By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

Two stay-at home moms discovered that sourdough-starter baked goods gave their business a quick rise to success.

Elizabeth Smith made her first loaf of sourdough bread in January of this year. After some tweaking of the recipe, by July she was baking 350 loaves of it for area businesses and for individuals. Meanwhile, every week this summer, Smith’s best friend and business partner Brittany Baizley was baking 50 to 60 dozen bagels and cookies from her sourdough starter.

“It has taken over our whole lives. It blew up out of nowhere,” Smith said. “We created our Facebook page. We started advertising on Facebook. Summer hit and I was making 350 loaves of bread a week. It was unexpected.”

Baizley agreed, saying the popularity of eating food that is wholesome and locally produced has helped their bakery business to be successful. 

“The summer months was when we were slammed. Summer was super busy for us. From the profits, we were able to outfit our kitchens with double ovens and bigger fridges,” Baizley said.

Smith added, “We didn’t have to take out loans to expand.”

However, more expansions are on the horizon, including revamping Smith’s garage to create a pop-up market that would be open a few days a week. Plus, the two women are imagining seasonal flavors like pumpkin mini-loaves, cranberry-orange bread and ginger sourdough cookies. 

Last week, the owners of The Daily Bread Sourdough Bakery talked about what led to starting this specific business that sells wholesale to about 10 Maine business from Bridgton to North Yarmouth and also has a following of customers they know on a first name basis.

“We should give a specific shout-out to Southpaw Meat Market in Raymond,” Baizley said. “They jump-started our wholesale market. We walked in there like to two little, wide-eyed children. They took our bread and sold it. They were so kind to us.”

Smith concurred.

“They took a chance on us. They were the first ones to say, ‘What you have is really good.’ They gave us contacts to Weston’s and Sherman’s farm stands,” she said.

The interest in sourdough starter began with a pregnancy in which Smith developed Hyperemesis gravidarum.

“I suffered with that through my whole pregnancy. I had extreme sickness with everything I ate and drank. I lost 38 pounds. Once I was no longer pregnant and could eat like a normal human again, my husband and I took a really deep look into what we were eating and drinking and putting into our bodies. We started reading the ingredients in everything. We made a conscious effort to eat organic,” Smith explained. “We never thought to look at our bread until Christmas of last year. We looked at a bread label and there were 30 ingredients. We said, ‘What the heck! Bread shouldn’t have this many ingredients.’”

“In January, I made my first loaf of bread and we haven’t eaten grocery store bread since,” she said.  “We have noticed a significant difference in our own gut health. Honestly, I make everything with my sourdough starter, whether it is muffins, cookies, pancakes breads, tortillas. It is more beneficial for your gut health, and easier for your body to digest.”

Smith and Baizley already had a business called Two Maine Moms LLC, through which they sold clothing.

“Lizzy [Elizabeth’s nickname] introduced me to sourdough and I jumped on the bandwagon with her. There was more science that I found fascinating,” said Baizley, who already made homemade bread using yeast packets.

“My sourdough starter, or wild yeast, does the same thing as commercial yeast. With commercial yeast, there are different chemicals that have been dried to jumpstart how you make bread to make it a very short process. But with sourdough starter, you are building your own wild yeast from the bacteria in the flour, the air and your water. That is significantly easier for your body to digest because there are no added or harmful chemicals, especially with the flour that we use,” Smith said.

They use King Arthur organic flour that is not bleached or enriched.

“Everything comes from my mom’s garden, which is pesticide- and fertilizer-free,” Baizley said. “Our rosemary is natural. The cheese is coming from natural farms like Pineland a lot. Everything that we do is farm fresh. The only thing we are buying commercially is our flour.”

Baizley shared her knowledge about sourdough starter recipes.

“It stems back to the ancient Egyptians who first starting using sourdough and they would use it to trade for goods and things. They would use the hooch, that is the top layer of the liquid, as alcohol for trading, too. Sourdough bread was so good for your gut health that people would live off it alone,” she said.

So, both women started exploring sourdough starters at the same time this winter.  

“We made our starters ourselves. We started that process together. It was really cool to go through trail and error. As we got better and better and started to master our craft, our family and friends said, ‘You should sell this. People are going to want your bread,’” Smith said.

At first, they starting giving the bread to family members and friends, and then he friends of friends were asking to place orders. 

Now, they sell wholesale to about ten businesses including Stella’s on the Square, which serves their bread.

“We love the connection we get from our customers. There is one customer who has been ordering from us from the very beginning. She was one of the first actual sales. She holds a special place in my heart,” Smith said

The smell of baking bread makes Smith remember her grandmother baking. Her wish is that when customers smell and eat the bread, it will bring about fond memories for them too.

Desperately seeking sourdough

REGION — If anyone has a hankering for real sourdough bread, here are some locations where The Daily Bread Sourdough Bakery products are available:   

• Weston’s Farm, Fryeburg

• Sherman Farm, East Conway, N.H.

• Southpaw Meat Market, Raymond

• Windy Hill Farm Market, Windham

• Better Together Acres, in North Yarmouth

• Milk & Honey Cafe´ inside the Refuge Church in Windham

• Duck Pond Variety, Westbrook

Also, Stella’s on the Square in Bridgton (North High Street) offers the bread as an appetizer on its menu.

Additionally, The Daily Bread will offer a class, called Beer and Bagels, on making sourdough bagels. The class will be held at Stella’s on Oct. 20, starting at noon. People can register for the class by going to The Daily Bread Facebook page.