I love empowering people to cook real food and bake sourdough bread through my recipes and courses.
However, I have a confession.
I grew up not liking sourdough bread.
Instead, I grew up eating a standard 90’s diet of lunchables, fast food, delivery pizza, packaged “health” foods with pepto bismol and antacids as supplements.
Then, after I had my first baby, I noticed signs of digestive issues whenever I would change his diaper so I began to change my diet.
After taking an absurd amount of tums for pregnancy heartburn for 9 months and removing dairy and gluten from my diet, the chemistry of my stomach was completely thrown off. The lack of acid in my stomach from too many tums and eating differently caused reflux that burnt the bottom of my esophagus so badly that I could only swallow liquids for several days.
I went to a doctor and the solution they had was medication. I wanted to know what was the cause for this issue I had been dealing with since childhood.
After working with a nutrition therapy practitioner, I learned about real food, gut health, traditional foods, and how real sourdough can be more easily digested, without discomfort for most people.
I picked up bits of sourdough knowledge from a mix of different internet sources and eventually I baked my first loaf of sourdough bread in 2014.
It wasn’t very pretty, but it was edible and great with butter! I had made my first attempt–I had learned to bake sourdough.
I always remind my students to be proud of their first loaf. It is a big achievement, and it only gets easier.
I was a teacher before I became a mom so as my love of sourdough baking and skills grew, I began teaching and developing recipes.
As a mom, I had a small business selling spice mixes and doing real food blogging.
Then, in 2018 I went all in on sourdough. I changed my business name and I was selected to join a small group of other bakers to learn how to bake sourdough and teach others at The Sourdough School in the English countryside. Vanessa Kimbell was an incredible guide and taught about the why behind the what of sourdough and it gave me my “aha” moment that brought clarity to the ins and outs of sourdough.
Since then, I have worked with foster youth, moms groups, couples, and hundreds of other students to teach them the basics of sourdough. I also wrote two bread baking books that have become kitchen mainstays.
While I now LOVE sourdough bread and do bake very often, I’m not always in the kitchen.
Often you’ll find me homeschooling my four kids, driving to a field trip, discussing the next house project with my husband, or snuggling up with my family to watch a movie.
I’m so glad you’re here and I look forward to helping you feel confident and have fun baking sourdough!
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