Frequently Asked Questions

How do I buy bread and pastries?

Folk Bread operates primarily as a subscription. Sign up for a month or season long subscription to get a rotating selection of naturally leavened bread each week. See current subscription options here.  Subscriptions pick up on Thursdays at either a West or East side location. 

I occasionally sell at pop-ups or markets as well! Sign up for the newsletter to find out about those.

How can I contact you?

Please email me at hello@folkbread.com

What breads do you sell? How about pastries?

I offer bread subscriptions with two options: Pain au Levain every week or Baker’s Choice - a rotating selection each week. There’s also a Cookie Club susbscription to get two Malted Barley Chocolate Chunk Cookies each week!

Here are all the different types of bread I make:

Pain au Levain

Whole Wheat Levain

Cherry Walnut Sourdough

Sesame Sour

City Rye

Honey & Olive Oil

Oat & Honey

Barley Porridge Bread

And the pastries:

Malted Barley Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Rye Cocoa Brownies

Sourdough English Muffins

Pecan Bars

Molasses Spice Cookies

Oat Cookies

Cardamom Buns

Cinnamon Tahini Babka 

Chocolate Hazelnut Babka

Where are you located?

I bake out of my cottage food certified home kitchen on the Westside of Olympia, WA. We have pick up locations on the East side, West side, Carlyon Neighborhood, Ken Lake Neighborhood and Tumwater Hill. You select your pick up location at checkout!

How do I store bread?

Cut loaves- store in the paper bag or even unwrapped, cut side down on a cutting board. Eat within 3- 4 days.

Uncut loaves- Just keep it in the paper bag if you will eat it in the next 3ish days. Longer than that - freeze it to keep it super fresh. Slice up the whole loaf, put it in a plastic zipper bag and freeze it. When you want some, take out as many slices as you need and toast them straight from the freezer.

Sourdough loaves are going to stay "good" (as in, not spoiled) for a week plus. Steer clear of plastic at room temperature because mold can form in a more sealed container in our humid climate. And please don’t put your bread in the fridge! It will become stale right away. 

Refreshing a loaf that’s gotten a bit hard- wrap the loaf tightly in foil or place in a baking dish with the lid on. Warm in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes until the loaf feels springy again.

What does “naturally leavened” mean?

Natural leavening is the process of rising breads and pastries with the naturally occurring yeasts and beneficial bacteria found in the air all around us. This slow process ferments the grain and makes the nutrients in them more easily digestible. This is commonly called sourdough! I use the term natural leavening because, while the process is the same as sourdough, each bread has a bit different flavor profile and do not all have the classic sourdough tartness.

What ingredients do you use in your baked goods?

My bread is primarily flour, water and salt. All the flour is stone ground and comes from a variety of local mills and farms. The majority comes from Camas Country Mill in the Willamette Valley. I also source from Cairnsprings Mill in the Skagit Valley, Lonesome Whistle Farm, Tuality Plains Great Grains, Moon Family Farms and more! These mills and farms also supply whole grains that I occasionally mill myself on a small home stonemill. 

I use local honey, organic California olive oil, organic cane sugar, organic butter, organic milk, fair trade certified chocolate and cocoa, fair trade certified spices, and local, free range eggs. All nuts and dried fruit are sourced from the Pacific Northwest whenever possible. 

Why stoneground flour?

There are many ways to mill wheat into flour. Grinding between two large stones leaves the grain more intact than any other method currently used. The whole kernel is milled, meaning all of the flavor and nutrients from the grain are present in the flour! And This process produces less heat than other, larger scale milling operations, so those nutrients stay viable for our bodies to digest. More flavor and more nutrition - what’s not to love?

Are your products vegan?

I use animal products in some of my baking. Here is a full list of the items that do not have any animal products in them: 

Pain au Levain

Whole Wheat Levain

Cherry Walnut Sourdough

Sesame Sour

City Rye

Barley Porridge Bread

Molasses Spice Cookies

Sourdough English Muffins

Are your products gluten free?

Nope! I use wheat in everything I make. 

If your question wasn’t answered here, please email me at hello@folkbread.com .