Salt and Stone Bakery

Hi and welcome to Salt and Stone Bakery! My name is McKenna and I’m so glad you’re here. I am a proud catholic wife and mother to two beautiful children. My mission here at Salt and Stone Bakery is not only to provide nourishing and delicious baked goods to my family and community, but to encourage other new home bakers that success and confidence in your kitchen is possible! And more than that, it can be an enjoyable and sanctifying process. The benefits I have seen in my own life from baking and cooking at home have kindled a fire in me to spread the “good news”, as it were, about home cooking.

What’s Next?

Over the next few years our family will be going through some big life changes and I want to take you along with us on that journey! Salt and Stone Bakery will come to life, and hopefully so will our dream of building a homestead in the Pacific Northwest.

Our goal with the micro-bakery is to supply our local community with freshly baked goods. Hopefully, we can provide an affordable and delicious alternative to the ultra-processed foods common in our grocery stores and restaurants. Hand-in-hand with this goal is our desire to foster a strong community. As social media has flourished, our real-life communities seemed to falter. Local businesses failed and big corporations took over. Thus, a large part of our motivation to build Salt and Stone has been influenced by the concepts of “localism”. Let’s bring life back to our local communities and focus on changes we have the ability to make.

As our business grows, we hope to expand in two main ways. First, we would like to build a market garden to provide fresh and local produce for our community and our family. Second, we would like to begin providing in person classes. The benefit of an in-person class environment is to allow people to feel and experience the techniques and products we talk about here on the blog. What does a starter feel like after it’s been fed? How do I know I’ve created enough tension in my dough? In a class environment, we can answer these questions practically. And the bonus? A success in your baking! Sometimes, all we need is a little encouragement.

How I Got Here

Home cooking and healthy living have always been a part of my life but after the birth of my first child, I began looking deeper into the issues with our food system here in the United States. And it all started with formula.

I returned to work four months after my son was born and then the struggles began. My husband and I were both active duty military members, but we served in different branches. Because of this, after my maternity leave was up, I took my 4 month old son and moved to a new town, leaving my husband behind. For several months I kept my head above water by pumping as much as I could stand to provide milk for my son while I was away. But I couldn’t keep up with the demands of my situation and ended up turning to formula to feed him.

I searched high and low, scouring the shelves to find just one baby formula not filled with high-fructose corn syrup and soybean oil. But alas, I could not find one single product that met what I felt like were relatively low standards. Eventually I came across Bobbie Formula; they were stocked only online and were shipped in bulk to my house once a month. But the damage had already been done. My eyes were opened. If we started off even our infants on a steady diet of highly processed “food” and passed it off as the healthiest option, it is really no wonder that our country struggles with so many chronic health issues.

From there, I began my journey in earnest of learning how to make everything I could from scratch. During this process, I have been truly grateful to my mother, who gave me a firm foundation in what we used to call home economics. She taught me to cook, clean, and create. And those skills have made learning in the kitchen on my own seem approachable. However, as I meet more people my I age, I realize this experience was not universal.

So, while I experimented in my kitchen, I also began sharing my food with my community. I brought friends over for home cooked meals, and shared tips and tricks with them. Every chance I got, I tried to convince everyone around me that home cooking was not scary, and that the investment in time was well worth the reward.

Sourdough has been a particular interest for me in the kitchen as well as freshly milled grains. And I have been liberal with my starter. I just love seeing others develop their skills and build up confidence to feed their families with real, whole foods. But what’s even more exciting is seeing how changes in the kitchen impact the rest of their lives and their family’s lives.

Now, as I near the end of my time away from my husband, and we draw closer to our transition back to the Pacific Northwest, I am excited to plan Salt and Stone. Working in the margins with two small children in the kitchen has not been easy, but these last four years have helped me to grow into a better mother and home cook. Rather than keeping these skills to myself, like the servant in the parable, I want to invest my talents in you. Let me share my tips and tricks to help you build up your family with real food.

God Bless You!

-McKenna