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Five years ago this month, the pandemic left people sheltering at home and looking for ways to minimize trips to the grocery store and supplement hard-to-find ingredients. Within weeks a sourdough baking obsession took hold, uniting novice and longtime bakers who were fueled by a scarcity of ingredients, a desire to feed friends and loved ones and the pull of a hobby to brighten dark days.
But for Redwood City resident Deb Lemos, the sourdough craze was an opportunity to share her yearslong passion for naturally leavened bread with the masses. In the spring 2020, Lemos launched an Etsy store selling complete bread kids and dehydrated sourdough starter, later folding in an Instagram account where she posted photos of sourdough products she baked.
Nearly five years and over 400,000 social media followers later, Lemos has grown Everything Sourdough into a brand and a business that she said could be her “encore career” down the road. The Los Altos native serves as the director of finance and operations for Stanford University’s math department and will mark 40 years working at Stanford this fall.
On Thursday, March 27, Lemos will lead a sold-out workshop at Little Green in Redwood City, where she will teach participants all about sourdough starter and demonstrate making focaccia. She regularly holds workshops focused on pizza-making, focaccia decorating and more – all with a focus on sourdough.
“I like meeting new people, and teaching people about sourdough has become a really fun thing for me,” she said.
The San Francisco treat
While the pandemic helped popularize sourdough baking, the bread has long-standing ties to San Francisco and roots that go back nearly 6,000 years. Bread-making became more widespread in ancient Egypt, and the first recorded instance of leavening with a bread starter originates from ancient Rome and the texts of Roman historian Pliny the Elder, according to a 2022 BBC article.
Many sourdough bakers take pride in having years-old starter that they continue to use in their recipes, as longevity is part of sourdough’s appeal. Sourdough starter, a leavening agent that helps bread rise, is formed by mixing water and flour, then allowing natural yeasts and bacteria in the air to combine and ferment. The yeast and bacteria consume carbohydrates in the flour and convert them into carbon dioxide and lactic acid, respectively, giving the bread its bubbles and sour flavor. Portions of the starter are removed to make sourdough goods, and starter is fed fresh flour and water to keep it going.
During the Gold Rush, sourdough starter became a lifeline for miners who flocked to California hoping to strike it rich, according to Food52. A sudden population surge triggered by the Gold Rush, combined with farmworkers who left the fields to join the search of gold, led to price inflation – making sourdough starter a valuable commodity for miners with limited resources.
The San Francisco Bay Area has been synonymous with sourdough for generations, from Boudin Bakery’s founding in 1849 to the enduring popularity of bakeries like Tartine and Acme Bread Company. Even the San Francisco 49ers’ mascot, a gold miner named Sourdough Sam, pays homage to one of the Bay Area’s culinary staples.
A self-starter’s rise
While Lemos’ grandmother instilled a love of baking in her when she was young, Lemos didn’t start experimenting with sourdough until almost 11 years ago. A friend gifted Lemos a copy of Jim Lahey’s book “My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method,” and she started baking bread, then tried out a sourdough starter. Lemos became “obsessed” with making sourdough bread with naturally leavened culture, which she said is less predictable than commercial yeast.
“Time and temperature really impact how quickly or how slowly your sourdough starter will proof or your bread will proof,” Lemos said. “It’s challenging. If you like the science of it or the challenge of doing something different, sourdough is a fun way to do that.”
She turned her hobby into a business when the pandemic hit and she started her Etsy store, selling dehydrated sourdough starter and bread kits. The store was a big hit, and Lemos began to play around with converting recipes to sourdough, later posting photos of her creations on her sourdough-focused Instagram account. All the while, she was feeding as many people as possible with her baked goods and giving sourdough starter away to friends and family.
“It was an amazing thing for people to connect over that during the pandemic,” Lemos said. “It’s surprising to me that this trend has continued. Maybe not to the extent when people were all home with nothing else to do, but there still seems to be an interest in sourdough out there.”
Since launching Everything Sourdough, Lemos has written a holiday-themed cookbook and a sourdough starter guide that are available in her Etsy store. She started offering classes, including ones at her home and private residences, and partnering with companies to develop recipes and highlight their products.
“I’m very particular about that…I only highlight products that I really use and believe in, and I turn many people away,” she said.
While Lemos isn’t interested in opening a storefront bakery, she has a cottage baking license and sells baked goods twice a month for a limited number of customers.
“It gives me an outlet to be able to create recipes, and we can only eat so many baked goods here at our house,” she said.
Lemos spends at least 12 hours a week baking, utilizing weekends and early morning hours. She also uses those hours writing recipes and prepping Instagram posts, and vacation time also allows her to focus on the business.
“I’ve always had a hobby, I’ve always had something other than my job,” Lemos said. “It’s not unusual for me to be doing many multiple things at one time – my family will attest to that.”
Leavening and learning
Ease and accessibility is key to sourdough baking for Lemos, who was frustrated by the sheer amount of information on sourdough when she first started working with it. She doesn’t make laminated dough like you’ll find in croissants, and certain baked goods like sourdough English muffins pose a challenge. Her favorite recipe is her classic loaf, but she also speaks highly of sourdough tortillas (“once you make them, you’ll never buy tortillas again,” Lemos said.)
A glimpse of her Instagram account reveals recipes that go beyond bread, showcasing everything from pancakes and pizza to crispy baked chicken wings coated in sourdough breadcrumbs. With bread always on hand at home, Lemos doesn’t seek out commercially made sourdough products unless she’s on vacation.
The biggest keys to successful sourdough baking, Lemos said, are having a good starter and getting a feel for how it’s affected by changes in temperature. She also encourages people to start easy.
“I try to get people to succeed early, and then you can experiment by taking that classic loaf recipe and adding jalapeno and cheddar, or walnuts and cranberries or coat it with nuts and seeds. You can build the skill as you go.
“I also tell people, ‘Don’t try to keep up with what everyone is doing: Find the things that your family likes and eats that are easy for you to make and make those,’” she added.
Lemos’ own family has been supportive of her sourdough endeavors, and she’s started teaching her grandchildren to bake.
“My family knows me – I tend to not do anything halfway,” she said. “I think they’re very proud of what I’ve been able to do with this hobby turned business.”
Looking to the future, Lemos said she’d love to become a published cookbook author, and if King Arthur Baking Company wanted her to be their resident sourdough baker she’d consider the offer.
“I’m limited in bandwidth and I have to be selective. But who knows? I think anything is possible.”
For more information on Everything Sourdough, visit Instagram @everything.sourdough, the Etsy store at etsy.com/shop/Everythingsourdough or check everythingsourdough.square.site for details on upcoming workshops and to place a cottage bakery order.
Deb Lemos’ sourdough focaccia
Ingredients
- 100 grams (1/2 cup) active sourdough starter
- 10 grams salt (2.5 teaspoons)
- 460 grams (~1 3/4 cups) water, room temperature
- 550 grams (4 ¼ cups) bread flour (or all-purpose flour)
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more for drizzling
- Toppings: rosemary, flaked sea salt
For best results, I recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh your ingredients as flour weights can vary.
Instructions
Combine starter and water in a large bowl and stir with a fork to combine. Add the flour and salt and mix until all the flour is incorporated.
Drizzle dough with a splash of olive oil and rub to coat. Cover bowl and set aside to rise at room temperature all day or overnight.
Once your dough has doubled in size (this is bulk fermentation), put your dough into your pan(s). This recipe will make three 6” pans, two 8” pans or one 9×13” family-size pan.
Coat your pan and drizzle the dough in your pan(s) with olive oil until well-coated and let rise for three to six or more hours, uncovered until puffy and doubled in size. This timing will depend on how healthy your starter is and how warm it is where you proof your dough.
Preheat your oven to 425ºF. Top dough with your favorite toppings. Rub hands lightly with oil, and using all 10 fingers, press gently into the dough to dimple.
Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown all over. Remove pan(s) from the oven and transfer focaccia to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
