How my microbakery came to be
Spring came, and new life bloomed all around and within my family as we welcomed home our newborn. I craved a cozy home, as we were settling in and soaking up all the tiny snuggles. As I re-crafted my home and grew into motherhood, I dabbled with baking cinnamon rolls. And woah, they were good. Creamy brioche rolls slathered in cinnamon, sugar, and homemade frosting. Cinnamon rolls turned into quick breads (cue my dad’s famous banana bread recipe) which turned into yeasted sandwich loaves (cue the infamous Bagel Loaf by Joshua Weissman) and eventually, after months of putting it off because I was too nervous about the 3-page, multi-day process that was baking traditional sourdough, I started my sourdough starter.
It’s been 10 months since I lovingly brought my levain princess to life. Caring for her is a reminder to care for myself, in the way of freshly baked artisan breads that feed myself, my family, my friends, and my neighbors.
It happened mostly naturally, the business side of things. I recently learned that the correct term for my tiny sourdough business is a ‘microbakery’. A microbakery is run out of the owner’s home, and trades 10-20 loaves per week to the local community.
I knew some folks in the farmer’s market industry, and loved following along their journey. It didn’t occur to me, early on in my baking journey, that I too could join farmer’s markets. One Spring day, shortly after my sons first birthday, I got a call from a market host. Her baker had fallen ill and through word of mouth (!!!) she had heard about my new bakery, Tiny Oak. She asked if I could make it happen in less than 24 hours. Sourdough is a 36 hour process…at minimum. I thought about it and started to throw together as many sourdough discard hot cross buns as I could. I made around 70, and sold out at that first market I quite literally threw together in the last minute. I loved it. Was *thriving*, so to say. I ordered a new sign, a square reader, thrifted some baskets for display, and was ready for the season. Throughout the summer I continued that market as often as I could. By the end of the season, I had completed 15 markets and a thousands in sales. I had built up my website so that local customers could order pickup or delivery, got all my licensing and insurance policies in check, and here we are. Dreaming up the next big ideas for Tiny Oak….
If you have shown support to Tiny Oak in any way during this season - by showing up at markets, purchasing bread, sharing bread, liking and sharing on social media, being a soundboard for my never ending ideas - thank you so very much for your love of Tiny Oak. It really means so much to me. Cheers to the journey that is Tiny Oak Homestead!!
Warmly,
Brianna
