After baking out of their homes and posting about their journey on social media, Double D Sourdough’s owners opened their storefront on Main Street in Jeffersonville.

Friends and founders Khristine Donovan and Melissa Diehl started Double D Sourdough out of a desire to provide healthier food alternatives for themselves and their families. After having endless conversations about the preservatives and ingredients in store-bought food, they began researching which foods they could make on their own and were easy enough to incorporate into their busy lives. Only one option stuck out to them – sourdough bread.

“We had conversations about how bad the food on the shelves in the grocery store are for you, including mayonnaise, butter, and bread with all of the preservatives. So we said, ‘Let’s try making our own,’” Donovan recalls.

Products for sale at the Jeffersonville store

After having conversations with friends who were already elbow deep in the sourdough craze, Donovan and Diehl were given a sourdough starter. Sourdough starter is a living culture made from flour, water, and a balanced mix of wild yeasts and bacteria that actively ferments, allowing it to be used to leaven and flavor sourdough bread dough by initiating the rising process through natural fermentation. Armed with a sourdough starter, the two friends began baking as often as they could, and their obsession with sourdough only increased.

Donovan began posting about her sourdough journey – both successes and failures – on social media, which quickly garnered attention from community members and followers. Soon enough, she had people commenting asking if they could purchase sourdough loaves from her. Thus, she applied for the proper licensing, began taking orders, and started selling sourdough out of her own house. However, she quickly realized that this wouldn’t be a sustainable setup long-term.

A loaf of bread

“I thought about the winter weather and worried about how people would get to my house. Are they going to dredge through the snow to pick up their bread? What if they can’t get in? What if it freezes? So I looked into a small storefront on Main Street in Jeffersonville and thought, ‘What a great idea to have a pickup area for weekends and make extra loaves for walk-in visitors and foot traffic.’ It never crossed my mind that it could have gone nearly as well as it has so far.”

Inside the Jeffersonville store

On the shelves at the storefront

Currently, Double D Sourdough offers a wide variety of sourdough bread flavors, some of which include blueberry lemon, pesto parmesan, Greek olive and rosemary, and jalapeno cheddar. Also on the menu, you can find sandwich loaves in white, whole wheat, or cinnamon sugar (all of which are great for French toast!), as well as dinner rolls by the dozen and pizza dough.

In addition to sourdough loaves, Double D Sourdough also offers rolls, sourdough starter, and more.

Double D also stocks locally made crafts and home goods on the shelves, some of which include hand-painted dish towels from The Little Garden Co – a company that makes unique, hand-painted crafts inspired by garden flowers – as well as wooden ladles, bowls, dishes, cutting boards, and local maple syrup.

If you’re looking to start your own sourdough-making journey at home, Double D also offers sourdough starters and all of the other necessary ingredients you need to start baking sourdough on your own.

A display of goods in the shop

In the future, Diehl and Donovan plan to add goodies like bagels, pretzels, baguettes, and more to the menu. They also hope to expand the bakery selection and offer all-natural, locally made butter and other accoutrements. In addition to the storefront on Main Street, you can also find Double D Sourdough products on the shelves at the Smith Family Farm Store in Jeffersonville.

Goods for sale at the Jeffersonville shop

“Who knew that people love bread as much as I do? I plan on growing this business little by little, with plans of hiring help, moving into a larger spot, and building a kitchen on the premises,” Donovan shares. “This is something that I absolutely love to do. It’s relaxing to me. And more so, I love being able to feed the community with gut-healthy, all-natural breads.”

Visit Double D Sourdough on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 4886 NY-52 in Jeffersonville or find the brand on Facebook at Double D Sourdough and Instagram @doubled_sourdough_.

Related: 7 Warming Soups to Savor All Winter Long in the Hudson Valley