The Ivy Hill Story
Meet the Baker:
A Professional Chef
and her Home Oven.
A chef by training, I worked my way through the professional food industry in restaurants, corporate, and pastry kitchens and as a private chef before taking the leap into starting a microbakery. Bread holds a special place in my heart. I’m passionate about cooking real food, from scratch, and only serving you what I serve my own family. There’s love in every loaf!
— Kaitlyn
What's Ivy Hill?
The Story of a Name.
Baking is tied to memories of my dad when I was a child. A gentle, quiet man, he came alive when he was in the kitchen. Watching him, learning from him, and cooking beside him is where I first learned the power of food. It was a cherished time together, where we could be silly and vulnerable and happy making food for the people we loved.
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The name Ivy Hill comes from the hillside next to my dad’s house in the foothills of northern California, overlooking a small valley. Ivy covered every square inch of that hill. My sisters and I would play for hours in the ivy — sliding down a zip line that we rigged, climbing beneath the vines, and generally pushing the limits. Ivy Hill is dedicated to my dad, my family, and the creativity and daring adventures we discovered in the leaves.
Sourdough Starter:
The Star of the Show & True Workhorse of Ivy Hill.
Sourdough starter thrives on the healthy microbes it picks up in its environment. It’s why every baker’s sourdough is different — every starter has its own story.
All of my sourdough loaves are naturally leavened using a starter that I fermented from scratch 8 years ago while living in the San Francisco Bay Area. When my family and I moved to New England, I drove cross-country with most of the belongings we didn’t ship — my sourdough starter buckled next to me in the front seat, like the true member of the family it is!
The flavor of my bread is earthy, aromatic, and complex. Each loaf of sourdough takes 2 days to make and is cold fermented slowly over 36 hours, which creates its chewy texture, open crumb, and distinctive taste.