Quincy baker finds healing in sourdough, launches Sweet Lady Jane’s Bakery

Losing childcare in 2023 pushed Lindsey Wellman into a kitchen routine that changed both her days and her work. The Quincy, Illinois, mother of a kindergartener started baking sourdough at home, named her starter Doughly Parton, and eventually turned the project into Sweet Lady Jane’s Bakery, a cottage-license microbakery built around artisan loaves.

Wellman had been baking the project since July 2023, working from her kitchen and treating the process as both therapy and craft. The bakery’s early lineup leaned into the details sourdough regulars care about: traditional loaves, chocolate sourdough, jalapeño cheddar, and, later, pizza crust. She also sold through Hotplate, the ordering platform used by independent bakers and chefs who run lean, local operations without a full storefront.

The public face of the business arrived at Quincy’s first 217 Day event on Feb. 17, 2024, at Quincy Brewing Company, 110 N. Sixth. The event was founded by Golden Collective to celebrate businesses and makers in the 217 area code, and Sweet Lady Jane’s was set to make its debut there in front of a hometown crowd. Quincy Brewing owner Tieraney Craig said the brewery was proud to support the bakery as part of the local small-business community.

That kind of setup matters because it shows how a therapeutic home bake can grow without losing the reasons it started. Wellman did not jump straight into a retail bakery with a big production floor and a complicated staff. She built around a starter she named Doughly Parton, kept the operation small enough to fit her life, and used the cottage-food model to stay close to the work. For sourdough bakers, that balance is familiar: the best systems are the ones you can repeat on a Tuesday afternoon while still keeping the process personal.

Sweet Lady Jane’s later showed up in local directories and social posts as a cottage-certified artisan sourdough bakery in Quincy, with Wellman identified as owner and lead baker. Those listings also pointed to weekly pickups and pop-ups around town, a sign that the business had moved beyond one-off hobby baking and into a steady rhythm. In Quincy, the leap from healing to hustle ran through the oven, the starter jar, and a neighborhood audience that was ready for both.