Meet Sarah Fraser

Founder of Table Bread Co.

I’m Sarah Fraser, and I’ve been baking bread for the community of Searcy, Arkansas for 7 years.

For me, baking is a familial experience. My mom is an excellent cook and baker, and her food was a significant way she communicated love to her family, and still is. Making bread also became my favorite way to communicate love.

I still remember the very first bread recipe handed down to me — it was from my grandmother when I was in junior high. I also remember using boiling water to activate the yeast and kneading in way too much extra flour because the dough was so sticky — both big no-nos.

The wonderful thing about baking is you learn so much by doing, even if it means making mistakes. As I have taken baking more seriously, I have become less afraid of failure. It has taught me to cultivate my instincts, because there aren’t many hard and fast rules when it comes to bread.

Responsibly Sourced

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Locally Made

Leavening My Life: The Journey of my Sourdough Starter

One of the most common loaves I bake is my sourdough. The culture I use is named Barbara Kingsolver (for those who don’t get the reference), and my journey with bread starts with it. My family and I worked on the southern coast of Tanzania for about five years. On Christmas Eve in 2014 we were called into the immigration office, and told we had seven days to leave or be prosecuted.

I didn’t want anything to happen to my sourdough culture, so I put it in an insulated lunch box with ice packs and fed it right before we left for the airport. My fingers were crossed that no one would notice and make me toss it. Luckily, it made it out with me, and this is still the culture I use today.

This sourdough culture is close to my heart because it literally and symbolically keeps my connection to Tanzania alive. Most of the time, I feel like that experience happened to someone else or on another planet. The experience of living there, learning another language, and making cross-cultural friendships— all this served as a kind of leavening agent for my life.his.

From Hobby to Home-Based Business: More about Table Bread

In 2016, without fully knowing it, I started transitioning from baking bread as a hobby to the business model I use today. I started selling bread subscriptions for a church fundraiser, and loved the process of it and the relationships it helped me build. Thankfully, many of those original subscribers are still monthly customers.

I’ve baked my way through several bread books, read every King Arthur bread-related blog post, and most importantly, I’ve made so many mistakes. I have learned much more from my botched loaves than my good ones.

Today, the Table Bread community is still growing. As I look to the future, I would love to one day build a small commercial bakery behind my house. It’s a big dream, but I’d love to be able to do wholesale baking and to do it all in my backyard. 

And I’m hoping to take advantage of more opportunities to hold pop-up events that spread the word about Table Bread and help enrich the community. Contact me about subscribing or scheduling an event here!

FAQs

  • I was thinking about how sad I felt that bread has been reduced to a ‘carb’ by our diet-crazed culture. Bad bread is definitely bad for you. But good bread made with quality ingredients can be a regular part of a healthy diet. As I thought about this, I thought of the idea of ‘table wine’ as the staple wine one keeps to serve at meals. I believe bread deserves to be treated similarly.

  • Good bread is made with really, really simple ingredients. For example: the sourdough I make is just my Barbara Kingsolver starter, flour, salt, and water. The flour I use most often is King Arthur flour, which is grown and milled in the United States. It’s not bleached, and I love the quality of it. I care a lot about what’s going into my bread because part of my mission is to show that bread really can be healthy and good for you.

  • I do not. Baking gluten-free bread is a different kind of chemistry, and I don’t want to risk cross-contamination in the limited kitchen space I have when I’m also making other, glutenous things.

  • I only deliver within the Searcy, Arkansas area, making stops directly to your door in my little Suzuki Carry Truck, Suki.

  • Yes! I love to make special orders. Contact me here if you are interested in ordering something that is outside of my typical subscription.

  • -How should I cut and store my bread?

    -Why are quality ingredients important?

    -Can bread really be good for you?

    Visit my blog for answers to these questions and more. I upload new posts every month with tips and tricks, recipes, and glimpses into my life and things I’m passionate about!