About Heather Thomas, That Bread Lady!
Hi, I’m Heather!
I’m a bread and sourdough teacher, recipe developer, cookbook author, former bakery owner, and mom of 5. Welcome to my kitchen! In my more than 30 years of baking experience, I’ve made thousands of loaves of bread, rolls, cinnamon rolls, and more! I love helping others discover the joy of sourdough baking and all kinds of homemade breads. I’m so glad you’re here!
I live in beautiful Arizona. My faith and family are the two most important things to me, with bread coming in a close 3rd!
I spend most of my time in the kitchen – making yummy homemade breads for my family, and developing new and delicious recipes to share with you! If you ask me anything bread-related, you’re in for a long, enthusiastic discussion! Bread making has brought so much joy to my family, and me – I am excited for you to experience that happiness too!
What you’ll find on That Bread Lady
My goal is to simplify bread making for you – it brings me a lot of happiness to see you succeed.
- Recipes: I share my best homemade bread recipes on my blog, as detailed as possible. Learn to bake Sourdough, Non Sourdough Bread, and Baking with Whole Grains. Of course, I love to share lots of yummy homemade baked desserts too!
- Membership: If you’re looking to take your bread making to the next level, I have online bread courses in my Baking Academy membership. It’s a fun baking community that is full of helpful videos. And we bake together once a month in a hands on Zoom class.
- Retreats: I love the way baking connects us. I have hosted many women’s baking retreats, all around the U.S. I’d love to see you at the next one!
I’m passionate about bread making
Some of my earliest memories are of my mom making homemade bread each week. As a young mom, I wanted to continue the tradition and began making bread for my own children. I started making Honey Whole Wheat Bread and soon found out it was not only a healthy way to feed my family, but it became a creative outlet for me too. Eventually I started selling my bread, Homemade Crescent Rolls, and Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls to neighbors and local businesses. And that’s how my home bakery, That Bread Lady was born!
I ran my home bakery for 10 years. With the help of my baking staff, we produced hundreds of baked treats each week. During Thanksgiving week alone, we’d make 1300 DOZEN dinner rolls for my customers! It was crazy, but so much fun!
Eventually my body needed a rest, and I knew it was time to move on. I wanted to keep sharing the joy of homemade bread, so I started my recipe blog. I truly always wanted others to experience the happiness of homemade bread baking in the oven. I started teaching online bread making classes, helping my readers learn the techniques to get the best results! I’m loving sharing my recipes and meeting so many of you through my social media, that I’d otherwise not get to meet.
My favorite bread recipes
I often get asked “What’s your favorite recipe you make?” How could I possibly choose? It’s like picking your favorite child! But…I do love each of my children for different reasons, and so it’s the same with my bread recipes!
Overall Favorite
My overall favorite bread is definitely Homemade Focaccia! It’s so simple, easy, and requires very little shaping and hands on work. Focaccia is versatile – you can top it with so many different herbs or toppings. You can make it savory or sweet, like my Cinnamon Roll Focaccia or Banana Bread Focaccia. But no matter how you make it, it always turns out SO GOOD!
My favorite Sourdough Recipes
Of course, it’s so hard to choose, but the sourdough bread recipes I make the most are my Easy Sourdough Bread and Lemon Blueberry Sourdough Bread. There’s honestly nothing like getting your hands on some dough and creating something so simple, yet beautiful and delicious. I love slicing up the loaf and then keeping them in the freezer for my morning toast! Did you know frozen sliced bread can go straight into the toaster?! If you haven’t made your own sourdough starter yet, I highly recommend it!
My Favorite Dessert Recipes
If you know me, it’s no surprise I love a good cookie and sourdough discard cookies are my favorite kind to make! My Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Sourdough Cookies are so soft, and I love the abundant amount of two kinds of chocolate in each gooey bite! My Sourdough Sugar Cookies come in at a close second…they’re a copycat version of a Swig cookie. They’re so soft, light and taste extra yummy when served cold! I also love a good pastry, and my Apple Crumble Pie is at the very top of my dessert list too! It’s one of my most popular recipes, and for good reason!
Other things I love
I live in Arizona with my large family and love making them delicious things to eat! I have lots of hungry boys that love eating seconds and thirds of Homemade Cinnamon Rolls, toasted Easy Sourdough, French Toast with Homemade Brioche Bread, and so much more! I love spending time with them! I also love to travel, work in the garden, and go on walks (when the weather isn’t too hot), play tennis, and crochet.
As Seen On…
Since I began my recipe website, I have appeared in several cooking segments on Utah’s Studio 5 KSL. My recipes have been featured in Orson Gygi’s, At the Table Guide. I have taught several bread classes at Pinner’s Conference. I have organized and hosted 8, sold-out baking retreats. I have published more than 40 pre-recorded baking classes, teaching thousands to learn to make incredible homemade bread.
My bread making tips
If you want to explore your passion for baking, improve your bread making skills, and enjoy your time in the kitchen, you’re in the right place! I’m so glad you’re here to bake along with me! Baking bread is both scientific and requires some baker’s intuition. Practice as much as you can, and be patient while you’re learning. A few things that helped me:
- Start with an easier recipe like Easy French Bread. Once you feel confident, then move on to more recipes. Baking with instant yeast will be much easier to learn than starting with no knead sourdough bread.
- Weigh your ingredients! Use a kitchen scale to weigh important ingredients like flour and water. It will give you much more accurate results, similar to how the recipes are written.
- Warmer temperatures increase yeast activity. Likewise, colder temperatures slow down the rate of fermentation. Knowing how to adjust for temperature will help you understand how to develop your dough.
- Even if it doesn’t turn out pretty, it almost always tastes good!
- Create bake days. Baking bread is messy and time consuming. Bulk baking in one day saves you time! Make a few batches of bread and freeze what you won’t use within a few days. It’s so nice to have bread on hand when you need it!
- When something doesn’t turn out, choose one thing to change for next time until you figure out what works and what doesn’t
- Enjoy the journey! Making bread is so rewarding in so many ways!
I’m a Baking and Bread Teacher!
I have a baking membership, The Baking Academy, where you get access to over 40 bread and pastry courses, as well as a live baking Zoom class with me each month! If you’re a visual learner and want to make bakery worthy breads and pastries, my baking community is for you! I’d love for you to join us!
My favorite baking tools
I’m a strong believer that using the right tools will help you enjoy baking much more! Here’s my collection of baking essentials, including my affiliate discount codes. I’ve also put many of my favorites in my Amazon Storefront!
Let’s stay in touch!
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