Meet our starter: a sourdough that's nine years old

Every bakery has a starter with a personality, and ours is Bessie — a bubbly, slightly bossy culture that has been alive in this building since 2017.

We feed her twice a day, every day, including the day the city shut down in 2020 and including our one closed day a week (she gets a long, slow ferment on Mondays instead).

The bread she makes is the 72-hour sourdough on our menu: a three-day process from feeding to loaf, with most of the flavour happening while the dough rests in the cold.

Starter cultures are the closest thing baking has to a family heirloom. When we eventually close this shop, Bessie will go home with someone and keep baking.