Over the past few years at-home baking and “tradwife” influencers have found an online intersection. But sourdough can go in other ways. 

The Google search term “yeast” hit peak popularity in April 2020 as millions were confined in their homes during the global pandemic. Stuck near their kitchens, many turned to perfecting sourdough starters. 

But with quarantine long gone, sourdough starter has stayed in the culture – to some, as a stand-in for traditional values and to others, a simple newfound hobby. Social media promotes provocative content, amplifying tradwife content within online sourdough spaces.

Influencers such as Nara Smith and Hannah Neeleman (known online as Ballerina Farm) gained traction in 2022, posting content many labeled as “tradwife” material. Smith and Neeleman became popular for their online personas as mothers and wives, making daily meals from scratch with whole ingredients, while amassing millions of followers on their platforms. 

Business owner Sierra Engwer embraces the tradwife label. Enger, a stay-at-home mother to three children, operates her sourdough business, Sourdough by Sierra, from her Oakdale, Minn. home. 

“My husband and children come before the business,” Engwer said over Instagram DMs. “I just see [my business] as a convenient way to also bring in an income while I’m being a stay-at-home mom or tradwife.” 

Making sourdough bread from scratch is a long process, one that takes attentiveness and care, and plenty of time at home in the kitchen. This process is perfectly fitted into tradwife ideals of a nurturing homemaker and conformation to gender roles.

But plenty of bakers have adopted sourdough for other reasons. 

Sandor Katz is an author and “fermentation revivalist” who believes that fermentation is a form of activism. He explains that creating your own food is more sustainable, empowering and fosters independence from the current systems of mass production. 

Sourdough is one of the oldest forms of breadmaking, created long before systemic and industrialized food production. For Katz, sourdough is part of a resistance to those forces. 

Priya Anczarski, an employee at Solomon’s Bakery in Minneapolis said intersections of political ideology within the baking community are tricky when influencers prioritize ideological messaging over baking processes and finished products. In the end, sourdough is about the greatness of the loaf. 

“Craftsmanship could be sidelined by bringing in other ideologies into these spaces,” Anczarski said.