Building Bonds One Loaf at a Time

by Trinity Gruenberg

trinity@inhnews.com

Julie Mulek has transformed her hobby into a thriving business with the launch of Old Soul Sourdough in Wadena in May. Her bakery offers top-notch sourdough and a variety of other delicious baked goods.

Mulek’s passion for baking began during her time at Hans’ Bakery in Anoka where she started at the counter and eventually moved up to making cookies and baking bread from scratch at Costco, where she honed her bread-rolling skills.

In 2020, after having her fourth daughter with husband Ben, she wanted to make some quality bread. A friend gave her sourdough starter while she was pregnant, which sparked her journey into sourdough baking.

“I didn’t know anything about it,” she said with a laugh, recalling her early attempts.

Confused by the instructions to add flour and water and remove some, she ended up with a moldy starter and had to toss it. Determined to improve, she began researching healthy baking methods.

“I kind of went down a rabbit hole, asking myself if there was a healthy way to bake or if it was just a lie,” she explained.

She discovered that using ingredients like heritage wheat is beneficial due to its gluten and carbohydrate structure as well as its nutrient content. This revelation led her back to sourdough baking

By 2021, Mulek was baking enough sourdough for her family, but they desired a larger property than their Elk River home could offer and wanted to escape the growing population.

They searched for land within a 30-mile radius of Costco in Baxter, where Ben worked, and ended up purchasing a property in Verndale...

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