Thanks Henry for inviting me! I have been doing farmers markets for a little over 20 years, running my cottage bakery for 22 and teaching sourdough for 15. I look forward to learning and helping others on their journey 🫶🏻

If your kitchen is running above 80 degrees right now, everything changes. Your starter is more active. Your dough is fermenting faster. Your bulk fermentation window shrinks. And your proofing schedule from last winter is completely wrong. Here's how to adjust. Feed your starter less frequently or reduce the feeding ratio during peak heat. A starter that normally needs feeding every 12 hours might need it every 6 or 7. Watch the rise, not the clock. Cut your bulk fermentation time by 20 to 30 percent. If you normally do 5 hours at 72 degrees, plan for 3.5 to 4 hours at 85 degrees. You're watching for the same signs (30% rise, bubbles, slightly domed top), just on a faster schedule. For final proof, if your kitchen is over 80 degrees, use the fridge. Cold retard overnight is your friend right now. The dough will tell you when it's ready in the morning. Look for that slight jiggle in the basket. The bread doesn't care about the season. It only cares about temperature and time. You control both. What's your kitchen running today?

I have been baking and doing sourdough for 35 years...selling for a little over 20 years. I have always based my business on having the freshest bakes possible...so everything I sell is never more than about 24 hours old. However, due to some health issues, it is getting harder and less sustainable to bake from 3am friday to 3am saturday for farmers markets. Is there any instance under the sun where it is OK to bake half on thursday and half on friday to sell on Saturday? Like, what things are ok to bake Thursday, still be fresh Saturday and be OK for customers to keep out and freeze by monday or tuesday? For markets I take my sourdough artisan loaves, sandwich loaves, scones, focaccia, cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, dinner rolls, pull apart bread, challah, banana bread, muffins, bagels and English Muffins. For orders I bake the night before or the morning of pickup so that is never an issue. If you read all this, thank you! (Pic just because 😆)

This is @Kim Cochran’s setup from Royal Delights this past Saturday. I want to walk through it, because she’s doing almost everything right and there’s a lot here to learn from. Start with the shape. Most bakers set up one long table and stand behind it like a cashier. That table becomes a wall. Kim went with a U, and that horseshoe pulls people into her space. They slow down, they step in, and once they’re inside they’re browsing instead of walking past. Her cloths drop all the way to the floor and they match. That’s what separates a business from a bake sale. Nobody sees the totes and the backup bins underneath. It’s clean and it’s finished. Her branding repeats. The Royal Delights logo is on both runners and on her signage, same mark every time. When a customer sees the name three times before they’ve said a word, she stops reading as somebody’s mom selling cookies and starts reading as a bakery. The product is tiered. She’s using risers to build height, so everything climbs instead of lying flat. A full, stacked table tells the customer other folks have been buying and there’s plenty to go around. A sparse table says the opposite. Prices are out where people can see them. A lot of customers will walk rather than ask what something costs. Kim took that friction away. One color story, pink and white, right down to the cooler. Even the cold items that have to stay cold got worked into the look instead of fighting it. And her chair’s off to the side, so she can step out and greet somebody instead of being walled in. She also showed up in the rain. That’s its own kind of marketing. When people learn you’re there every Saturday no matter the weather, you become the stop they plan around. The one thing left for Kim is a website, and that’s what we’re building now. The table only sells to the people in front of it. A site is what lets a Saturday customer find her again on Wednesday and order for the following week. That’s how a market table turns into a real bakery with repeat customers.

𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧. 𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. This is the room I built for bakers who are ready to move beyond baking for family and friends. Maybe you're already selling and want to do it better. Maybe you're three months away from your first farmers market. Maybe you're just wondering if any of this is possible for you. It is. And you belong here. 🥖 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 The rhythm here is steady, not loud. Every week you'll see new posts from me and from fellow members across these categories: 🏆 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝘀 - Celebrate sold out markets, first wholesale accounts, pricing victories, and milestones. 🍞 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗕𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 - Share what came out of your oven this week. Beautiful loaves, ugly loaves, and everything in between. ❓ 𝗔𝘀𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝗼𝗺 - Get honest answers from bakers who've already walked the road you're on. 💵 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 & 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 - Learn the numbers behind a profitable home bakery. 🛍️ 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝘆 - Booth setups, packaging ideas, customer stories, and market reports. 📋 𝗖𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱 & 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹 - Plain English guidance to help you understand your state's cottage food laws. 📦 Monthly Market Kit Every month you'll get a brand new Market Kit that includes: ✅ A seasonal bread recipe, fully costed and priced ✅ A print ready product label ✅ A seasonal marketing angle you can use at your table ✅ A one page cottage food law tip Everything is designed so you can put it to work right away. 🎓 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 The Classroom is where you'll find the complete From Oven to Market course. You'll also find step by step walkthroughs for: 🍞 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐨 🛒 Your Storefront Builder. Both are pinned separately for easy access. 🤝 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 Show up the same way you'd show up at a farmers market. Bring the bread. Share a photo. Ask real questions. Tell us what worked. Tell us what didn't. Especially the ugly loaves. The members who participate consistently are almost always the ones who grow the fastest. 🚀 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐃𝐨 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐰 1️⃣ Introduce yourself in the Community feed. Tell us: - What you bake - Whether you're already selling or just getting started - What you're hoping to learn