Top baking brands and sourdough influencers have signed on to support Sourdough Hope, giving bakers a chance to win 100lbs of flour from Bob’s Red Mill, a Challenger Bread Pan, a Thermoworks Thermapen, a starter jar set from Full Proof Baking, seven sourdough cookbooks and more.

Bakers are invited to submit their most hopeful sourdough baking story and a picture of their bread at sourhouse.co/hope to compete for a grand prize worth more than $1000 USD starting April 5th, 2021.

Brooklyn, New York – In 2020, people turned to baking sourdough bread as a way to cope with uncertainty, boredom and isolation. As the promise of an end to the pandemic emerges in 2021, two home bakers have launched a new initiative to discover the most hopeful sourdough baking story in America with the winner receiving more than $1000 (USD) in baking supplies from brands including: Bob’s Red Mill, Challenger Breadwear, Thermoworks, Full Proof Baking, and Jovial Foods. Between April 5th-26th, 2021, Sourhouse invites sourdough bakers to apply to Sourdough Hope by submitting a photo of their most hopeful loaf of sourdough bread, their story at Sourhouse.co/hope.

The winning stories will be selected by Sourhouse’s co-founders Erik Fabian and Jennifer Yoko Olson and then announced on April, 30th, 2021 on the Sourhouse Instagram channel @lifeatSourhouse. In addition to the top prize of being named the “Most Hopeful Sourdough Loaf of 2021”, there are four (4) special recognition award categories including most hopeful sourdough loaves: “That Got Me Through 2020”, “That Came From Far Away or Long Ago”, “That My Family Gave Me” and “That Started My Bakery”. Sourdough baking influencers—including Joy Huang (@joyosity, 57.5k followers) and Jim Challenger (@jimchall, 34.1k followers)—have recorded videos reflecting on the bread at the center of their most hopeful baking stories to inspire bakers to enter Sourdough Hope.

The #sourdoughhope video series will be released beginning April 5th, 2021 on the Sourhouse Instagram channel @lifeatSourhouse. The #sourdoughhope video series will feature stories of bakers founding new businesses after losing jobs to COVID, giving away bread during lockdown, using their bread to raise money for charity, experiencing the pride overcoming technical challenges of sourdough baking, reflections on the sourdough loaf that inspired them to start a bakery and looking at the meaning of making bread for a family.

Sourdough Hope is the first initiative to emerge from the Sourhouse collaboration (sourhouse.co) by two sourdough home bakers, Erik Fabian and Jennifer Yoko Olson. Erik is a former executive at Moleskine and marketing consultant who became a stay-at-home dad due to COVID. Jennifer is an industrial designer whose work has been featured in Design Milk, Core 77 and Fast Company.

Sourhouse is Erik and Jennifer’s COVID side project that began as a series of Zoom conversations about design, storytelling and fermentation during the lockdowns of 2020.

“I baked sourdough bread in 2020 for comfort. Baking fed my family, it gave my day more structure and it motivated me to stay connected with my baker-friends,” says Erik Fabian, Sourhouse co-founder. “I also find sourdough baking is a way to practice hope. Working with wild yeast is alway a surprise, every bake I try my best and hope for a good result. Last year we needed sourdough baking for comfort, right now it feels like we need a bit more sourdough hope.”

“I started baking sourdough bread during the 2020 lockdown and I was astonished to find the wealth of knowledge in the sourdough baking community,” says Jennifer Yoko Olson, Sourhouse co-founder. “We started Sourdough Hope to celebrate the wonderful human beings and unique stories that we know are behind every bake. We look forward to reading and sharing the most hopeful sourdough baking stories from across America.”

Prize Package Grand Prize: The baker who submits the “Most Hopeful Sourdough Story of 2021” will win: ● 1 - Challenger Breadware Pan ($234.95) ● 100 lbs - Flour from Bob's Red Mill ($107.29) ● 4 - Sourdough Baking Cookbooks (including Tartine Bread & Tivoli Road Baker) from Chronicle Books ($110) ● 1 - Set of (2) Starter Jars from Full Proof Baking ($30) ● 1 - Thermoworks Thermapen MK4 ($99) ● 4 -Wood Pulp Proofing Baskets from FLOURSIDE ($107) ● 1 -Wiremonkey UFO “Sourdough Podcast” Lame ($35) ● 1 - Jovial Food gift bundle ($80) ● 3 - Cookbooks by Sarah Owens from Roost Books ($105) ● 1 - 1-Year Premium Membership to Sourdough Mamas from Leavenly ($179.88) The winners in the 4 special recognition categories will win: ● 1 - Challenger Oven Gloves ($22.95) ● 100 lbs - Flour from Bob's Red Mill ($107.29) ● 2 - Sourdough Baking Cookbooks from Chronicle Books ($30) ● 1 - Set of (2) Starter Jars from Full Proof Baking ($30) ● 1 - Thermoworks Dash ($39) ● 1 -Wood Pulp Proofing Baskets from FLOURSIDE ($28) ● 1 -Wiremonkey UFO “Sourdough Podcast” Lame ($35) ● 1 - Einkorn Cookbook from Jovial Food ($18.75) ● 1 - Cookbook by Sarah Owens from Roost Books ($35) ● 1 - Sourdough for Busy Moms Course by Leavenly ($87) Categories Winners will be named for the following categories: ● Most Hopeful Sourdough Story of 2021 ● Special Recognition: The Hopeful Sourdough Loaf That Got Me Through 2020 ● Special Recognition: The Hopeful Sourdough Loaf That Came From Far Away or Long Ago ● Special Recognition: The Hopeful Sourdough Loaf That My Family Gave Me ● Special Recognition: The Hopeful Sourdough Loaf That Started My Bakery

How to submit a sourdough story and picture to the contest.

Sourdough bakers can register for the competition at Sourhouse.co/hope. There is no fee to compete for any prize. Participants must be a legal resident of the 50 United States (including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) and at least eighteen (18) years of age or older. Complete rules for entry can be found at Sourhouse.co/hope.

Timing Applications are now being accepted. Sourdough bakers can apply to compete between April 5th-26th, 2021.

Winners for all categories will be announced on April 30th, 2021 on the Sourhouse Instagram channel @lifeatSourhouse. #SourdoughHope Video Series

To inspire applicants to Sourdough Hope, a series of videos featuring sourdough bakers and their #sourdoughhope stories will be released starting April 5th on the Sourhouse Instagram channel @lifeatSourhouse. #SourdoughHope Stories include: ● A NYC actor who started a bakery to serve his community when Broadway shut down. ● An Arizona mom who lost her job during COVID right after giving birth to a new baby. Her sourdough baking hobby became a business when local firefighters couldn’t get enough of her bread. ● A Chicago businessman who baked and gave away 50+ loaves of sourdough bread a week during the COVID lockdown. ● Two Boston area bloggers and sourdough bakers who support their communities with bread giveaways, fundraising, and helping new bakers overcome the complexities of baking. ● A Colorado mom who figured out how to overcome high altitude baking and the time crunch of having kids so she could bake the bread that came easily to her when living in San Francisco. ● A NYC dad who bakes bread every week for his kids and sees their future in each loaf. ● A NYC designer who became obsessed with baking after her first failure. ● A pastry chef was furloughed in Austin, TX and started the bakery she had put off for years. ● The sourdough bread that inspired a French-immigrant and ex-IT worker to start his now successful bakery in Philadelphia. Featuring videos by: ● Marc-André Basile, The Kettle Black bakery, Philadelphia, PA, @thekettleblackphilly (12.2k followers) ● Jim Challenger, Challenger Breadware, @jimchall (34.1k followers) ● Heather Currier, leavenly.com, @leavenly_ (2k followers) ● Erik Fabian, co-founder of Sourhouse, @lifeatsourhouse ● Joy Huang, cookingofjoy.com, @joyosity (57.5k followers) ● Bailey Ienuso, Bloom, Bread & Bakeshop, Peoria, AZ, @bloombreadandbakeshop ● Max Kumangai, Broadway Actor & Humpday Dough, NYC, @humpdaydough ● Paulina Muratore, @nokneadtoworry (10.5k followers) ● Jennifer Yoko Olson, co-founder of Sourhouse, @lifeatsourhouse ● Camila Velez, dõ bakery, Austin, TX, @do.cvg (2k followers)

About Sourhouse

Sourhouse envisions a world where people gather daily to share homemade sourdough bread and other fermented foods. We design objects that become the center of daily rituals in the kitchen and an expression of their personal identity. We make experiences that create platforms for people to gather, share and learn. Sourhouse is co-founded by a pair of sourdough home bakers: Erik Fabian and Jennifer Yoko Olson.

Learn more at sourhouse.co.

Sponsors & Partners

The competition is made possible by the support of: ● Sourhouse, sourhouse.co ● Bob’s Red Mill, bobsredmill.com ● Challenger Breadware, challengerbreadware.com ● Chronicle Books, chroniclebooks.com ● FLOURSIDE, flourside.com ● Full Proof Baking, starterjar.com ● Leavenly, leavenly.com ● Ritual Fine Foods & Sarah Owens, ritualfinefoods.com ● Roost Books, roostbooks.com ● The Sourdough Podcast, thesourdoughpodcast.com ● Thermoworks, thermoworks.com ● Wiremonkey, wiremonkey.com ● Upright Brand, uprightbrand.me

Embargoed press previews of the campaign videos are available on request.

For more information and interview requests: Erik Fabian (hello@sourhouse.co)

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