Ohio bakers flock to heritage sourdough classes in Bellevue

A rural shop in Bellevue has become an unlikely draw for bakers chasing sourdough skills the old-fashioned way. At Cherry City Honey, at 1000 County Road 312, Tami Wiley and her husband, Gary, are packing in students for hands-on heritage classes that focus on starter prep, flour mixing and the kind of bread techniques that once lived in farm kitchens.

Wiley said the shop has offered heritage skill classes for two years now, after customers kept asking for a return to basics. Interest has only grown. A March class on making a sourdough starter from scratch drew about 30 students, the April 8 sourdough bread class drew nearly 30 people, and another sourdough workshop pulled in more than 30 men and women. The class, Sourdough Bread Baking 101 - Heritage Baking Workshop, costs $19.99 and is part of Cherry City Honey’s America 250 workshop series.

The appeal is more than nostalgia. Cherry City Honey describes the workshop as a demonstration-style class in the Honeycomb Classroom that walks students through mixing, folding, shaping, proofing and baking, then sends class materials by email afterward. Students also get access to a private Facebook support group, a setup that gives first-timers a path from the classroom back to their own kitchens. Wiley said she had to research sourdough on her own to learn how to make a starter, and now keeps one of her own named Judy after her late mother, saving a portion every time she bakes.

The classes tap into a deeper baking tradition. Cherry City Honey says the America 250 series is meant to celebrate skills that sustained early American and Ohio farm families, and sourdough fits that story neatly because commercial yeast was not always available. Britannica says sourdough starter cultures contain baker’s yeast and lactic acid bacteria, and that humans have used baker’s yeast for more than 5,000 years.

The renewed rush toward sourdough also shows up well beyond Bellevue. Bake Magazine reported in 2024 that Google Trends showed a 3X resurgence in sourdough searches since the pandemic, while King Arthur Baking Company said bread-flour sales have climbed as home bakers look for control over ingredients, savings and a return to bread made at home. The challenge, experts note, is handling flour safely: the CDC says most flour is raw and can carry germs such as E. coli and Salmonella, which makes proper baking and careful handling essential from starter to finished loaf.