Emily, the bread baker: Baking bread to bring people together
This is my craft
Food is a big part of my life. Bringing people together. Making home made food from scratch and sharing it with others. Hosting friends and family. That’s what excites me…
My first encounter with Emily was in a Podcast. I was listening to an interview that Rocket of Eat Vermont did with her for his Podcast (with the same name). And I was intrigued. By her and her approach of baking bread. Hearing Emily speak felt very real and authentic.
I’ve always been curious about people’s stories, especially my fellow creatives and artisans. So, I was very excited when Emily agreed to be part of this series, This is my craft, on my small Substack blog here.
Emily shares two very unique memories with me that inspired and shaped her and her business - Wild Yeast. Growing up, she says, they would always have big feasts. Emily is part Greek from her Mom’s side. A fact that immediately reminds me of the movie The Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Food made from scratch and home made, growing up in the kitchen and with friends and family around the dining room table. Silence, when everyone was indulging in the home made delicacies, joy and laughter, chatter. Food is something that you create and that’s bringing people together, she tells me.
But food wasn’t the only influential part for Emily’s business. “My mom bought a floral business, when I was 12. Flowers and floral arrangements are her passion.” As a single mom at the time, her mother put many hours in her flower business, trying to make ends meet. Seeing her mom working hard for her family and being so passionate about it, inspired Emily to start her own business, baking bread.
Learning about her diagnosis of being pre-diabetic and not able to eat regular bread, she wanted to find a way of making bread that she could actually eat and that wouldn’t upset her stomach, what was initially brought her to baking bread. Making naturally leavened bread as a means of taking control of her own health.
Emily tells me: “I always dive in completely, 100%. Learning everything, reading books, taking classes. In a lot of areas of my life actually. It’s been the same back in the days being a competitive weightlifter. Now with bread, the passion took on its own. I’m in love with the process.”
Wild Yeast has become her child that turned into a business that she wants to succeed. She aims to create a product that she feels proud of, that is rooted in connection to the land and the farmers, using grains that are ethically sourced.
Farmers or better their wholesale lists, currently offering tomatoes, rosemary and more, are the inspiration for Emily to come up with the seasonal creations: “I usually sit with it for a couple days and will find something that’s unique.”
Emily also brought reading cookbooks to a whole new level. Usually she takes one at a time as her bedtime read, and would study it from front to end, never really cooking from it, but rather using the inspiration for creating her very own recipes. Tweaks, tries and tests:
“This is how I learn. And making it at home, I’ve got no pressure. No one’s gonna know about it.” Starting with one loaf, she scales the recipe, tackling the challenge of making bigger batches. Occasionally she sells testers to direct customers at a reduced rate.
Listening to Emily’s story and her deep passion for food and bringing people together, I’m wondering what’s next for her. She shares with me that this feels like only the beginning of her journey, constantly asking herself where this is going for her?
I wanna get more clarity about which direction this project is going... Is doing wholesale the right thing for me? When I close my eyes I have a vision of a bakery, kids running around, there’s plants and flower decoration, too. Spending so much time in the flower shop of my mom has shaped me and my dream that I want to carry on, showing my future children this part of my life…
Emily’s breads are hand-crafted sourdough breads using grains grown in the Northeast, naturally leavened, organic and locally made in Chelsea, Vt. They’re available at different stores around Vermont. Find out where near you here.
I met Emily when she was at the farmers market in SoRo. I loved her bread and was lucky to find her once she stopped doing farmers market. Her breads are delicious and creative.