Celebrating a year in business…

Petite Crumb Bakeshop: Michelle & Audra

Wow… tomorrow marks one whole year since I officially launched Petite Crumb Bakeshop. This first year has been full of growth and milestones; from renovating the kitchen, to selling at the farmers market, to welcoming my mom into the business (which has truly been the greatest gift of all). We are incredibly grateful for the love and support you’ve shown us. Baking and packing your orders, seeing our regulars at the market, and dreaming about what’s ahead has meant more to us than you know.

As much as we plan and prepare, sometimes life has its own timeline and we learn to roll with it. In the coming months, my mom will be having back surgery. While we’re staying positive and confident that this will help her feel much better, it’s important that she takes the time she needs to rest and recover. She will likely need to step away from the business for a few months. Because of this, there will be a few temporary changes. We are unsure if or when we’ll return to the Mountain House Farmers Market this spring. Also the Merced pickups will be paused for a few months. The Tracy Bread Drops will continue twice a month.

I’ll be sure to keep you updated as we move through 2026. For now, we’re choosing to celebrate this first year all the growth, the lessons, and the community that made it possible. None of this would exist without you.

Thank you for supporting our small (but mighty) business.

Business Update

Hello and thank you for visiting my webpage. I started Petite Crumb Bakeshop in January this year. I started out with bake drops for friends and family and then launched my business in February. Well the Monday after the official launch my kitchen flooded. We had a slab leak in our kitchen and because of this we had to temporarily close for almost 3 months! It was a tough 3 months, but I took advantage of the down time and began planning where I would like to see this business go this year. I am back in my beautifully renovated kitchen and I am excited to share that I will begin selling at the Mountain House Farmers Market at the end of this month. Thank you for following my journey and supporting my small business. Also, I just made my first major purchase for the business, a new mixer. After researching I decided to go with the Ankarsrum Original Mixer and I love it! I have been hand mixing all of the bread up to this point, so I am very excited to have some help with a mixer designed to handle bread dough. The business is growing each week and I am excited to take you along with me on this journey. Thank you for supporting my small business!

My Sourdough Bread Journey

To say it was easy, is far from how my experience went when I began making sourdough bread. I have baked for years, and I feel that my skills are very good. I naively thought that it would be so easy to make sourdough bread. Nothing humbled me more than my second loaf. The first loaf I made was surprisingly not too bad. I had an uneven crumb but the overall look was okay and the flavor was good. The second attempt was a horrible disaster. What I know now is that the dough was way under-fermented which lent to a dense brick like loaf. The taste was good, but I knew I had to work on the fermentation and shaping. So that is when I became a bit obsessed, taking notes, planning out my next weekend bake. I can’t say that I figured it out on my own, it took a lot of research and inspiration from amazing micro-bakers online that got me through the first few months of sourdough baking. My favorite micro baker is Macey Merlak of Little Pearl Breads. I purchased both of her e-books and got to work. Her recipes were so easy to follow and through her techniques I was able to learn how to monitor the temperature of the dough. I began to work on my way of shaping my dough and I started to have great success. I bake a high hydration loaf, which can be more challenging to manage in the shaping process but lends to a nice light, moist, spongy crumb and crusty chewy exterior. I was baking 3-5 loaves a week, which was more that we could eat in my household so I started sharing with friends and co-workers. Their high praise and positive feedback made me feel so proud. A few months later, here I am starting my business sharing my bread with my community. I am excited for what is next, I can’t wait to share my journey with you.

First Sourdough Loaf - uneven crumb

2nd Bake - Uneven crumb, super dense and gummy texture

Beautiful airy crumb with amazing texture and taste. My most recent bake.