After settling into my new life with an infant in tow, I decided to take my passion for cooking and baking to the next level. I started a micro bakery.
One day I woke up and decided to order every supply I would need. I designed the labels, picked out a few recipes, did a whole lot of trial and error baking, and consumed a lot of sugar. I created the socials, I went live, I shouted it out to my friends list… and the orders came pouring in.
What a rush!
It’s one thing to have your family tell you they like your bread, because they have to. But to have people who don’t regularly eat your cooking hype up the quality and taste was incredible.
So every Wednesday night, I would feed Doughlene (my sourdough starter), and off to work we went.
W, our baby boy who you’ll often see me refer to as W, was just a little bean. He’d hang with mama in the kitchen, wrapped up in his Solly Baby wrap. He was content, not mobile, ate every three hours, and was a very predictable baby.
And then came mobility.
W did not want to be wrapped up in the kitchen napping anymore. He wanted to look around. He wanted to move. He didn’t want to miss a beat.
And how incredible is that?
Unfortunately, this was also the fall of the micro bakery.
I couldn’t focus on bread rising and cookies not burning while also being on the floor playing trucks and administering puffs like they were life-saving snacks, lol.
So I baked for the last time at the end of June.
And it’s a little crazy, but I haven’t baked a single sourdough loaf since then.
Me. I know. That’s crazy.
Reflecting on that time, I do think I took some of the passion out of baking for my own family by stressing over getting everyone else’s loaves just right… and that’s just not the homesteader I strive to be.
If you ask me to make you bread, will I?
Of course.
I want to share the wealth. I just can’t do it in a large capacity and still maintain the work-life balance I want for our family.
I do miss everyone’s anticipation, though. The messages, the orders, seeing people genuinely excited about what I was making… that part was pretty special.
And to my beloved customers who followed along with my little micro bakery adventure, I hope you’ll enjoy following this blog just as much as you enjoyed the bread.
A Couple of Bakery Favorites Live On
While the micro bakery may have been short lived, some of the recipes definitely weren’t. These brown butter sourdough cookies are still favorites in our house… only now I’m making them because we want cookies, not because I have an order deadline looming over me.
Thinking About Starting Your Own Micro Bakery?
If you’re here because you’re thinking about starting a micro bakery of your own, I put together a list of the things that made the whole process a lot easier for me. From packaging and labels to the tools I used for those marathon baking days, these are the things I actually used while running mine.
I use my NutriMill grain mill to make fresh flour for homemade baking. If you’re thinking about milling your own flour, Shop NutriMill here and use code HAH20 for an additional 20% off their discounted price.
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