Sour Bakery is growing! The city of Graham has a need that Sour Bakery can fill: delicious breads and pastries from wild yeast!
Sour Bakery began in 2009, while I lived in Seattle. I studied the Pastry Arts in San Francisco at the Culinary Academy. It was an expensive city and being a pastry assistant at a fine dining restaurant did not pay well, so I moved to Seattle, Washington. Unable to find the bread I had loved in San Francisco, I set about trying to recreate it. I made the wild yeast starter using pineapple juice, watching it bubble and change, smelling it daily to be sure it wasn’t turning the wrong way. It was a beautiful experiment, magic really. Magic is the theme behind great wild yeast bread.
My first few dozen tries were flops in one way or another: dough sticking to the basket, forgetting to score (bread came out looking like a puffed up frisbee), over-proofed and under-proofed, forgot the salt, etc. Yet each “devastating mistake” would crush my spirits long enough for me to claim I was over it, that I hated it, that I would settle for bread made by giant machines in factories where people worked as cogs and flour was enriched and bleached; Only to change my mind after trying each flop (some so inedible it was funny, and fun) and knowing that I was on to something, that I was approaching an “ah-ha” moment that would help me do it right next time.
I was blessed with willing and happy guinea pigs: at first I gave away the bread for free, asking only for opinions and advice. Loaves became consistently “good enough” to ask for enough payment to afford to make the next loaf. People started making requests to order some (for friends, dinner plans, and to eat on their own). again: magic. I was dumbfounded by this: people WANTED to BUY my bread; my creations and experiments; my bread that I was never 100% proud of, never 100% positive that it was a “good looking” loaf.
Today, I live in North Carolina (first Durham, and now Graham). Sour Bakery, with the starter all the way from Seattle and 2009, is now developing in this wonderful climate. The people here are ready for, and searching for good quality foods, made locally, made by people with passion. It was a little scary changing coasts, but I have found a welcoming environment, full of people that are already so interested in what I have to offer.
Again: Magic! Through coworkers and budding friendships I was introduced to the City of Graham and the Co|Operative there. Nervously I shared 10 different loaves that I make and some experimental cinnamon rolls. I couldn’t eat my own bread, though in moments where I wasn’t asked questions that I felt unprepared to answer, I did spend time inhaling the lovely sour fragrance, reminding myself that “I can do this”. These entrepreneurs, and food enthusiasts LIKED (maybe even LOVED) my bread and wanted Sour Bakery to be a part of Graham’s growing economy.
So this is where you find me, and where your support proves invaluable: I need to grow. These are the things I have to have in order to make Sour Bakery more than a small, home kitchen
operation:
Spread the love of good bread:
The more people that we can get interested in Sour Bakery and behind this project, the better chance I will have in reaching my goal! Please help spread the word by sharing on social Media:
http://www.facebook.com/sourbakerydurham/
http://www.instagram.com/sourbakery/
http://sourbakerydurham.wordpress.com
Thank you!
Break Bread With Friends!
With baking, sometimes you have flops (they still taste good, but aren’t very pretty). Sour Bakery is something that will come to fruition, although if it is funded all by myself, it will be a slow and precarious process!
The only risk is the risk not taken.