People are looking at food in a new light these days. They are reading food labels and learning about what is in their food.
One food item making a comeback is sourdough. Commercial breads are often made with enriched flours, gums and fillers, with a paragraph of ingredients on the food label. On the other hand, sourdough is made from three simple ingredients: flour, water and salt.
It’s great for your gut microbiome and has a lower glycemic index. During the pandemic, many people were cooking at home and learning to bake sourdough. Then, in October of 2021, New Jersey instituted cottage baking laws. New Jersey is one of the last states to allow residents to make food in their homes rather than in a commercial kitchen and then sell it. There are many restrictions, but it allows many moms to work from home while their children are little.
I’ve been learning and teaching sourdough and, along my journey, I have been meeting many sourdough bakers online and in Atlantic County. Most that I have met have been friendly, open to sharing ideas and their bread stories. I recently met up with three women bakers, each at a different stage in their sourdough journey.
Jillian Walley is the owner of Ruby Moon in Mays Landing, and a former special education middle school teacher who left teaching to be at home with her daughter.
Her journey began when she had a miscarriage. To keep busy, she started reading and watching sourdough videos. Then she began baking bread for her family because she wanted clean ingredients.
Friends and family inspired her to start an Instagram account where she posted a menu and hoped for just one customer; instead, she got 10 orders and it took off from there. Jillian says she still remembers her very first customer.
She is also part of the Motivated Mommies group on Instagram and Facebook. The group enjoys doing Sip and Shop events.
Ruby Moon was offered a last-minute spot at their Sip and Shop at Renault Winery, which put her cottage bakery on the map. She is now their baker and will be at the next Renault Sip and Shop in November.
Jillian sells a variety of sourdough, but says her artisan plain is most popular, along with her chocolate chip sea salt cookies. She uses quality ingredients; even the eggs are from her backyard chickens, who eat organic food.
To succeed as a cottage baker working from your home, you have to be organized and have a weekly schedule. Jillian plans her week to include visits to farmers’ markets for ingredients, preparing ingredients for cookies and granola, and dough days. Also, being a cottage baker means that she handles marketing such as posting on Instagram, shopping, baking and packaging. She wears many hats, but the rewards outweigh the marathon baking days.
In September 2025, she purchased a Simple Bread oven, which has three decks and allows many more loaves to be baked at once, instead of one to two in a Dutch oven.
Jillian says she loves hearing the stories about bread that her customers share with her. She said people are looking for real food with clean ingredients. Customers who were not eating carbs are now regular customers because sourdough digests so well. This was another reason Jillian started Ruby Moon, so her daughters could have fresh, clean food such as blueberry muffins.
She now has the best of both worlds. Her daughters get to eat well, and she enjoys mom life and the bread hustle.
Jillian’s advice to those starting baking is to start small, fine tune and make sure it tastes good and not worry about making pretty-looking loaves. She hopes to one day have a mobile van from which she can sell and deliver fresh loaves.
She describes her bread as three ingredients: flour, water and salt – simple but so good.
Ruby Moon takes preorders and pickup is in Linwood. Visit her Instagram, @Ruby_Moon_Breads, to place your order.
Another option for home bakers is to work out of a commercial kitchen. That is something that Joanna Culmone, an elementary school teacher, progressed to after baking for friends at home in Brigantine with Dutch ovens.
She started Mother Dough two years ago after she took a baking class from a well-known, talented baker and farmer, Melanie Ganzman, of Fluffy Farms, located in Galloway. It started as just baking for friends and family, but soon the class inspired her to find a local commercial kitchen to bake in and to sell her sourdough through Instagram, taking preorders.
As the orders grew, Joanna branched out and purchased a Simply Bread oven. Joanna works baking bread around her full-time teacher schedule, baking on school breaks, weekends and during her off time in the summer.
Her inclusion loaves are popular, along with the classic and mini loaves. She normally offers two flavors a week, such as strawberry white chocolate, jalapeño cheddar, bacon cheddar and chive, which has been a hit. She moved from a local commercial kitchen to finding her own space in town. I have to say it is an adorable space with its distinctive green backsplash kitchen. Who wouldn’t want to spend the day baking there? You can also find Mother Dough at the Brigantine Farmers Market starting in July through August.
She told me that the biggest step in getting started was balancing growth and learning to scale the business while maintaining quality. Her plan for the future is to grow the brand, adding workshops and more specialty flavors.
She describes her bakery as authentic, welcoming and creative. You can find her on Instagram to preorder @motherdoughNJ.
New Jersey offering home bakers a cottage license has been a long time coming. I met Jenna Turner, owner of Smithville Sourdough Co., who is in the midst of getting her license.
A cottage food license entails passing the ServSafe Managers Exam, obtaining a zoning permit and submitting a list of ingredients you intend to sell, along with a license fee.
Jenna works at a veterinary hospital, which is a rewarding job in itself. She also has two children, but made a New Year’s resolution to find something of her own that makes her happy.
In March 2026, she realized she could make her love of baking sourdough into a business. The biggest challenge she has faced is time management with a job and being a mom, but she is making it work.
Jenna started by taking preorders and found the most popular flavors are everything bagel, cheddar and cheddar jalapeño.
Her baking style is more go-with-the-flow than being on a strict schedule and that allows mom time. Since she is baking in Dutch ovens, she has more bake days during the week.
“Taking the lid off the Dutch oven to reveal that freshly baked golden loaf is most rewarding,” she said.
For many moms who get lost in being a mom, it is nice to have your own thing and Jenna has found that thing. Bread baking is something that gives purpose, and it’s also nice when it helps with the bills, she said.
As her business grows, she hopes to expand to a shed for pickups. Her advice for those who are thinking about getting started is, just go for it and do not second-guess yourself.
She describes her bread as bold, customizable and hearty. You can find her for preorders @SmithvilleSourdoughCo. on Instagram.
One thing I have noticed in speaking to sourdough bakers is that they have a lot of heart in what they do and why they do it. Making good quality bread with simple ingredients is what we are getting back to.
Baking sourdough, whether as a business or just for a hobby, has become a community where bakers share recipes, starters and business advice. Give them a follow, try their delicious breads, visit them at farmers markets and you will see for yourself why sourdough is becoming more and more popular.
