumwa and Fairfield,” she said.

The Tanners run New Heart Ministries International, based out of Ottumwa. They host ministries locally at churches and nursing homes and travel to prisons to sing and preach.

To contact Suzanne Tanner about zopf bread, call (641) 740-7391, or e-mail her at suzanne@newheart.ws.

Pat Shaver can be reached at (641) 683-5360 or via e-mail at p.shaver@ottumwacourier.com.