Bringing in the Dough

Meet Julia Young, the baker with fresh designs on sourdough bread. She founded The Fresh Start Sourdough less than a year ago but like her sourdough culture, it has taken off. She tends to incorporate whatever is in season locally to her loaves, like lavender or blueberries.

“Making sourdough in general is as much an art as it is a science,” says Julia, who enjoys making fancy scoring in the crust. You may also see art on a loaf, which is edible wafer paper that she orders to give loaves fun themes. You’ll see golf designs now and red, white and blue near the Fourth of July.

Julia moved to the area last June, which is where the name “The Fresh Start” comes from. “Every time we move it’s like a fresh start to reinvent myself,” says Julia, who has lived six places in the last eight years. “Being here has been the fresh start our family needed.”

She took up bread-making during one of her husband’s deployments and is proud to say she began her own culture, aka “starter,” from scratch. Crust and believe that’s no easy feat.

When launching the business, she had the goal of selling 10 loaves a week but now she’s close to hitting 100 a week. Even more impressive? She mixes everything by hand.

You can find The Fresh Start Sourdough at Twigg & Co. in Aberdeen, Antiquely Chic in West End, Pinehurst Olive Oil Co. or the Pinehurst Farmer’s Market. Julia also accepts preorders. Want to see more? We bread your mind.