Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Petersen.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I spent the last 11 years building companies for other people in the cannabis and hemp industry. In December 2025, I was let go from my corporate job. I was burnt out, and I couldn’t bring myself to go back into that field working for someone else again. I didn’t want to keep sacrificing my time and energy for another company that would take advantage of it.
Around the same time, my mother-in-law gifted me her sourdough starter. I’ve always loved baking and am passionate about real ingredients and natural, healthy food. Sourdough is just that. It’s like a plant, I like to say: it needs to be fed, it reacts to its environment, it grows, it dies, it’s alive. I started baking sourdough because I wanted to consume a healthy alternative to the preservative-filled options on the grocery store shelves. As the weeks went on, I kept thinking: if I can build companies for other people, why not build one for myself?
In March, I decided to start my own at-home cottage foods company. I spent every day that month learning about sourdough, testing recipes, and baking. My first big batch of loaves went to my neighbors. I wasn’t trying to sell anything yet, just figuring out how to scale up. They loved the bread and kept asking for more. By the end of April I was off to the races and selling my sourdough goods.
What began as a starter on my counter grew into a small-batch, naturally leavened bakery built on the belief that good bread should be simple, honest, and good for you. I named the business Wheat Ridge BakeHouse because that’s exactly what it is: a bakery run out of my house, in my neighborhood, for my neighbors. That’s been true since those first loaves I handed out on my own street.
Today, Wheat Ridge BakeHouse has a full menu line-up: artisan and sandwich loaves, bagels, focaccia, cookies, crackers, and Brown Butter Maple Cinnamon Rolls. Every menu item is made with clean, recognizable ingredients and a slow fermentation period because real food shouldn’t be complicated or contain ingredients that can harm. I sell through Instagram, my website, and my own driveway pop-up markets on Saturdays. Plus, I’m working on CSA partnerships across the Denver area.
This business isn’t just about bread, or even sourdough. It is about connection. The kind of connection that happens when you hand someone a warm loaf, when a neighbor becomes a friend, when baking for the people I love turns into baking for an entire community. After spending 11 years building other people’s companies, I’m finally building something that’s completely mine: one woman, one starter, and a whole lot of heart, working to bring people together one loaf at a time.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The biggest struggle has been scaling up from baking one or two loaves at a time to now mixing and baking 60 loaves, 48 cinnamon rolls, 120 cookies, 54 squares of focaccia, and 96 bagels in two days with one regular kitchen oven. The days are long, the dough is heavy, and time is crucial. Since sourdough is alive, time management with my limited baking equipment has been a huge learning curve. Each menu item has its own schedule, its own fermentation time needs on the counter and in the fridge. You can’t rush sourdough, and if you mess up, you have to wait for more starter before you can fix it.
Social media has been a struggle too. I hadn’t really used Instagram much before this, and it turns out creating and posting content to get people to buy your product is a whole other job on top of the baking.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Wheat Ridge BakeHouse is a small-batch, home-based sourdough bakery in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. I make naturally leavened breads, bagels, focaccia, cinnamon rolls, cookies, and crackers. I’m known for real, honest ingredients and true slow fermentation with no preservatives and no shortcuts. Every item ferments on its own schedule because that’s what makes sourdough actually good for you. My cheddar green chile sourdough has become my signature, a Colorado twist on a classic loaf, and my Crunchy Bottom Chocolate Chip Cookies are consistently my best seller. I sell goods through my website (www.wheatridgebakehouse.com) and I have pop-up sourdough markets in my driveway at 44th and Carr St. in Wheat Ridge every Saturday!
What sets me apart is that this business is genuinely one woman, one starter, and a lot of heart. No factory, no mass production, just me baking in my own kitchen for my own neighbors. What I’m most proud of, brand-wise, is that I built this without losing sight of why I started: to make food that’s simple and honest, and to build real connection with the people who eat it. I want readers to know Wheat Ridge BakeHouse is a local bakery built on real ingredients and real relationships, bringing people together in a world that seems to drive us apart.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
What I like best about the city, especially my Bel Aire neighborhood, is the community. Wheat Ridge has surprised me over the past couple of months. I’ve met more neighbors in three months through Wheat Ridge BakeHouse than I did in six years of living here before that. The people are incredible: kind, supportive, and genuine. I’m honored and overjoyed to be part of a community with such amazing people.
Pricing:
- Artisan Loaf – $12.50
- Cheddar Green Chile Loaf – $14.00
- Everything Bagels (2pk) – $6.50
- Brown Butter Maple Cinnamon Rolls (2pk) – $10
- Crunchy Bottom Chocolate Chip Cookies (4pk) – $12.00
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wheatridgebakehouse.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wheatridgebakehouse/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wheatridgebakehouse
