Posted on 04/15/2026 3:35:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway
One activity that saw a boom during the pandemic was baking sourdough bread.
This unique cooking process requires a special starter and feeding the mix almost daily to keep it active.
It turns out this fun hobby is still alive and well in New Hampshire.
Dragonfly Dough Co.
Katlynn Wageling makes a variety of sourdough baked products at Creative Chef Kitchens in Derry.
It's a commercial kitchen space where small food businesses can do their kitchen work.
In 2025, she started a small business called Dragonfly Dough Company.
Wageling said sourdough requires extra work.
"It's so much longer, such a bigger process," Wageling said.
The mother of four makes a variety of sourdough breads for customers.
Wageling also decided to make other sourdough products because, she said, "When I had so much 'discard,' I didn't know what to do with it."
Wageling turns that "discard" or leftover bread dough into yummy treats.
One of her biggest sellers is the sourdough cinnamon roll.
She also make sourdough cookies with flavors like double chocolate espresso and chocolate chip.
Wageling chose cookies because, she said, "My husband. He's a big chocolate chip cookie fan."
You can purchase Dragonfly Dough Co. products through their website.
There are pick-up sites in Salem and Derry.
Sourdough Pizzeria
In New Ipswich a local pizza place has jumped on the sourdough craze.
Lisa and Chris Armstrong run Sourdough Pizzeria.
"I was primarily using sourdough and he loves to make pizza. When we combined the two and tasted it, we loved it," Lisa Armstrong said.
This unique location on Turnpike Road is half-retro arcade and half-pizza shop.
"It's a great place for kids. Families can come and hang out," Chris Armstrong said.
The shop serves up New York style pizza.
The couple chose sourdough crusts because they said it retains more nutrients and it's easier to digest.
"So, when you eat a sourdough pizza compared to traditional you just don't get the crash afterwards. You just feel fulfilled, but not over filled," Lisa Armstrong said.
The shop does offer other crust options, but about 90 percent of what they make is sourdough.
"We have people drive 30 minutes to get the pizza. Very flattering, very thankful for that," Chris Armstrong said.
Making sourdough pizzas does require more time to prep, but Lisa Armstrong said the payoff comes with happy customers.
"It's delicious and nutritious. Definitely worth the effort. Definitely worth trying," she said.
Bigfoot Sourdough How about a Sasquatch hunt and bread?
You can find both at Bigfoot Sourdough in Milford.
April Repoza and her daughter Bailey run the the small baking business out of their kitchen after trying sourdough baking as a hobby.
"After a few hundred loaves giving to friends and family, I think you're on to something. This is really really good," Repoza said.
The business name Bigfoot Sourdough came from April Repoza's son (and Bailey's brother), who used to work at the Bigfoot Museum in Maine.
"We try to play on the theme in our posts. Like what are you searching for in the woods today?" Bailey Repoza said.
The Repozas like to find unique ways to use sourdough.
They make anything from King Cakes to pretzels to custom edible bread labels.
"Cookies, brownies, cinnamon rolls," Bailey Repoza said. "There's not anything we make that doesn't have that sourdough in the recipe."
Their unique menu items include Dubai chocolate sourdough bread, a Neapolitan loaf and a bread candle that melts for butter for dipping.
Bigfoot Sourdough can be ordered for porch pick-up. It's also sold at Old Boy's Butcher Shop in Merrimack.
Meantime, the Repozas are always searching for more sourdough recipes.
"New products, new flavors," April Repoza said. "How many things can we try before there is nothing left?"
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Any "crashes" after pizza are usually from the beer that you had along with the pizza.
SF is way ahead of them.
sour dough has an after taste. Good ole Italian...
Rather not eat anything handled in that degenerate cesspool.
What is “SF”?
Pizza crust I get. But cookies?
San Francisco.
Ok, point taken. But sourdough bread has more protein since it uses bread flour. And it only has two ingredients: flour and water.
San Francisco is famous for sourdough bread. According to Wiki, “Sourdough Sam” is the mascot of the SF 49ers.
Oops. Three ingredients: bread flour, water and salt.
But the point is, your body has nothing else to process so you really don’t feel so full.
Luv me some sourdough bread.
ALDI has a good sliced sourdough loaf for a good price (under $4).
https://www.southernliving.com/aldi-sourdough-review-11878321
It has really been putting a dent in my low-carb diet since discovering it a few weeks ago...
Article about some of the oldest starters in the world:
https://www.mydailysourdoughbread.com/oldest-sourdough-starter/
Sourdough doesn’t normally taste sour. That’s usually a symptom of over-proofing (= bad technique). Most commercial sourdough tastes tangy because they add citric acid to make up for the fact that they don’t want to spend all that time allowing it to proof.
There’s a bakery in Hixson/Chattanooga TN that I frequently get sourdough muffins from and I go there mostly for that particular product. They’re amazingly delicious. They ship nationwide too.
Top left of the pic at the top of this page:
You can make sourdough starter using kefir (New England Cheese Making Supplies)
I make a sourdough Italian bread. Partial whole wheat with artisan white flour and powdered bone broth additive. I’m eating some right now dipped in olive oil.
if you look at sourdough ingredient label and it lists anything other than flour water and salt it likely isn’t really sourdough from starter.
many in stores and some bakeries even, are made with vinegar or other acid so they can make it in just a few hours, not traditional 12-24 hour dough fermentation resulting in not much ‘sour’ taste.
Thank you.
I didn’t know if that was South Fresno
Or San Fransisco.
I’m familiar with both places.
Just to add to this; my last boyhood
city was “Paramount”.
There are 5 cities in the USA
named “Paramount”.
How many SF’s are there?
Prior to 1850 all bread was whole grain sourdough.
Just like I make it today.
It’s dense and unglamorous.
With incredible flavors.
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