Camas Valley Woman Brings Her Sourdough Memories to Life
Story and photos by Craig Reed
Gretchen Lantz remembers eating bread from artisan bakeries during her childhood years in California’s Mendocino County. Most of the bread had a sourdough base and flavor.
“Sourdough down there was part of life,” she says. “Everybody had a good loaf of sourdough bread in their kitchen.”
Many years later, when Gretchen and her husband, Richie Ralph, were looking to start a small business in Douglas County, the Camas Valley residents literally put their dough on sourdough. In September 2023, the couple began doing the prep work and baking out of their home kitchen. They took their sourdough cookies and loaves of bread to farmers' markets in Roseburg and Coos Bay.
“The first farmers market in Roseburg, we sold out of our brown butter chocolate chip cookies in 35 minutes,” Gretchen says of how fast 100 cookies sold. “The 17 loaves of bread we had were gone not long after that.
“It was an amazing experience. We didn’t know if we could sell anything, and then to see that people wanted it. It didn’t matter if it looked ugly. They wanted it.”
Gretchen says she got her starter sourdough culture from a famous bakery in San Francisco.
For about a year, the couple baked in their home kitchen and took their sourdough creations to the 2 farmers' markets. However, the demand eventually was too much for their home, so they went looking for a brick-and-mortar location where they could increase their production.
Their search was helped by Gretchen’s experience as a Realtor in the area. She had connections to and knowledge of commercial building vacancies. The couple eventually decided on a building off Stephens Street in Roseburg that had previously been home to a Pizza Hut franchise.
Gretchen and Richie now spend long days at Oregon Sourdough Co., prepping, baking, and selling sandwich breads, sweet breads, cinnamon rolls, cookies, peach cobbler, scones, dinner rolls, and pies with sourdough crusts.
For the holiday season, Gretchen is adding even more products to her baking schedule, including pumpkin, chocolate, pecan, and walnut pies; cranberry walnut sourdough bread; and cranberry, pecan, and white chocolate cookies.
“She does a lot of research before putting a recipe together,” Richie says. “The community response has been almost overwhelming. It’s been greater than anything we could have imagined. The community has embraced us.”
Gretchen credits the artisan bakeries she visited as a youth with providing a model to follow now and her mother, Christie Lantz, for mentoring her during baking sessions in her youth.
“From the time I was old enough to stand on a chair at the counter, I baked with Mom,” Gretchen says. “I learned all the basics of baking from Mom, as many people do.”
Gretchen adds that Christie, who now lives in Douglas County, is her best test taster.
“She’s very instrumental in helping me develop new recipes,” she says. “She’s really impressed with the demand from the community for sourdough.
Abigail Hotovec of Roseburg is a weekly customer.
“Their sourdough bread makes my tummy happy,” she says. “This (business) is good for the community. The drive-thru is great for a busy mom with kids.”
Gretchen and Richie share the responsibilities in their business. Gretchen, with the help of a few employees, preps the sourdough and puts together the recipes. Richie operates the oven, works the front counter and the drive-thru window, and does the shopping.
“I do that so Gretchen can focus on production and on research and development,” Richie says.
Gretchen says the peach cobbler is an adaption of a recipe she used to make as a child.
“I’m always trying to make better versions of recipes,” she says. “I want to provide real foods, not mass production of something. The learning curve has been steep on most of these recipes.
“We’ve been very blessed,” she says. “This business has gone very well for us. It’s been interesting to watch it unfold in a positive way."