In this episode of The Bread Winner Podcast, host Caroline Bower chats with Delaney Peters, a sourdough micro bakery owner in Alaska. Delaney shares her journey from growing up in California and moving to Alaska, to starting her bakery from scratch. They discuss practical tips for managing a home bakery with a young child, the importance of community support, and how Delaney incorporates her family in her baking process. Delaney also dives into her experiences with expanding her business, the benefits of investing in equipment, and finding balance between work and family life.

00:00 Introduction to The Bread Winner Podcast

00:48 Meet Delaney Peters: Sourdough Micro Bakery Owner

02:47 Delaney's Journey into Baking

06:35 Balancing Baking and Family Life

11:05 The Importance of Community Support

17:45 Investing in Equipment for Growth

23:21 Working with an Assistant

29:42 Porch Pickup and Market Sales

30:38 Challenges of Market Sales

31:24 Consistency in Baking Business

32:51 Marketing Strategies for Bakers

34:57 Starting Wholesaling: Tips and Insights

38:06 Building Community and Business Relationships

46:43 Fun Q&A with Delaney

48:37 Final Thoughts and Upcoming Projects

Delaney Peters Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/delaneyssourdough/

Delaney Peters Website: delaneysourdough.com

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Download the FREE Guide and Checklist, Your First Steps to a Successful In-Home Bakery at https://www.carolinebower.com/checklist to begin building YOUR thriving microbakery! 

Caroline Bower Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolinebower_sourdough

Caroline

/You, you know, Pile up your dishes for them so that you don't feel like you need to get your hands in there

until they get there.

Just save things for them to

do that will truly save your time.

/ Welcome to The Bread Winner Podcast. This is the show for sourdough micro bakery owners who are building a sustainable, successful, profitable business from their home. If you are already in business or if you're dreaming of starting one, this is the place for you. I'm your host, Caroline Bower. I own a successful in home sourdough bakery, and I am here to share everything I've learned that works and that doesn't, plus everything that I'm researching along the way so we can build thriving businesses together.

/

Welcome back to another episode of The Bread Winner Podcast. I am so excited that you're here. I'm your host, Caroline Bower, and I am here today with a guest.

Of course. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. This is super fun. But yeah, like you said, I'm Delaney. I own a sourdough micro bakery in Alaska. I have one little one. I'm married and Yeah, I'm just enjoying life right now. Doing sourdough stuff. It's super fun and Yeah,

really excited to chat with you. I'm a little jealous of you in Alaska. You shared a video recently and you're like wearing a sweater. And I think it was like 105 degrees here in Texas. And I just want to live through you.

I know. I think you did message me like it's, there's no signs of fall here right now. And I'm like, Oh man, the leaves are literally turning like as I speak. We have very clear seasons in Alaska for sure.

I'm not I actually grew up in California. And then when I was 14, we moved to Alaska. So I have a split childhood, but yeah, my, I have several family members that were born and raised here. So it was like our family coming back to

Alaska

I grew up in Colorado where we have four seasons, and so I think that makes me appreciate , seeing your season changes even more.

Yeah. You definitely put up with, a very distinct winter, but. It does make you appreciate when the weather is beautiful and when the leaves do change and

that.

Well, That's so cool. All right. Let's nerd out about micro bakery stuff a little bit. so fun to kind of get to talk shop. So tell us, let's just kind of start at the beginning. How did you get started baking and then how did it evolve into a business?

And then my dad, he loves to experiment. So he got a sourdough starter and he made sourdough. So yeah, that my parents both had an influence on me and my baking from a pretty young age. So that was my start and baking was always a hobby for me. When I was in college, I would we would have baking nights and all the guys from the guys dorms would come to the girls dorm and I would teach them like a recipe like once a week.

I didn't know that there were cottage food laws so I ended up making a post like hey, I have some extra bread and then right from there I'm like, oh, is this even a legal thing to do? So I looked up my state laws and I Looked into cottage food laws and I was like, oh wow people do this so then that led me down the like sourdough micro bakery trail on Instagram,

Almost exactly a year ago also, just kind of kicked things off with a post on Facebook.

Okay, cool. Yeah, very random. I was like, ah, maybe people don't want bread.

I'll just have an extra

Yes, yeah, this, the term sourdough is actually a term for people, um, who have for like, I think it's like 10 years, you're called a sourdough, but that just comes from, because sourdough was like so prevalent

with everyone moving up here. Years and years ago.

So

I love

sourdough is kind of a thing. Yeah. There's some crazy old There's some crazy

old starters here in the state,

Wow. Do you have a starter that's been around for a long time?

i've done some like diving and I believe my starter is it's over 10 years old It's not crazy old. There's you know, 100 plus

Um year old starters here,

Right.

so, I feel like people need to understand that the maintenance of the starter matters more than the backstory.

Yeah. Yeah. I know. I've seen like advertisements for like French sourdough starter, but it's like once you're feeding that starter in your home that has your bacteria, that is your starter.

Like France is no longer involved.

Yeah. There's nothing French about this

Anymore. But

Yep.

it makes for a fun story, I

It is cool.

So you mentioned you have a little one, how old and how does your life look like with a little one at home?

So I have some help and then Tuesday and Wednesday my mom comes So, always got, like, a little buddy that can kinda redirect him. , Or he does go to my mom's house too. So, he's Not really at the stage where he's playing super independently, which does

make

things pretty hard.

Especially on those

Mondays. .

sure.

Yeah.

I love that you involve him though. And that you set him up at the sink. So he's right there in the kitchen. So he's seeing you work hard and he's kind of Picking up the legacy of the love of baking that your parents passed down to you. And he is just growing up with that.

That's really cool.

Yeah. I know.

are there other hacks or things that keep him particularly busy? That's a tricky age because he wants to be involved, but also he's still kind of a baby.

Yes. . He often just, like, want to be held. Yeah. You know, And just see what you're doing so that can be hard because there's not a lot you can do with one hand um, Oh man, one thing we try and make sure we do is like have snacks like popcorn or cereal or something that they're just like.

for a while too. So every kid is

different though

That's so true. Yeah. every kid is definitely different, but snacks are like a universal magic with

. Yeah, as long as they're hungry

Mm Um, I think so many of the sourdough bakers who are kind of in a similar spot in their journey as us and, or maybe just starting their business have little ones at home. And so hearing other people like you, who've successfully managed to juggle all of the responsibilities and any like tidbits of what makes you successful will be helpful.

This is my thing but sometimes i'm sure someone would love for you to ask them for help like even you know, so , I would just encourage someone to maybe try Asking a friend to come over with their kid so that your kid can be occupied

and their kid can be fulfilled with playing with a friend.

So,

that's such a valuable suggestion and just the idea of those people, we don't realize that we're not inconveniencing them when we ask them to come over. And those other moms desire the community just as much as us and would feel honored to be invited over.

getting, grandma time or friend

That's so sweet. Um, you have built your bakery with some community support, family support. Um, Do you think that's allowed you to build faster or I guess , for those who don't have support and are tempted to compare themselves to your journey, what would you say to them? Because it's kind of comparing apples to oranges. It's not fair to say like, I haven't grown as big as Delaney, but also if their situation is different, it doesn't make sense to compare.

People really [00:13:00] move with the seasons. There's kind of a rhythm to it. And so if you are trying to grow your capacity, just know that that will come in time as you, um, move with the seasons and you, maybe invest in equipment, things like that. so

just know that I'm not going to be doing 80 lobes every week all

year round. you know,

there might be a week here in the next couple months where I only do 15, you know, and that's totally okay. And I need to be okay with that too.

Yeah. . That's so good. Um, have you developed any sort of system to kind of check in with your capacity or does it come with just trial and error?

Trial and error, ,

him, so if he's doing okay, then I feel like, okay, I'm at a good point, but if it's like, my son is,

Not well, then I know,

okay, I've signed

on for too much and I need to give a little bit more to him than the business right now, if

totally. Yeah. I think that shows a lot of wisdom to be able to kind of know how to prioritize him. I think with business ownership,

There's always going to be a little bit of, I don't know, sacrificing here and there. Like I had a conversation with my kids the other day, they're six and seven about the amount of work that I put in.

put a lot of

more

and you know Try and do something new

and maybe stand

out a little bit

more for my competition or you know other bakers,

but like I don't think that's worth it to me.

Um, yeah, I don't know if that adds to what you're saying, but

That totally makes sense that kind of I was gonna ask if you've made choices or had opportunities that you said no to In order to prioritize your family and that's exactly what the example you just gave.

And he was like, you know, , we really need to, , not burn you out, , let me take on some of the, , financial burden, so that you can focus on Kellan and whatever. And so I had that epiphany of like, okay,

I don't need to do everything.

Like I, I don't, so I ended up

stepping back from some events and that allowed for other bakers to go out and do their thing, which I thought was, which made me happy that, you know, the

events are not like totally without a

baker and I don't have to be that person.

I love that kind of

flip side of saying no to the opportunities to serve your family is Giving other people an opportunity to To benefit as well. That's wonderful. So you had mentioned that your capacity increased with equipment so I know you have a bread oven at what point did you invest in that and how has that changed things for you?

Yeah. So,

last year. And I purchased my oven in February

of this year. , And I was a part of the crew of people that bought their Simply Bread oven and then didn't receive it for like months. So, mine came in like end of April.

I can only imagine how exciting that was.

Yeah, yeah,

yes, we're pumped. It's in our,

like,

the very front room of my house is what I've turned into my bakery, and so you walk in the front door and just are greeted by a bakery.

Yep, yeah. No hiding it. When it's in

that's so funny. Never something I expected., so how did it change?

Once you got the oven?

Oh, man, Well, definitely saved a lot of time baking. As you know, the bread oven can bake 12 at a time. And it just allowed me to say yes to some events that I never would have been able to do. Yeah, I did a big, like, vintage market. It was, like, three days, which, hindsight, I don't think I'll do a three day event again.

Yeah, my bake days are way shorter now

And yeah, I felt like the loaves looked better somehow, but I think it's just my confidence grew a little bit to having, , equipment I could rely on. Um,

Is there anything you do differently about your timeline or do you feel like you invested at the right time?

Honestly, I think if I could have, I

would

have maybe purchased it like a month

sooner. But,

No, like I'm happy

with how everything went. And, I don't feel Like I made a

decision out of impulse. So

I feel like the

timing was

probably right.

How did you know that you're in it for the long haul to justify such a big investment.

really is, , attractive to me to know that, like, Okay, this is probably a really good option for

me, um, as a mom and as someone

that doesn't want to get caught up in, like, hustle. , I just see

baking as something that's

still really fulfilling. I, guess I

just felt like it was the right

decision

that's

for sure. Yeah.

get to partner

Super Yeah. So for several months, she was talking about moving back up here and her and her husband are ready for a change. So I told her , hey, if you're thinking about coming up here, um, it'd be super awesome if you help me. And, um, she was ready to learn. And so they moved up. She started helping me more and more.

And, we have a lot of fun and we are identical twins. So we did grow up very close. So, which isn't always, like, happy and amazing when you get along when we were kids. We did, like, go through the normal kid thing. But, Now that we're older, we actually work together so well. Um, I think we've had a couple people like, Oh, how's it going?

It's hard with family. and

I don't know if it's just that we're like so similar. We kind of like get

each and we can kind of work through communication stuff pretty well.

But. Yeah, it's going really

well

That's so sweet. So do you both have like your own sort of realm and responsibilities? Or how do you separate tasks?

always doing something.

But, um, Yeah, i, I don't want her to be limited to just one thing. I want her to kind of learn it all. So lately, , I've been teaching her a little bit of how to pre shape and then shape the loaves too because It's fun to get your hands in there and she's doing great

I think there are probably a lot of listeners who

Yeah, that's a great question. Um, I think would definitely make sure That if you do have someone come over First, because I'm kind of one of those people that struggle to articulate how to do something. So if I'm just like, Oh, there's these bags and you stamp them.

I like, okay, then you like literally show them how to do it. Um, Cause I'm, yeah, I'm a visual learner and instructor, I guess, but I would just make sure that. You, you know, Pile up your dishes for them so that you don't feel like you need to get your hands in there

Because I think when I, my sister first started, I was like trying to do all the

things and then she's kind of like, what do I do? I'm like,

Oh Yeah. I need to not do this right now and just let her do It So I actually

Yeah. It makes sense little bit of curve and figuring out what you can pass off. And, and then also like our bakers are kind of our babies a little bit and, really like every part of the process we've established and figured out what works for us. So passing that off and probably like trusting another set of hands.

It takes a little bit of a process and, um, maybe some grace, but also some communication. So does she ever have to remind you to like, give, pass things off to her?

And she's coming to do it. Um, So yeah, there was like a little bit there where she's just like, what do I do now? What do I do now? And I think. That can be kind of a waste of your time and their time because then you have to stop what you're doing and then find something for them to do, , and then show them how to do it.

So, once you do have an assistant and they're

knowledgeable,

like,

give them the, schedule and the

things they can do

and

then trust that they're going to do it well

someone?

Oh, man I feel like if you're getting to the point where you're having multiple 12 hour days For you know a single Let's say like your porch pickup is taking like 12 hours, two days in a row. Like, I feel like that is for the most part, especially if you're, you have other things going on, you have kids, you have family, like that is kind of an indicator of like, okay, those are long work days.

So , having the opportunity to have an assistant may save you time, but it

may also allow you to do a little bit more if that's your goal.

So you definitely don't

have to like increase your output if you do hire an assistant, but

it can bring about the opportunity to give you the space to do something else.

That's awesome. So your business model right now is has been primarily markets. Do the markets shut down in the winter in your area?

That's just me. But yeah, so in the winter

this market will stop and then I may do one or two like Christmas markets, but my goal

is in doing the farmer's market this summer is just to grow awareness so that people, so I maybe can grow my

porch pickup, because ideally I'm

not doing things out of the

house.

Um,

Yeah, going out of the

house every week is like really

not sustainable for me.

It's been definitely a grind this

summer and I'm,

as much as

I've loved the market, I'm ready to go back to porch pickups for a while.

That makes sense. Um, do you have a lot of other

bakers in your area?

there's, ,

actually

quite a few. Yeah. Um, Especially in the last year, there's been,

And yeah, everyone loves bread. So.

It's super fun.

It's kind of the same. And I think probably everywhere, but

in our area, like I feel like a new sourdough bakery posts on Facebook every couple of weeks. And they don't all stick around, but some of them do. What do you

feel like has helped you stick around? What sets you apart?

just a

consistent pickup day, like people know,

okay,

Delaney opens her, um, menu on Friday and it always closes on Monday pickup is on

Wednesday.

So , I have not changed my pickups really at all. And I think that really helps with

the customer, especially new customers that like, okay, there's a rhythm and I can predict it.

It's not like. Sometimes it's Sunday, sometimes it's Tuesday, or

she has four days available, Oh, gosh, how do I even choose, you know what I mean?

So, it's kind of a like, rhythmic event, and I think,

that's helpful.

Yeah. I think that probably is. They know exactly when to find you and they, they learn.

Oh, what was I just about to ask?

oh like how you

you've marketed? You've shown up at the farmer's market all summer with the goal of building your porch pickups.

Yeah,

um, especially last winter when I was first starting, I was posting in Facebook. Some like Facebook groups, but I've since stopped. There's a lot of promotional things and other bakeries that post quite a bit in the Facebook groups. And I'm like, I don't want to like overflow those anymore.

But now, I really focus on my Instagram and Facebook, just business

posts. And then, um, the coffee shops I sell at are kind of

like a natural marketing channel for me, um, which is

super amazing. And , word of mouth

is also huge. And I use hot plate,

which I think maybe you use as well. Um, Or a lot of

bakers do at

least. And that's pretty great

for like the text messaging that they do. So , people

are getting regular texts. They're seeing menus are up and that's been really great.

Yeah, that makes a huge difference. I use the Simply Bread app, but it does the

function super similarly. And having those texts. go out every week

Cool. yeah,

I think, yeah, they're super

similar.

that's available to all makers. Like my state doesn't allow it.

But to those who do, have you learned anything recently since you've started that

didn't know before or any insights that you could share about getting started wholesaling? Good advice. I

Yeah. That's a great question. Um, Obviously my caveat is like, look into your laws . Um, there's a, There's a surprisingly large amount of bakers that maybe are not super informed on wholesaling laws and different things like that. So really look into that because. There's always the chance that you'll get a phone call and someone's asking about it and You want to make sure that you can show like the trail that you've been talking to your local

lemon

flavor.

Yeah. So I think like this, we're, um, shook into some fall flavors and there's no fruit to cut. Thank goodness. Um, but yeah, I think about,

Your timing , of flavors.

And , I would make sure that you're already baking the item that you want to sell in bulk already so that you kind of have the systems down and

that's good advice. Are you excited about wholesaling? Is it, do you think you'll continue to do it?

Yeah. Yeah. I'm really enjoying it. Um, I really

do

love that it's predictable

and, um, yeah, consistent because, ,

like I said, this summer was kind of like a push, um,

by doing, like, the market, but, yeah, come winter, my plan is

porch pickups and a couple wholesale deliveries and, and that's it, so, I think , it's really helpful. To just kind of get your name out and draw in those consistent customers

For sure.

Keyword that keeps coming up is consistency.

I always kind of drill that to like people who are just starting out,

Mm-Hmm.

Yeah. Definitely,

definitely.

a year in business here, what is something that you could never have predicted that you've learned or experienced in the past year of business ownership, um, that surprised you or that you just didn't see

coming?

. Oh man. Oh, I feel like one of my favorite things that's come about since starting my business is, , connecting with other business owners, um, all different Fields, I would say, but , I feel like

I've really seen how my

particular city of Palmer, how

they, the Palmer just love

small businesses. And I just

feel

so grateful to be just another one, um, in a

community of others that

like people know and

just like create some good friendships with people that are

like literally giving me free knowledge

and help. Um, yeah, it's just expanded my

community, I would say, which is really fun. Um,

yeah, I

No, I love that answer. I

really do because I think that is totally something unexpected

that a lot of people would come up with. experience. Have you intentionally pursued relationships with other businesses or have that, has that kind of been organic?

Um, it's been pretty organic. Um, a lot of it is just like meeting,

Other vendors, other events, and then, just natural conversations, following each other on

Instagram, seeing each other again, like, it's just

that

kind of

stuff.

Nothing like super crazy intentional.

, But I've done

some collaborations.

coffee roaster

here, and I've used her coffee and some of my scone

flavors. And so there's

that kind of like tie in and relationship

that's so fun. I feel like even if the relationships happen organically, they take a certain mindset. Cause there are some, I've observed some vendors who kind of view everyone as competition and

they don't really interact with each other. Um,

Yes.

do you feel like you've had to

choose like to view? your other businesses as community.

Um, I

So, I was, , naturally already going to these things, and enjoying the local producers. So, It doesn't really feel like I have to, like, okay, I gotta go to this event and go see other people, or I gotta,

at the event, I have to have to be friendly to

everyone around me. It was just, like, I feel like I, the people that I'm working alongside of, I like enjoy what they do and everyone is supporting each other in it.

It's just a really good market, but I know I know of others where it's

just like everyone's just kind of sitting in their booth,

like,

arms crossed, you know, um,

it really

speaks to the spirit

of the town that I live in,

though, because. Small businesses like, really do have the opportunity to thrive when they are,

um, welcoming to others.

culture. in an area.

Yeah. What's your

experience with

mine is very similar. I, I've tried a few different types of

markets and some of them are the ones where people just sort of sit around and look at each other.

But , my regular market that every two weeks is

very, um, the regular vendors, we've kind of built a community and even like the other sourdough baker has become a good friend. And. We, we pretty much always both sell out and then we go and just chat with each other. But I do think it kind of, it, it doesn't just happen accidentally that your area supports small business.

Definitely. Yeah, and it was kind of funny because when my farmer's market started this summer, the manager, um, put myself and the other baker right next to each other, which

is not super common. I feel like with markets, they usually kind of like spread like booths apart, but It was like actually really cool because now I can Talk to the other

baker about like, okay how did it go bring in all this today and like we can kind of just

laugh about our blunders and You know commiserate

a little bit because sourdough like, is not easy being a vendor is not easy, but we both do well

and it's been really fun because It

could

easily become a weird like competitive thing, but

it's not

That's funny. I wonder if they're like, if market organizers Learn from like, if there's some strategy, cause my organizer often puts a baker next to me too. And it always works out. Um, like if there's some thought behind grouping together,

I'll have to ask her. Yeah.

Yeah, and it definitely helps if you guys are like, complementary Because a lot of people will buy from both,

you know, like oh i'll grab this from them

and the other stuff from

them They're probably just thinking like

things together

Do you and the other baker coordinate at all or do you make any choices to bring products that, you know, she. Doesn't usually bring or do you just do your own thing and it works out?

like,

yeah, I'm not

gonna

like try and sell the same things as you.

We do have a

couple of

things

in common. We both sell

sourdough bread, but

our breads are

actually different. we

use, like, different flours, we do different flavours, um, She has some items

that cater towards, um, more, like,

lower gluten or, like, vegan options, and I kind of have

some other options for

different people.

Um,

Yeah, that's really cool I think that's a concern for a lot of people who are thinking about joining the market that already has a baker and they're not sure if there's enough space to support, but it does seem like if

you observe

the other baker and kind of try to

Differentiate yourself in a way bring Different flavors or different products, , that , most markets can support two bakers.

Definitely.

If it's established and it's well advertised and you've gone and you've seen

that it's, you know, busy, like, you should be good with another baker.

All right. Let's start to kind of wrap up, have a couple of just fun, random questions. Um, just quick

rattle off your

answers. What is your favorite thing to bake?

Oh, man. Uh, strawberry

rhubarb

bake to eat?

Oh,

um, English

muffins.

I could eat them all day. With butter.

Warm right out of the oven. Ideally. Right?.

Yes.

Yes.

So good.

What is one micro bakery tool? Like it's not your bread oven, but a tool that you

can't live without.

Oh,

my bench

scraper.

or whatever that's called.

I need like

10. Use it all

day.

Oh,

I love my bench scraper. It's super fun. Okay. What's one piece of advice that you would give to a micro bakery owner who's just starting out?

Great question.

Only make things that you enjoy making. Um, Because you'll

be making them a

lot. So, yeah,

I've tried different things and I found out I don't really love making bagels, but that's okay. I love making English muffins, so I'm gonna stick with

that,

and

there's

lots of other amazing bakers that can make the

you'll be okay if you

don't do them.

I love that. That's really good advice. Um, okay. Well, for any of our listeners who are not yet following you where can they find you?

Yeah, you can find me on Facebook and Instagram at Delaney Sourdough Tiktok account, Um, called Delaney Sourdough, but I never go on there, but you can follow me anyway.

Um, But yeah, those are the three spots, and then I

also have a website.

Delaney Sourdough everywhere. Love it. It makes it easy. Um, is there anything else as we wrap up that you want to share?

Yeah,

um, this month I'll be releasing my first ebook,

so that'll be fun. Um, yeah, I'm releasing two recipes that I use in

my micro

bakery. Um, along

with the

recipes will be

help with. You know, starting out

with sourdough and getting

the timing and

everything. But um, yeah, this month

I'll be hopefully releasing that. that.

is super exciting. It sounds super valuable. I Will put your information down in the show notes so they can find your website and find you on social and get updates when that's coming. that.

sounds really exciting. All right, Delaney, I have loved our conversation.

thank you.

fun.

Oh, yay.

for

Yeah, super

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