Baker in Edwards teaches people to make sourdough bread
Alpen Dough in Edwards is hosting classes that will take you from sourdough starter to tasty samples
Alpen Dough/Courtesy photo
Making your own sourdough bread at home gained popularity during the pandemic. The timing made sense since most people were stuck at home and could focus on sourdough bread starter, the “stretch and fold” process, and tinker with fun flavor combinations. But this trend has stuck around. Many websites like The Kitchn touts the digestive and mental health benefits, TikTok has tons of #sourdough content. Over 1.2 million posts share tips and “crumb shots.” And Taylor Swift has admitted she has been in a “Sour Dough Era” and baking bread and sharing it with her famous friends.
If you’d like to jump on this trend that has turned into more of a mainstream hobby, Alpen Dough can help get you started. Jennifer Rose created Alpen Dough and is hosting beginner dough workshops, delivering bread loaves and doing porch pickup in Edwards.
Rose has a cottage food certificate and is a certified cottage food baker and bakes loaves at home. She also began making sourdough bread during the pandemic and taught herself the process to relieve stress, and it has now grown into a livelihood.
“During a knee surgery recovery in August 2025, with more time on my hands, I started to research how to take my passion for sourdough and bring it to my community. That’s when Alpen Dough was born,” Rose said.
She started testing recipes at scale, learning to bake multiple loaves at once, branding, marketing and then had her first Dough Drop in October of 2025 getting the word out via social media and Next Door. She now has a loyal customer base for her Sunday Dough Drops with pick-ups on Fridays.
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“I typically change my menu bi-weekly and specialize in seasonal variations or fun combos,” Rose said. “Some of my customer favorites are my OG, which is plain sourdough that I offer every week, roasted Colorado green chili and gruyere, chive and white cheddar, French onion, and butter and Icelandic Black Sea salt.”
Although she has no plans to stop baking for others, she wanted to teach people how to bake sourdough bread and create connections that way.
“Sourdough can be intimidating. Looking back on my sourdough journey, there was a lot of mystery, confusion, trial and error, and a lot of loaves that didn’t turn out the way I hoped,” Rose said. “Over time, I figured out how to simplify the process and make it actually work in a real home kitchen, and that’s where these workshops come in. My goal is to take the mystery out of sourdough, help people understand the process, feel confident working with dough, and leave knowing they can actually do this at home.”
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Rose’s workshops will be limited to four people per session. Rose will have all the different steps of the process set up so you can go through the stages during the three-hour, hands-on class.
“We will feed a starter, mix dough, shape a loaf together, bake one in class and then the students will head home with everything they need to keep going, including tools and a step-by-step guide,” Rose said. “And of course, we’ll sit down and enjoy some really good sourdough together.”
Are you ready to learn how to make your own sourdough bread at home? The classes are $175 per person and here’s Rose’s list of what you’ll learn during class and what you’ll need at home to achieve success with sourdough.
What’s included:
- 3-hour hands-on workshop in a small group setting (limited to 4 participants)
- Mix your own dough to take home and shape
- Shape one sourdough loaf in class (ready to proof and bake at home)
- Your own active starter (fed during class) with jar + stir tool
- 2 oval bannetons to proof your loaves in
- Digital scale
- Bench scraper
- Bread lame (scoring tool)
- Step-by-step printed guide
- Sourdough-focused lunch
What to bring:
- A medium mixing bowl (for taking your dough home)
- pen/pencil for taking notes
- An apron (optional)
What you will need at home:
- Dutch oven or similar for baking your loaves
- Parchment paper
Rose said she is excited to offer this workshop because she remembers how intimated she felt when she started learning, and she loves the idea of helping others realize it is approachable, fun and can be less complicated than it seems. She also said it is incredibly rewarding.
“The idea of bringing people together, sharing skills and creating connections through food is really appealing to me and I can’t wait to share this with others.”
To learn more the sourdough making workshops and follow Alpen Dough:
- Instagram: alpen.dough
- Facebook: Alpen Dough Micro Bakery
- Phone: 970-390-1764
