Long Point resident Lauren Nieves-Cook has grown her cottage bakery with small batches and big community support
In the quiet streets of Long Point, the scent of fresh sourdough often drifts from a home where a former banker-turned-baker begins her mornings long before the sun comes up. Eight years ago, Lauren Nieves-Cook moved back to Pasadena, returning to the community she loved as a child. She had lived here until age ten, when her family moved to Severn, but once she had children of her own, she knew exactly where she wanted to raise them. “It’s a great community and I loved the schools,” she said. What she didn’t know then was that Pasadena would also become the birthplace of a business she never planned to create.
Baking, ironically, was never part of her background. Before Lauren’s Loaves existed, she spent a decade working at a bank, then moved into a job with the Department of Defense before becoming a stay-at-home mom. Sourdough, with its notoriously finicky starter and long process, didn’t seem like something she would naturally gravitate toward. But after Christmas last year, once her kids went back to school, she decided on a whim to try making her own starter. It took her nearly three weeks. She almost threw it away. Then one morning she woke up to find it bubbling, alive, and ready – an unexpected triumph that would ultimately change everything for her. “It was bubbly and beautiful,” she remembered. “I always joke that it must have heard me threatening to toss it.”
With her children in school and extra time during the day, Lauren found herself baking more and more, giving loaves to friends and family who insisted her bread was far too good not to sell. That encouragement was enough to nudge her into action. She woke up one morning, sat down with her coffee, and created a Facebook business page “with absolutely no plan in sight.” Within a day she had orders, and within months Lauren’s Loaves had become one of Pasadena’s most beloved cottage bakeries. She still laughs thinking about that first day of orders – how she panicked, convinced no one would want homemade sourdough from a backyard stand.
Though she didn’t grow up with any family bread recipes, she credits her love of the kitchen to her parents – her father, an excellent cook, and her mother, a talented baker of cakes and cupcakes. But bread, she says, is completely different. It’s now the center of her craft, and everything she makes – from muffins to cookies to doughnuts – is built on a sourdough base. The heart of it all is her starter, which she created herself. She’s surprisingly proud of that fact, noting that many bakers purchase starters from others rather than making their own. Customers often ask where she got hers, and their excitement when they learn she made it from scratch means a great deal to her.
A typical baking day begins early, with the careful mixing of dough and a series of stretch-and-folds before the dough rises on the counter. Once it’s shaped and placed in the fridge for a long, cold proof, she turns to other tasks – mixing muffin batter, rolling cookie dough, or prepping whatever customers have ordered that week. Her breads remain her favorite thing to bake. She still feels the same thrill she felt with her first successful loaf. “The excitement when I take the lid off is still the same,” she said. “To see how beautiful it’s risen – it amazes me every time.”
Her menu has grown as her customer base has, with flavors like blueberry lemon, cheddar jalapeño, cinnamon raisin, chocolate orange, and even pepperoni mozzarella sourdough. Seasonal items such as apple cider donuts, pumpkin muffins, and cranberry-orange holiday loaves have become local favorites. She sources most ingredients from big-box stores, but in summer she visits Pasadena farm stands for fresh jalapeños and blueberries. Above all, she values small-batch baking for its consistency and care, which she believes are essential when crafting loaves by hand.
The community response, she says, has been overwhelming in the best way. Word of mouth has driven much of her success, and she speaks about her customers with genuine emotion and gratitude. “I feel incredibly lucky and blessed,” she said. “This community has been so, so supportive.” Most orders come through Facebook messages or by phone, and on weekends her farm stand on Eastern Road opens late morning and stays open until she’s sold out. Customers will often find extra items out there during the week if she has leftovers from orders – complete with an honor-system cash box and a Venmo code for easy payment.
Running a home-based bakery while raising three children hasn’t been without its challenges. Lauren quickly learned the importance of boundaries, something she admits didn’t come naturally at first. She worried about disappointing customers, but setting specific work hours proved essential to avoiding burnout. To her relief, customers always understood. “When you start a business, you want it to do well,” she said. “But you have to take time off.”
Her dreams for the future are modest and practical: a bigger kitchen workspace, continued growth, and the ability to keep serving Pasadena the sourdough creations that now define Lauren’s Loaves. She doesn’t yearn for a storefront – at least not for now. The cottage model suits her life and her family, and she enjoys the flexibility it provides. Running a home bakery has shown her just how disciplined and self-motivated she truly is, especially when the temptations of home life sit just steps from her kitchen. But baking, she says, remains the thing she chooses to focus on because making a product her customers love matters deeply to her.
What she wants most is to express gratitude. “I am so grateful for the Pasadena community,” she said. “You took a small idea of mine and turned it into something I couldn’t have imagined.” And as long as the doors of her cozy Long Point kitchen stay open, Pasadena will have fresh, handcrafted sourdough waiting just down the road.
For those eager to try Lauren’s Loaves, orders can be placed through her Facebook business page or by calling or texting 443-867-6935. The farm stand, located at 171 Eastern Road in Pasadena, is typically open on Saturdays – and some Sundays – between late morning and sellout. Customers are encouraged to include their full name when placing an order, and can stay up to date on weekly offerings through her Facebook page.
