House of Bread: community through baking
House of Bread is a local bakery in San Luis Obispo that offers online and hands-on
baking classes to the community.
House of Bread owner, Sheila McCann, started these baking classes as another form of revenue and a marketing tactic for their baked goods.
“It’s one of those trades that’s best learned by someone showing you,” McCann said. “So you can watch YouTube and you can do all the other stuff, but the reality is, is someone showing you in person is the best form and then helping you with your techniques because it’s more than just following a recipe.”
Every week the classes bake some of House of Breads most popular items including, honey whole wheat bread, sourdough, focaccia, cinnamon rolls and more.
After the class, students get to take home the finished product and many times the dough to bake at home.
“And so you’re working around a big table and everybody is kind of, you know, you get to know people and they all have something in common,” McCann said. “They like to bake. And then we talk about their home baking experiences.”
Hands-on baking classes happen twice a week.
People can take the traditional classes or sip and bake where those over 21 are given drinks.
For San Luis Obispo County resident, Carolyn Crowell, these baking classes were a
great way to figure out what was going wrong when she bakes at home.
“It was a challenge I was looking for, and I want to continue to do it at home because I won’t give up,” Crowell said. “I would have given up at home because the dough didn’t feel right to me. But he encouraged us to just keep working and add a little more flour. And sure enough, it was perfect.”
People can also listen to the podcast, “Baking with House of Bread.”
Once a month listeners can listen to McCann share her baking tips and expertise on all podcast platforms.
What started as a COVID project has now gained over 75,000 listeners.
“This is a darling establishment and I think they have really good vibes and I feel like
they want to bring in community,” Crowell said.
For more information on the baking classes you can visit houseofbread.com.
