Vision & Mission of Mooon Bread

How it came to be, and the numbers to take us to the future~

Dearest Bakers, Aspiring Bakers, and Bread-eaters alike:

Jordan here of Mooon Bread. You may know of this lil operation by way of attending a sourdough workshop, getting some of Dez (my resilient starter of 5+ years), or by getting a slice of bread from me at the Utah Cheese Awards. Or perhaps another bread-inspired path of your own that is still unfolding. No matter the way → welcome!

Mooon Bread came to be quite organically. Every year or so I’d pick a new food project - something I could add to the home menu. Smoothie bowls, Thai curries, okonomiyaki, pizza & calzones, and others. Then in 2018 I was on a quest for the original bread. Real bread. The unadulterated bread. Naturally-fermented bread. Simple bread accessible to people in any age and in any land. With ingredients that I could pronounce and count on one hand.

I knew bread couldn’t be the poison it was being painted as, and that there was more to this story than “gluten is bad” and “carbs are killers”. I was fascinated by what I learned and tasted those first three months. I wanted my bread to be handmade, to be local, to be natural. I wanted it to be perfect and pure. I studied here and there and everywhere, and finally had my first two loaves.

It is a satisfying moment that everybody deserves to experience. I’m on a quest to share this, and the ongoing flavour, nutrition, and canvas that is bread and the neverending world of sourdough with as many homes as I can reach.

The vision of Mooon Bread is:

EVERY HOME IN THE WORLD DESERVES THE ABILITY TO BAKE NATURALLY-LEAVENED BREAD

Good food starts at home. It nourishes all, in all the right ways.

Mooon Bread’s mission:

TEACH 9,999 PEOPLE HOW

I’m not opposed to going door to door.

“Have you heard of bread?”

But really. A few years back I was teaching a sourdough workshop over the winter holidays up in a snow-covered cabin at Sundance. One of the participants was from Austria and commented at the end of class that he had a new-found appreciation for good bread. The beauty and simplicity of good bread he had access to growing up and that was now by and large missing in his life in the states. He and his wife were now empowered to bake their own once back home in Hawaii!

I’ll sell you bread. It’ll probably cost you 5x more than the 30+ ingredient bread you can get at your local market. I sell bread to past students. And I charge them extra. (Not really, but I might). But I want to incentivize them to bake their own if they already know how. But bare minimum, they have the ability. My job is done.

Some past students teach their own classes. Some have ventured into every variation of sourdough possible. They inspire me (and I give them the @mooonbread instagram password for account takeovers - check the highlights).

BUT, any past students of my sourdough workshop can come back and get a refresher in class if they’d like, at no additional cost. I just ask them to be my assistant and to help with the dishes. For real. It is a fun way to extend the learning together and to build community around this art that was almost lost.

When I first learned to bake I was baking every weekend, and sharing much of it out. At first it was two loaves at a time, keeping one for my family, and giving one to a friend or neighbor. Then it was four, keeping one and giving three away. Then it was eight every weekend. Keeping two, and six gifts.

Collection of early Mooon Breads → sourdough boules that helped inspire the name

I set a goal to give away 100 loaves! I was well on my way when people started knocking on my door wanting the recipe. Asking where my bakery was. The first time some had eaten bread for years and it sat great with them! The best flavoured bread they’d ever had, despite growing up in Sicily. I was getting the reaction I always longed for with my music. There was something to this. People started sleeping on my couch and spending the weekend baking with me.

9,999. How to count them?

Initially I was just counting students in the in-person workshop I teach in the mountains near Salt Lake City. I’m getting close to 250 via this most enjoyable and intimate method. A dozen virtual pupils. Counting peeps who come to get starter from me? I’ll need to go back and see if I can track that, but I can at least get in the ballpark. At least 100. I often give them tips and mini-lessons on the porch, followed by various questions by text, etc.

I have been editing footage from four different live classes and a virtual lesson down into one on-demand video course that will allow me to reach thousands more. I’m thinking out loud as I write this, but I’d say it is fair to add them all together.

My mission states teach 9,999, but I’d like to be motivated to continue to provide assistance by way of inspiration or guidance for those looking for it. Bakers will learn how in a variety of ways, and my efforts my often be just a part of that (see quote below). When I share some of Dez to save people a couple of weeks it allows them to start baking immediately with a trusty starter. A shortcut.

I’d also like to count those receiving my thoughts, tips, recipes, discounts, and stories in their email inbox as well. I’m just getting started here, and I know the engaged subscriber count will fluctuate, but I’ll share numbers that are meaningful in regards to this goal of getting naturally-leavened bread in more homes.

I like the number 9. The largest of the single-digits. Three three times. Three is important in that I teach in sets of three, starting with the three key ingredients in sourdough. The three Os in Mooon Bread are a hat tip to them. If we bookend with new moons, then there are 9 phases:

🌑 🌘 🌗 🌖 🌕 🌔 🌓 🌒 🌑

If you set a goal to do 9 reps in the gym, it is likely you can do one more. Read 9 pages?10 will just happen without thinking. If you can sell 9 loaves of bread, the 10th is easy. The 11th is usually doable.

First, let’s do a more open inspirational count, adding up:

• INSPIRED: ~1

• OFFSPRING OF DEZ: ~50

• VIRTUAL STUDENTS: ~12

• EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS: 56

• IN-PERSON STUDENTS: ~250

• ON-DEMAND VIDEO SALES: 0

• TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 51

• FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 145

• INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS: 1,355

With this we’re reaching 1,920 so far. Four years in. 19.2% of the way there. Ha ha. It feels too small and surprisingly big at the same time. We’re being generous with ourselves counting social followers, however, I’m also not counting students of my students, etc.

I’ll soon do a more official tallying of those with a ~ in front, and will eventually focus more on this number of taught directly via the Mooon Bread method I’ve developed. And I may make an algorithm of sorts with weighting based on expected contribution to empowering the various groups in their sourdough journeys.

For now, let’s get the aggregate of the above number to 9,999 in the most meaningful way possible. And that is in the way that allows the 9,999 direct students (in-person, virtual, and on-demand students) to naturally follow.

Okay, this will be fun. Yes, there’s also some double counting of students and email subscribers, but I’ll be dishing out heaps of value by way of this here medium, and anybody who takes the time to engage in multiple channels is engaged enough to spread the word by their own mouths.

Thanks for joining me and Mooon Bread on this journey. We’re in it together.

Let’s go!!

-Jordan

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Sourdough Crêpe Recipe

Have a sourdough starter on hand? And a blender? Here is my 10-minute, six-ingredient sourdough crêpe recipe that leaves a Frenchman asking for more:

Sourdough crêpes by @12kitchens on IG following this recipe.

First tare out your blender jar on a digital scale and set the unit to grams. Then put these six ingredients in:

1. 😋 Hungry #sourdough starter: 250g

2. 🧈 Melted Butter: 54g (1/4 cup or half a stick)

3. 🥚 Eggs: 3

4. 🥛 Milk (almond works great): 60g

5. 🧂 Salt: 3g

6. 🍦 Vanilla: 3g

Blend it up, and pour on a hot pan, and use gravity to evenly distribute it around on the pan. Once most the bubbles pop, flip it over. It cooks fast. Makes 6-9 crêpes, depending on the size. You can store extra batter in the fridge for a few days~

Share out a photo tagging @mooonbread on the platform of your choice (: