Purveying fresh baked, deliciously golden sourdough loaves, scones, cookies and other treats is Hayley Stout’s calling, and the community seems to agree. The Oak Harbor resident’s at-home bakery, Stout Sourdough, has thrived since opening in February, and continues to hold pop-up shops like one this past Saturday.

“It really brings me joy knowing that a loaf of bread feeds another family,” Stout said.

“Stir crazy” and in dire need of a hobby after the birth of her son about two years ago, Stout recalled happening across a sourdough-related TikTok video that gave her an idea.

“I jumped right in and it was like an endless spiral, in a good way,” she added.

Baking sourdough goods was a new endeavor for Stout, however, her passion for culinary endeavors was not. As a kid, she dreamed of one day working as a veterinarian or a chef, and recalled mistakenly overloading a batch of brownies with cooking oil once. Humorously, not all of her family members turned a blind eye.

“My mom was like, ‘Oh these are great, honey,’” she said, “and my sisters were like, ‘These are horrible though.’”

Stout started out baking for family, friends and neighbors before diving headfirst into business ownership. She eventually opened Stout Sourdough as a means to embrace a personal passion.

“I just wanted to find my purpose,” Stout said. “I’m a mom, I’m a wife, but I wanted to find what I wanted to do in this life, and bread was something that made me happy.”

Sourdough, she said, is her bread of choice because it “fascinated” her when she began working with it, and for its potential health benefits. It may help with digestion, she explained.

“You feel a little bit better eating carbs when you eat sourdough,” she added.

Stout Sourdough operates solely out of the Stout family’s own kitchen, where Stout prepares baked goods to sell occasionally at pop-ups held on her front porch which sometimes draw lines, and fulfills individual orders through her website within 48-72 hours.

Stout begins the process of completing online orders feeding her starter with flour and water — so as to prevent the bread becoming acidic — then letting the dough ferment before shaping it and refrigerating overnight. Orders are available for pickup at 2 p.m. so customers can enjoy baked goods fresh out of the oven after baking that morning.

She often follows what she calls “kitchen sink” recipes, borrowing from and tweaking aspects of preexisting recipes from other sourdough bakers. Stout receives plenty of glowing feedback, like praise for the quality of her bread’s texture: not too crispy, not too soft.

”I love getting feedback from the people I bake for and hearing what they do with my bread,” she said. “It makes my day seeing people come to my pop-up and saying nice things. It fills my cup.”

A cottage food permit — meant for non-hazardous food — allows Stout to sell the goods baked in her own home, which she explained gives her a flexible schedule but can make a healthy work-life balance difficult. That is particularly the case with pop-ups; Stout begins baking for them two days in advance, often staying up late and rising early to prepare in time.

Stout Sourdough’s pop-ups often sell out in two hours or less; loaves, of which she makes 30, are normally the first to go.

In the future, Stout plans to improve the Stout Sourdough pop-up shopping experience by converting part of her garage into a small market outfitted with shelves and tables.

Regardless, Stout finds Oak Harbor residents particularly welcoming of small businesses, and hers is no exception. If Stout bakes it, they will come.

“I feel like I’m really blessed with a community on Whidbey,” she said.

Stout sells her fresh baked sourdough loaves, cookies, scones and other treats on her front porch during pop-ups, which tend to sell out in about two hours.

Stout sells her fresh baked sourdough loaves, cookies, scones and other treats on her front porch during pop-ups, which tend to sell out in about two hours.