It’s been almost 10 years since the last blog post, and what feels like several lifetimes ago. Sour Flour has very much stayed the same, although has also changed as I have through the years. Dulce still lives on, our main bread is still the Sour Flour Loaf, and our other primary bread are our Sour Flour Bagels. Loaves are still $4 (organic, handmade, naturally fermented, high extraction flour), and bagels still $1 (half dozen for $5 and baker’s dozen for $10). We still host the same Sour Flour Workshop at the same price we have for more than a decade.
But 10 years ago we were based at 2937 24th Street, and there are many stories to tell of how we have now ended up at 484 5th Street. Although I often find it hard to write, it also can come naturally if only given time; same could be said for baking. Although 10 years ago Sour Flour was pretty close to my only commitment, I still found it challenging to focus on it and cultivate it to grow. Although it has grown in so many ways, it is also significantly smaller on several fronts than it was then. We have way fewer wholesale customers, fewer classes we run, and less bread we bake. We are still far away from the goal of training 100 SF Bakers, and no where close to baking 1,000 loaves per day. But somehow Sour Flour seems stronger and more capable than ever.
Sour Flour has benefited massively from its community, and especially from its connection to La Victoria. What once started as a community kitchen to work from has now become a major focus and support for the business. And although Sour Flour has remained small, La Victoria has grown and is now better setup for the future than I have seen in the 7 years I have helped to run it.
Between my full time job (in education), my part time job (data visualizations), my doctoral studies (in educational leadership), my daughter (and family), my dog (Dante), and several other things I won’t mention here, it can seem harder than ever to focus on growing Sour Flour. But it remains a passion and a core part of my life, and so I am committed to continuing to work on it. My initial goal of coming back to the website was a promise to an advisor of working to promote our Bread Education classes (which are not only profitable, but highly demanded, and a source of value in many ways). But while I’m at it, I might as well work on other elements of the business, and part of that is communication.
We now have Google Analytics set back up, and this is hopefully the first of many content posts that will be coming online. My interest is bread, but I also have so many interests beyond, and those will seep in here as well. If anyone ever has any questions, bread or otherwise, the Sour Flour Hotline is always open at (415) 509 – 1210, or you can also email danny@sourflour.org. Although I am generally good about responses, I have drifted between overload at times, and so sometimes struggle most with the most important communications. But please feel free to reach out, especially if you are interested in getting involved with Sour Flour in any way.