Like many cottage bakers, Jenny Berg picked up the art of making sourdough during the pandemic. Unlike most, however, she scaled it into a business, launching CRUMB Sourdough Microbakery in 2021.

Now, Berg bakes nearly 200 loaves of sourdough bread weekly out of her home, just south of Bend.

But as Berg became familiar with the Oregon Home Baking Bill, she became increasingly frustrated. In 2021, she initiated a grassroots effort to reform the bill, mobilizing a swath of Oregon cottage bakers to sway legislators.

Oregon Senate Bill 643 went into effect Jan. 1, 2024, transforming operations for cottage food operators by raising the annual gross revenue cap and allowing producers to conduct online sales, among other protections.

Berg is now one of Central Oregon’s many cottage bakers using the new law to grow their sourdough businesses while enjoying the flexibility of baking at home.

“We didn’t get everything we asked for, but it was enough that somebody could make a living with it now,” Berg said. “It’s opened up a lot of doors for a lot of bakers.”

Here’s where to find Berg’s sourdough boules, along with fresh baked sourdough products by two other Central Oregon bakers.

CRUMB Sourdough Microbakery

All of Berg’s products may be traced back to her starter named Zelda. It’s a descendant of a 150-year-old starter, and according to Berg, it has a strong personality.

“It’s a microbial culture of living yeast and bacteria. So it can be angry, it can be happy. It can be hungry (or) full,” Berg said.

Zelda inspired the name of the original loaf, “The Zelda” ($14), made simply with flour, water, salt and yeast. Berg makes variations of the loaf with inclusions such as jalapeno and cheddar ($18) and roasted garlic with rosemary ($17). In addition to bread, she makes sourdough pizza shells ($12) and sourdough scones ($10-$19).

“I always describe it as trying to find that elusive unicorn — making that perfect loaf of sourdough. It’s quite a process and quite an art and the allure of it and the challenge of it just transformed me,” Berg said.

Delivers Wednesdays and Fridays to Local Acres Marketplace, 63455 N Highway 97, Bend, Central Oregon Locavore, 1841 NE Third St., Bend, and Tumalo Farmstand, 64677 Cook Ave., Tumalo; Pick ups offered Fridays and Saturdays in Bend and Three Rivers; crumbsourdoughmicrobakery.com, @crumb.sourdough.microbakery

Mountain Mama’s Sourdough Homebakery

The reformed cottage baker law allowed Toni Shannon to start selling her sandwich sourdough loaves online shortly after she founded Mountain Mama’s Sourdough Homebakery in December 2023.

Shannon, a single mother of three, started the business to supplement the income she receives from child and spousal support.

“I taught myself how to make and bake sourdough all through Instagram as I was going through my divorce,” she said. “The formula and repetition of sourdough, the process of it, was meditative for me.”

Her main product is sourdough sandwich loaves ($13), which she said stay fresh longer than the boule-shaped loaves and are easier to make into sandwiches. She also makes cinnamon roll sourdough sandwich bread loaves ($16), sourdough pizza crust ($12) and sourdough salted dark chocolate chunk cookies ($3.50 each, $10 for three or $40 a dozen).

Pick ups offered Wednesday afternoons at Pure Light Family Chiropractic, 1567 SW Chandler Ave. #110, Bend and La Pine, address disclosed at purchase; hotplate.com/mountainmamas, @mountain.mamas.sourdough

Tumalo Sourdough Co.

Kayla Eisert developed an interest in nutrition after undergoing a series of health challenges. She turned to baking sourdough with clean ingredients, utilizing just starter, flour, water and salt. She opts for ingredients produced locally, organically and without genetic engineering, wherever possible.

Last year, Eisert was gifted a 100-year-old starter from her husband’s co-worker’s great-grandma, which she described as a “game changer” for her baking and her business, Tumalo Sourdough Co.

Eisert uses the starter to make the OG plain sourdough loaf ($10), a cheesy garlic loaf ($14) and a cinnamon swirl loaf ($14). A pack of three loaves may be purchased for $35.

“Sourdough starter is a plethora of bacteria. When you digest it, you’re not eating a lot of the gluten that you would in commercial bread because the bacteria is digesting the gluten before you’re eating it,” Eisert said. “It’s nice to be able to offer something to people who love sourdough as much as I do.”

She dreams of one day opening a food truck, but most of all, hopes her baking inspires others to lead a healthy life.

Pick up in Tumalo, address disclosed after purchase; Orders may be placed online at bakesy.shop/b/tumalo-sourdough-co with an approximate lead time of two days; @tumalo_sourdough_co