Today we’d like to introduce you to Jane Chase.
Hi Jane, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I have always been guided by the motto “Happy hands, happy life”. I am a creative person and found satisfaction and joy through different outlets over the years such as theatre, music and visual arts. This past year, my older sister and I were baking together (virtually) and we took a deep dive in all things sourdough. The more I learned about working with sourdough cultures, the more interested I became in how to make simple, healthy and beautiful bread. So much to discover and plenty of time at home to learn. Figuring out our “new normal” post-COVID routines, I found myself still completely in love with breadmaking.
The daily baking lessons of practice, patience and humility checked all of my creative boxes. My lifelong daydream of working in a bakery became a reality this summer with the launch of Heart in Hand Bread. I discovered the “menu preorder/pickup” model through the wonderful baking community on Instagram and wanted to see if it could work for me. My amazing network of family and friends all pitched in to help with the website, production, best of all, “research and development”. Currently, my baking week looks like this: I open up my online weekly menu Tuesday-Thursday and customers come by my house for contactless pick up on Saturday afternoon. I literally bake to order and can organize my week around what my customers want. So far, so good.
In its simplest form, making bread is a gift for both the giver and receiver. Every week, I am creating new connections with people who found me online or through a shared loaf from a friend. I am getting to know more of my neighbors in a place I have lived for over twenty years. Saturday pickups are filled with smiles, shared news and laughter. I am humbled knowing what I make in my kitchen will be shared at someone’s table later that day. I feel like a village baker and love building community through my bread. Also, I am mindful of sustainable growth for Heart in Hand Bread while I am working a full-time job. I know there is as much to learn about running a business as there is about making bread but I am in for the long game. Slow and steady. Yes, my hands are happy and, thanks to this new chapter in my life, my heart is full.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Learning how to work with what the sourdough/fermentation baking process needs and the actual time I have (with a full-time job) is my biggest challenge as of now. Improving my workflow, making my production/bake times more efficient and, biggest lesson, accepting help is the only way I think Heart in Hand Bread will be sustainable.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I began my professional life working in theatre as an actor, director and then as a stage manager. I then moved into music and started performing in bands, recording and then toured as a solo artist. After the birth of my third child, I wanted to stay closer to home and started a small arts-based business and sold handmade gifts and consigned work. I became a single parent and started administration work in a private school and then moved to a university setting.
Currently, I am the Executive Assistant and Office Manager at the Office of General Counsel at Johns Hopkins University. I truly love my job and the people I work with. I know my work as a stage manager many years ago is almost identical to the work I do now. Lucky to have landed in such a dynamic work environment and be a part of a strong team of kind and generous colleagues. And yes, I like to bake for these good folks as well!
What was your favorite childhood memory?
Going to YMCA camp every summer-both as a camper and then working as a counselor. Shaped every aspect of my life and will ALWAYS want to go to camp when spring comes around each year. Always.
Contact Info:
- Email: heartinhandbread@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.heartinhandbread.com/
- Instagram: @heartinhandbread
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heartinhandbread
Image Credits
John Waire
Jane Chase
