Behind the Dough: How We Get It All Done

Lately, we've been hearing the same question over and over:

"How do you get it all done?"

The short answer? Systems.

People often imagine a bakery as a place where bread simply goes into the oven and comes out a few hours later. But behind every loaf, every cinnamon roll, and every cookie is a carefully planned rhythm that keeps our family and our business moving together.

Mondays are our biggest baking day, and they start long before the sun comes up.

The alarm goes off at 3:30 a.m. The oven is on before most people are even awake, and by 4:00 a.m. the first loaves are baking. On a typical Monday, we're baking around 80 artisan loaves and 60 sourdough hamburger buns.

While the first rounds are in the oven, I'm filling our Oatmeal Creme Pies with their homemade cream filling. They cooled overnight, and giving them time to settle before packaging makes all the difference.

By 8:00 a.m., four rounds of bread are finished, everyone has eaten breakfast, and our girls are settling into homeschool for the morning.

That's when I begin rolling out roughly 180 cinnamon rolls.

Our nanny arrives, giving me uninterrupted time to focus on baking while knowing our girls are learning and cared for.

By 10:00 a.m., the cinnamon rolls are ready, the last round of bread is nearly finished, and the kitchen has already been cleaned once. While the oven cools slightly, I make icing, print labels, and assemble packaging.

Around lunchtime, I feed the kids before the cinnamon rolls begin baking. Over the next couple of hours they're baked, cooled, glazed, and boxed while I'm simultaneously packaging bread and cookies.

When the girls go down for their afternoon nap, it's time to finish whatever remains—boxing cinnamon rolls, labeling every loaf, packaging cookies, washing every mixing bowl, pan, and utensil, and resetting the kitchen for tomorrow.

Most Mondays wrap up around 4:00 p.m.

Then something important happens.

We stop.

The girls wake up, we vacuum the floors, tidy the kitchen, and spend time together before dinner. After baths and bedtime, we return to work one last time. Jed prepares invoices while I organize delivery totes for each of our retail partners so everything is ready for Tuesday morning.

Then we go to bed.

The next day, we do it all again.

People often ask how we balance family life and running a bakery.

The truth is, I don't know that balance is something you ever fully achieve.

Instead, we've learned to build systems that support both. Family isn't squeezed in after work is finished. Work and family are woven together throughout the day. There are moments for baking, moments for business, and moments when everything stops so we can simply be together.

Every season of life looks different.

Right now, this is our season—a season of raising young children, growing a business we love, and trusting God with both.

It's busy.

It's messy.

It's incredibly rewarding.

And every loaf that leaves our kitchen is the result of a family working together, one system at a time.

Thank you for being part of our story.