Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth.
Hi Elizabeth, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
It all started 15 years ago, when I was in college, and my first roommate left a loaf of bread on the counter. It sat and sat. And sat. For months. Two and a half months later, this loaf of bread hadn’t molded nor was stale. I was aghast, so I looked up a very basic bread recipe on allrecipes.com, bought some bread flour, a bread tin and yeast and began baking bread. After college, I taught 7th grade math for 2 years, and I quickly realized that this was not the career path for me. Friends had occasionally suggested I sell my bread, but I’m risk-averse, so I didn’t want to open a full-fledged bakery. During the spring of my last year teaching, I began researching if I could sell bread from my house, and I came upon Minnesota’s newly passed Cottage Food Laws. I called around to a few farmers markets, made a website, and started selling to friends and family. That summer, I began baking for the Carlton County Farmers Market in Cloquet and quickly gained a following. Over the past 9 years, we’ve grown and expanded from our tiny home kitchen in Meadowlands to this past year, building a commercial bakery next to our home in Esko.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has been smoother than one would think but there are always struggles. Ovens are essential for baking and for many years, it felt like I was breaking ovens every season with the amount of baking I was doing. Control panels would burn out, elements would go out, parts wouldn’t be able to be found, and different ovens would have to be found. It felt like a revolving door. We finally found a pair of used commercial convection ovens three years ago, and we ran a crowdfunding campaign this spring to purchase a new deck oven for the bread. I think space has always been a struggle. Demand has been higher than our capacity for many years, and we just couldn’t meet that demand out of house – which led to us ultimately building a bakery next to our house. It’s hard when you’re running 25 lbs of dough up and down stairs multiple times in a row from the basement where the mixer and oven are to the main floor where it’s warm enough to rise. We’re so thankful for our new space.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We specialize in long-fermented breads and pastries, both sourdough and yeasted. We try to incorporate whole-grains into as many as our products as we can (and most people don’t even notice; they just think it’s delicious!), and we really value using local, fair-trade and organic ingredients where it makes sense. Our quality, flavor and consistency really sets us apart as well as some of our specialty offerings, such as our cardamom morning buns and our seasonal pastries. I’m very proud of the consistency and high-quality of our products.
What matters most to you?
In regards to my business, what matters most is creating bread and pastry that truly feeds people and serves our neighbor. We want to care for our neighbor as Jesus would, so although we desire to provide our community with nutritious bread, we also desire to be part of their lives, so that they truly are our neighbors and friends.
What matters most to me personally is my faith and family.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.breadinthemeadow.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/breadinthemeadow
