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Women in Business: Lynn Addis of Daily Bread Sourdough

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2 weeks ago

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Chris Worthy
 |  TALK Greenville

Lynn Addis didn’t intend to become a baker or a teacher, but both roles are filling her days with joy, while also keeping her customers and students well fed. 

It was an accidental – or providential – path to baking hundreds of loaves of sourdough bread each week and teaching others how to do it too. 

“I am gluten intolerant,” Addis says. “I was playing with sourdough just trying to learn it for myself. I had gone eight years with no bread, and then I found out that the fermentation process of sourdough makes it more digestible for some people, so I thought I would try it for myself. And obviously, it worked.” 

A couple of years ago while shopping at Farmacy, a natural market in Easley, Addis was discussing sourdough. An overheard conversation soon resulted in her sourdough starter being sold at the store. Customers were buying the starter, which grows from naturally occurring yeast rather than the addition of baker’s yeast, and then had no idea how to transform it into freshly baked bread. It’s no surprise that Addis was asked to teach them the process. (After passage of a 2022 state law regulating on homemade food, selling starter is no longer allowed in South Carolina, but Addis does give it away to her students.) 

“I said OK, reluctantly at first because I’ve never done anything like that,” she says.  

That first class – and the bread she brought as a sample – was so popular, Addis was soon selling finished loaves. Daily Bread Sourdough artisan and sandwich loaves can now be found at about two dozen locations across the Upstate. She has a team to help, but she eats (literally) and sleeps (figuratively) sourdough.  

“I am perpetually hiring because I’m growing so fast, and it’s hard to keep up,” she says. 

More Women in Business: Lyndsey Hall & Kristen Motte of The Bunny Hive

The bread is vegan and made from organic ingredients. It is no exaggeration to say that it has changed Addis’ life, even aside from the business. After years without it, she savors the simplicity of toast with peanut butter.  

Addis also teaches demonstration and hands-on classes. Her faith guides her business and gives her the strength to get out of her comfort zone. 

“I do bathe everything in prayer – the good and the bad. And I do give all the glory to God for all of it, for how it grew and how it is still growing,” she says. 

Addis continues to be amazed by it all, including the patience she learns from baking.  

“You’ve got to be patient and work through the process,” she says. “I tell people I’m at the mercy of the rise. I don’t get to say when things move forward, the dough does, but I just think it’s astounding that it all comes from flour and water.” 

Learn more at dailybreadsourdough.com.  

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