- December 4, 2025
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While watching a video of British baker Paul Hollywood making sourdough bread, Bekah Allen tried to keep up.
It was her first time making sourdough, and it wasn’t going as well as she had hoped.
She stepped away for a moment, and in that moment, her KitchenAid mixer fell off the counter and onto the ground.
When she finally pulled the loaf out of her Dutch oven, it wasn’t what she was expecting. It only rose about 2 inches.
“I thought it was amazing,” Allen said. “Now I look back on it, and it was hideous. For about a year, I really practiced, practiced and practiced, and my friend said I should look into selling.”
At least 100 loaves later, Allen started Bekah Bakes Bread, an online business selling her sourdough bread and other baked goods.
Now Allen is offering to host sourdough baking classes to spread her joy of baking to others in a new way.
Allen started baking sourdough in 2022 while her family was going through a rough time. She was pregnant with her third child. Her eldest child had a broken arm. Her husband was waiting for surgery to have his appendix removed.
She became past due with her daughter, and her husband went in for surgery two days before she gave birth.
Not long after, her other son had a seizure, and they discovered he had epilepsy.
Allen needed something to de-stress.
She saw one of her friends baking sourdough, and it piqued her interest. After learning more, she thought she would give it a try.
It took her more than a month to create her starter so she could make her first loaf.
“I’m not a baker; I’ve never baked bread in my life,” Allen said. “When I got into it, I made the starter. It took a while because I didn’t know what I was doing. There’s a lot of wrong information online.”
Baking became healing to her.
“It gave me something beyond mom, beyond caretaker,” she said. “It gave me a purpose.”
As she practiced more and felt more confident in her bakes, she gave them to friends and family. She recalled the first loaf she felt was perfect and her mom’s response when she gave it to her. Her mom was not a fan of sourdough bread bought in stores, but after a taste of Allen’s, she was addicted.
It’s the joy on people’s faces that gives her the most reward from her bakes.
After her friend told her she should consider selling her bread, Allen said God told her she needed to spread joy to other people through her baking.
“Baking is like going into grandma’s kitchen; it brings so much joy to people,” she said. “I really feel like it’s part of my ministry, because I’m a strong believer, and it’s part of my ministry to bake. I pray for every bake; I pray that people will feel the love of Jesus wrapped around them.”
To Allen, God is the bread of life. She uses the Bible verse Matthew 13:33 as inspiration.
“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and worked into flour until the whole thing was leavened.”
“As I have learned to work the dough, God has been like the yeast in my life and has worked me into the sourdough world,” Allen said. “People say watch the dough, not the clock, … watch the dough, learn the dough. In the same way, I need to keep my eyes on Jesus, and that has been my whole goal in baking. If I keep my eyes on Jesus and I bake for people, then they might have some joy. I’ve made so many friends and heard so many stories of people and been able to pray for people. That’s why I love baking. It’s not about me.”
Allen said when people receive her bakes, she’s planting a seed of opportunity. It’s an opportunity for her to talk to people she never would have met if she weren’t baking.
If she could, Allen would give away all of her bread, but with the income from her business, she’s able to not only help support her family but also sponsor a child each holiday season through the local nonprofit A Heart to Give.
Baking has taught Allen that much like with anything, practice makes perfect.
“So many people give up on sourdough because they think it’s hard, but it’s really not hard; it’s a skill, and if you practice your skill, you’ll get better,” she said.
She always loved cooking because it isn’t scientific. She could throw ingredients together and make a delicious meal. Baking is precise and meticulous. It made her slow down and enjoy the process and nuances. The only time she adjustments her process is when there are changes in the weather, as that can impact the proof of the bread.
After two years of being in business as Bekah Bakes Bread, Allen has mastered her sourdough recipe. She can look at someone else’s bake and tell whether it’s under-proofed or over-proofed.
She has added other baked goods to her menu, including various flavors of bread, biscotti, various types of chocolate chip cookies, coffee cake, crackers, muffins and English muffins. She uses a discard from her sourdough starter to make her other bakes.
Allen experiments with her bakes, perfecting new recipes and creating new flavors of bread like rosemary garlic or cheddar jalapeño.
Seeing how far she’s come as a baker and in business “feels sometimes too good to be true,” she said.
“If you tasted my bakes prior to sourdough, they were OK, but I definitely overcooked things sometimes with baking; they were never sell-worthy,” Allen said. “Whatever it is in your life, if you dive into it and give it your all, you’re going to succeed. So many people are afraid of failing at something. They might be in the valley, but they give up before the hill. If you’re passionate about it, keep trying, then eventually you’ll get there.”
Two months ago, a client reached out to Allen to see if she would teach a class. Allen found a new joy.
In the class, she built relationships with the participants and they all had fun joking around and learning how to make sourdough. Seeing the participants struggle and not realize how strenuous making the dough can be reminded her of her early days of baking.
Allen still is in contact with the participants, and they send her photos of their finished bakes and share how they’re giving their loaves to others.
“That’s what it’s about, gifting to people and having joy,” she said.
Allen hopes to someday be able to sell her baked goods in farmers markets, but she said that won’t be until her children are older as her family is her No. 1 priority. If her business remains small, she’s content with it.
“I just want to continue to spread joy to people,” she said. “If I stay small forever, that’s OK with me, because I know I’m impacting people. I don’t dream of being this huge bakery owner, but I do hope to impact people.”
