About Mike

Mike Hilburn is a stay at home dad and sourdough home baker turned cottage baker. He lives in Turlock, a small town in California’s Central Valley, with his wife and two young children. His obsession with sourdough started back in 2013 when he and his wife lived in Santa Barbara, California. After re-discovering authentic sourdough at a local cafe, he went home and began the process of creating his own starter from scratch. Self-taught from blogs, books, and YouTube - he's been on a constant quest to make his own “perfect loaf” ever since - documenting his journey on Instagram along the way.  

On Instagram he was surprised to find a vibrant and diverse community of #sourdough home bakers, professionals, authors, bloggers, growers, millers, artists - all with the same passion for sourdough and sharing of information. After connecting with so many from this encouraging sourdough community, in 2018, he decided to start a podcast to tell the stories he wanted to hear (but couldn't find) from the community he found so inspiring. 

In 2020 - motivated by the conversations he was having with bakers from around the world AND the local community he was building through the sharing of bread - Mike opened his own cottage bakery, Mission Bakehouse, to serve his home town.

Press:

Feb 2021 - The Brewed Palate - Meet the Baker Behind the Loaves: Michael Hilburn of The Sourdough Podcast

June 2021 - Good Day Sacramento - Live interview

About The Music

All music on The Sourdough Podcast is composed, performed, and used with permission, by Weston Perry. 

Weston is originally from East Tennessee and previously lived in Memphis for 6 years before moving out to California where his wife, Daley, is from. He learned to play old-time folk, country and blues from his grandfather, "Papa Wolfe." These roots helped form his original music. Weston released his debut EP in 2019, "From the Attic" blending some west coast "surf rock" with his Southern roots. This collection of songs originated right here on the Sourdough Podcast! Head on over to Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, or wherever you stream your music and give him a listen. More to come in 2021 from Weston Perry Music.

For more original music please visit:

Praise for the Sourdough Podcast from around the Instagram Sourdough Community

Thank you to everyone who has been sending me encouraging messages lately about the podcast. It make me so happy to know that people are resonating with and enjoying what I've been working hard to put out there. Here are some inspiring words from our Instagram Sourdough Community about the podcast.

Jeff McCarthy @breadservice

Hello! I just wanted to reach out to you and thank you for the podcast. I just listened to what you’ve done so far on a ten hour car ride. It seems something that the bread community needed. I was particularly inspired by your interviews with Don Guerra and Bonnie Ohara. The ideas they have planted about growing my small business and continuing to integrate it into my family’s lives I’m sure will prove fruitful … Anyway, keep it up! … All the best, see you on Insta!

Nicole @nmuvu Butcher|baker

Good afternoon! Just wanted to pop in to say thank you for your podcast! I just recently started listening to it (found it via Jim Challenger being on it - we are bread buddies) and am thoroughly enjoying hearing the back stories on so many bakers from our Instagram sourdough community. Just wanted to let you know it is very appreciated!

Contact

I want to hear from you!

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