All language subtitles for W.E.B.S01E01.WEB.H264-RBB

[Narrator] This is a story
of love and bread.

But mostly bread.

[Amalia] You're in for a treat!

[Narrator] This ancient staple's
always been there for us.

You might even say it
helped make us who we are.

[Artun] Am I
being too romantic?

No.

[Narrator] Travel the world
to experience unique

baking traditions.

Meet the bakers
shaping the conversation.

[Azikiwee Anderson] I
didn't choose the bread life,

the bread life chose me.

[Narrator] And fall in love
with bread all over again.

For those who go
against the grain,

who push the envelope
and keep it weird,

have I got the city for you.

San Francisco's always
drawn forward-thinkers and

innovators, even when
it comes to what we eat.

Nestled between
mountains and ocean.

It's in a region that happens
to include some of the most

fertile farmland and
plant-friendly climate

in the country, and that
means, the best food.

Ooh, fancy.

[Sarah Owens] California
has always, kind of,

been that
land of promise.

I call it the land
of milk and honey.

[Jonathan Kauffman] We have
ready access to the freshest,

the most beautiful food that we
grow here in the United States.

And so the cuisine that's
developed over the past

150 years has really been
allowed to center around

those fresh ingredients.

[Narrator] And few foods could
use that California touch

more than bread,

that sliced and bagged
staple that's longing to

get back to its
naturally leavened roots,

with a baking technique
known as sourdough.

It's a bread renaissance,
unfolding in Bay Area bakeries

big and small.

[Justin Gomez] I think I fell
in love with bread that very

first loaf that I made
at home in a Dutch oven.

Bread is very much a craft.

It's a practice.

This pursuit of the best
possible bread that I could

bake is what
kept me doing this,

over and over and over.

[Narrator] Justin Gomez is a
hobby baker who's embarking

down a bread-lined rabbit hole,

converting his
basement into a bakery.

[Justin Gomez] We had made
pizza one night and there was

a little bit of
leftover pizza dough.

What happens if you take
that dough and you just,

like, throw it into the oven?

And I was like, oh,
uh, let's try it.

And I was learning more
about our food systems,

where bread comes from.

I picked up a couple
of bread cookbooks,

and was reading recipes,

and looking up stuff
on social media,

and following bakers, and
seeing these beautiful loaves.

That's when I just, kind of,
fell in love with naturally

leavened sourdough breads,
because there was just so much

more depth and nuance to
what I understood bread to be.

Sourdough bread
feels like magic.

[Rose Wilde] Sourdough.

It bakes for about 40 minutes
and you have the most beautiful

smelling, huge,
dark, crusty, open,

airy, creamy, incredible
thing in front of you.

[Eric Pallant] This is
a bread that's just,

can be beautiful,
as well as tasty.

[Narrator] But sourdough
isn't one kind of bread.

It's a method for making an
endless variety of loaves.

And it all begins
with a starter.

[Eric Pallant] So a starter
is just another name for a

collection of wild
yeast and wild bacteria,

meaning that they're in
this room that I'm sitting.

We are surrounded by
bacteria and yeast.

My name is Eric Pallant.

I am the author of
Sourdough Culture.

And I'm a baker,
an amateur baker,

but a baker.

If you take flour.

And some water and set
it out on the counter

and wait three days.

The yeast will start to inflate
with carbon dioxide and get

higher and higher.

The bacteria excrete acid so
you can get sourdoughs that

have a yogurt like
flavor or very vinegary.

All of those flavors are
what make a sourdough bread

a sourdough bread.

[Narrator] That process of
teasing life out of flour,

it's called fermentation and
it's what sets sourdough apart

from your standard
store bought loaf.

No wonder some bakers have
publicly declared their

love for their starters.

[Justin Gomez] My sourdough
starter is six years old.

His name is Steve.

Steve is fed meticulously
on a very strict schedule

because you want
to get him happy.

Much like my actual children,
if they don't eat,

they're going to be angry.

Okay.

Allie, mama will buckle you in.

I first started getting into
bread baking when Hudson

was an infant.

[Angela Gomez] Bye, buddy.

Mwah! I love you.

[Justin Gomez] I had a full
time career in education.

But then we kind of came
to this crossroads where

we had another kid on the way.

We were kind of asking, like,
how do we want to function

as a family with two kids?

After two years of
being a hobby baker,

I pulled a license and
officially launched

Humble Bakehouse.

On a bake day, we're baking
anywhere from 60 to

100 loaves out of your house,

which feels kind of crazy,

but it's also so much fun
because it's spread out

and tucked in to these
little parts of several days,

so I can achieve a bake of
100 loaves all around the

kids' schedule and all
around the family life.

[timer beeping]

[Narrator] The secret to making
sourdough is finding the time

for it, time for
the dough to rise,

and the flavors from
fermentation to bloom.

[Rose Wilde] Without time,
we don't have sourdough.

My name is Rose Wilde.

When I was in law school, I
tried my hand at making bread

and I knew this was going
to be the rest of my life.

And I've been making
bread the last 12 years.

I think what's really beautiful
is that in today's world of

rush, rush, rush,
rush, rush, rush,

slowing down to get
flavor can be so rewarding.

[Narrator] For most of us,
finding the time to make our

own bread was a pipedream.

Then came 2020.

[Eric Pallant] So the
pandemic hits and suddenly,

there's something in our
original brains that come back

to the dawn of civilization,
that bread means survival.

[Man] A baking
boom is underway.

[News Anchor] Many of us are
discovering skills we never

knew we had.

[Man] I've made like six
loaves of French bread.

[Eric Pallant] And
while I was in lockdown,

I could have been
working on my sit-ups,

or my crocheting or
any of these things,

but instead, I'm gonna
learn to make bread.

It's a way of saying,
we're gonna survive this.

[water running]

[Azikiwee Anderson] The way
that I've come to see it is,

the pandemic gave me time.

I think a lot of times we
get bat around by the world,

and we end up doing things
because it seems like

it's the right thing to do.

And if you take time and
you pull back a little bit,

you start to really
reevaluate and think like,

"Well, why do I do what I do?

Is it important to me?

[Narrator] This is
Azikiwee Anderson,

but you can call him Z.

His early days in this city
weren't easy but he's rapidly

becoming one of San Francisco's
rising sourdough stars.

On a road to baking destiny

that took some
unexpected detours.

[Azikiwee Anderson] When I tell
people the things I've done in

my life, it sounds
like I'm making it up.

For a major part of my life,

I was a professional
roller blader.

Then I went to culinary school.

I was an
aspiring personal chef.

Fast-forward, the pandemic hit
and some of the parents

in the school that
we're in, were like,

"Why don't we share recipes?

And sending around pictures.

People making a loaf."

And so then the weird part
of my brain locked in like,

"I want to be good at this."

Starting from one loaf a week,
to two loaves a week.

And then it turned into
up to 150 loaves a day.

If you ever want to see what
100 loaves look likes,

this is what it
looks like right here.

Literally like, every flat
surface in our entire house

had bread on it.

No rest for the weary.

See you guys tomorrow!

My wife was like, "Okay.

So I think you've probably
reached the point where maybe

you might consider going
somewhere else," you know.

I feel like I've always been
a person that has big dreams,

you know, big aspirations.

In that little ember, I'm like
trying to fan it the best I can.

How can I keep that going?

[♪ peaceful music]

[Azikiwee Anderson]
On my way to work,

I'd walk by one of oldest and
one of the biggest bakeries

in the entire state.

I'm just looking at
it like, "Oh my God,

I can't believe
what they can do."

When you see 1849,

in some weird way I'm
a part of that now.

[film reel playing]

[Narrator] San Francisco
and sourdough have a history.

Legend has it that the
bread-loving French miners

who rushed in for
California gold in the 1800s

brought a sidekick,
their starters.

[Jonathan Kauffman] The myth
was that the miners, the 49ers,

who went off into
the hills would take

bread dough with them.

[Eric Pallant] Each miner with
their own sourdough starter

that they're
protecting at gunpoint.

We're going to defend this with
our lives to make our own food.

The story lives on, though,
its origins may be suspect.

[Narrator] The Bay Area's
come a long way since then,

but it's still on the
frontier of American bread.

[Celine Underwood] When you
come to visit Point Reyes,

you are really overwhelmed
by the beauty of the area.

We like to call it "The Shire."

There was this cool, hippie
group that moved out in the

60s and 70s.

They settled down,
had their kids.

And so, a lot of my age group,
our parents were those people.

I call them creators or makers.

They wanted an idyllic life.

The idea of opening a
bakery, and sharing it,

it just felt like the right
thing to do

and it felt really special.

[Narrator] Wander 60
miles north of San Francisco,

and you'll find the
tiny town of Point Reyes.

And a magical little
bakery run by Celine Underwood,

a sourdough veteran whose
career is at a crossroads.

[Celine Underwood] Bread baking,

I always felt like it will
always be a part of my life.

Couple more minutes.

But it's a hard job.

If you're a sourdough baker,
it's a 24-hour process.

It's a lifestyle.

I started
Brickmaiden when I was 24.

I had not a dime to my name.

But I had a passion and
I think I gave myself,

like, two weeks
before I was like,

"I'm going to sell my
first loaf of bread."

I really wanted to take my
baking to this fundamental

level of using wood fire.

You really have
to understand it,

and develop a
relationship to it,

and have a schedule with it.

I just remember so many
nights coming in here

to rake out my coals.

I call Brickmaiden
my first child,

because it really is.

It's, like, that demanding.

My second two children
have really, you know,

I'm very unavailable
in a lot of ways because

I'm so tied physically to this
space for long hours at a time.

My bakers on our
biggest bake day,

they get in at 12:30, 1:00 AM
and start the bake then

in order to get everything out.

Did we do three currants today?

[Baker] I think
we only did two.

[Celine Underwood]
Oh, right, right,

because we did all
the currant on one.

The majority of
Brickmaiden's life,

I've been surrounded
by female bakers.

They grew up with me.

We just all became a
really strong family.

They're just very involved in
the work that they're doing,

and they put their jams on,
and they kind of just go for it

for 10 hours.

[Narrator] Celine runs a tightly
choreographed bread ballet.

Her close-knit team
makes everything from

baguettes to pastries.

But the star is her
sourdough sesame levain.

[Celine Underwood] Toasted
sesame seeds are so fragrant,

sourdough bread is so fragrant.

And it's just hearty
but light, and has,

like, a beautiful chewy crumb.

It's so pleasing.

And then, you get to try
it again the next day,

but you're always kind of
chasing it on a certain level.

[Narrator] Sourdough
isn't easy to master,

and every loaf
comes out differently,

which is why this
kind of bread was born.

[Eric Pallant] As Americans
become more industrialized,

we're gonna see food production
follow the production and

mechanization of everything
else around World War II,

when we see a total
transformation in how

bread is made.

[Rose Wilde] We've created
bread to be a filler rather

than something that is
profoundly nourishing.

[Eric Pallant] The 20th
century in America is the

Wonder Breading of America.

♪ Hurrah for the
Wonder Bakers ♪

[Wonder Bread] Ooh!

[Eric Pallant] It's the
homogenization of a variety of

traditions into a single
loaf that looks the same,

feels the same, is
always going to be the same.

By the middle of the century,
nothing could be more American

than Wonder Bread.

[Narrator] But while mainstream
America went all in on

store-bought loaves,
in San Francisco,

a bread counterculture
was on the rise.

[Josey Baker] Sourdough
is intrinsically wild.

It's a combination of
wild yeast and bacteria.

You have to listen
to these organisms,

how it looks, or how it smells,

or how it feels
or how it tastes.

The end goal is a delicious
and beautiful loaf of bread.

[Narrator] Josey Baker,
and yes,

that's seriously his name,
runs The Mill.

A Bay Area Mecca for
the sourdough obsessed.

[Josey Baker] I think what
people envision when they think

of artisan bread is they
picture a free-form loaf

that has some flour
dusted on the top.

I was like, "Why has the
sandwich loaf been, like,

left out of the
artisan bread movement?"

I'm going to make
this style of bread,

and I'm going to
make it in a pan."

I just think it's sort of
funny to call it Wonder Bread.

And it's got the
name Wonder in it.

Who doesn't love
a little wonder?

[Narrator] Josey's the latest
in a long-line of Bay Area

bread disruptors, a
tradition that's rooted

in the radical 60s.

[Jonathan Kauffman] A lot of
the young hippies were really

concerned about all of the
chemicals in their food and

trying to strip all of the
industrialization away

from their diets.

My name's Jonathan Kaufman.

I'm a food historian and a food
journalist who was based in

San Francisco for 25 years.

There was this whole cluster of
movements that were happening

in the Bay Area.

[Narrator] Case in point:
The Diggers,

an anti-establishment theater
troupe that gave away free,

homemade, whole grain
bread to anyone who wanted it.

[Jonathan Kauffman] Digger Bread
was nothing like Wonder Bread.

It was hearty, it had
weight and you had to chew it.

It had flavor.

So that's what made it so
appealing to this generation

who never knew that bread
could be anything else.

The Diggers were very connected
with all of the other political

activist groups that were
happening around the Bay Area.

They were inspired by the
Black Panthers over in Oakland,

the Chicano
movement in the mission.

A lot of the movements
were combining forces.

They would sort of
share ingredients,

they would share equipment.

They were all inspired by
the Civil Rights Movement.

Baking bread was
really a revolutionary act.

It was an anti-capitalist
reclamation of self and

your own power in the world.

[Azikiwee Anderson] Sourdough,
it is power to the people.

Like, you don't have to
be dependent on this

big, huge conglomerate, right?

You don't need someone
else to make it for you.

Like, "Hey, you know, if I
spend the time and energy,

I can feed a lot of people.

I can use my hands and
make a big difference."

[♪ soft rock drumming]

[Azikiwee Anderson] A friend
of a friend had a dilapidated

kitchen in Fisherman's Wharf,
and they were like,

"Test your mettle,
see what you can do."

And it was really,
like, month to month.

I figured if I go there and I
try to see what I can grow it into,

worst case worse
is I just come back and do it at home.

[Baker] Did you get
any sleep last night?

[Azikiwee Anderson] Barely any.

No, I, I went to sleep at
about 1:00 and woke up at 3:00,

and then I went back
to sleep till 4:00,

and then woke up.

No, it's actually, like
adrenaline is a hell of a drug,

you know?

It's my favorite,
it's my drug of choice.

When you tell people that
you work 20 hours a day,

they're like,
"That seems insane.

Why would you do that?"

See, yo.

Maybe I got
Stockholm Syndrome, so.

But when you really
love what you do,

it doesn't feel insane.

Feels good.

Okey-dokey.

My connection to the love of
sourdough bread in particular,

was when we first got
here in San Francisco,

we didn't really
have a place to be.

My family came
here under duress.

My father beat my
mother close to death.

When she got out
of the hospital,

the battered women protection
group put us on a bus and

sent us to San Francisco.

Single mother of three kids.

We basically lived in
the bus station for weeks.

We finally got a place to live.

My mother would make
me hot chocolate with

sourdough bread toast.

And so when I, like,
smell hot chocolate,

when I smell the
sour in sourdough,

it means caring.

It means love.

[Narrator] No matter
how much you love bread,

running a bakery in a big city
like San Francisco could

cost you a lot of dough.

Sorry, had to do it.

That can be a
challenge for humble bakers.

But a piece of California
legislation is making

bread dreams a reality.

[Rose Wilde] The
Cottage Food bakery law,

revolutionized how bread
and so many other things

were made in this state.

This law, which lets you make
items from your home and sell

them directly to the public,
really allowed so many people

to think about making something
they love into something that

could support them.

[Sarah Owens] When
I started baking,

I started out of my kitchen
and it was very easy for me to

start a business because
of a Cottage Food Law.

My name is Sarah Owens.

I'm an author, a baker,
and a horticulturalist.

Every person who operates
under a Cottage Food Law,

has choices about
how they want to grow,

the bread that
they want to make,

and at what scale.

[timer beeping]

[Justin Gomez] I deliver
my bread on a cargo bike.

Usually on delivery day,
there's about 50 plus loaves

that I'm going to deliver
throughout the community.

And it's just one of the most
rewarding things when you pile

all those loaves onto the bike
and your customers are just

going to be so stoked to
have a loaf showing up

just before dinnertime.

-Playing some soccer?
-Yeah.

[Justin Gomez] Right on.
It's good to see you, bud.

I'll see you next time, okay?
Have a good one!

Thanks, Kate!

To me, it's not about how
many loaves you produce,

it's about that actual final
end product that someone is

going to enjoy that
makes you a baker.

See you later!

It's not
necessarily your scale.

It's ultimately how you
have turned that craft into

something more
than just a hobby.

When we think about bread, as
I understood it growing up,

it was a $1.99, $3 bread that
came from the grocery store.

So people are accustomed to
bread just being this super

cheap, super accessible thing.

Have a good one.
Thanks, Bye.

[Shop Owner] Thanks, thanks.
Bye, Justin!

[Justin Gomez] The Bay Area is
absolutely primed to pay

$9 for a loaf of bread.

But to me, it's unfortunate
that it's so expensive because

there's communities outside
of the San Francisco Bay Area

where $9 for a loaf of
bread would feel impossible,

and irrational and silly.

[Sarah Owens] California
is incredibly expensive,

and it's become even more so

since we experienced
the tech boom.

Real estate is
incredibly expensive.

It's part of the reason
why it's difficult to run

a food business.

[Narrator] Ever since
the gold rush days,

San Francisco has been one of
the most expensive cities

on the planet.

Fueled by Silicon Valley's
high incomes,

housing here costs more than
twice the national average.

[Sarah Owens] The challenges of
just being able to produce

raw ingredients in a
state like California,

it's unlike
anywhere else in the US.

[Narrator] So how come
store-bought bread is so cheap?

Turns out, the ultra-processed
wheat that goes into

factory-made bread is
subsidized by the government.

A benefit that's less
available to farmers growing

local, organic grains,

the key ingredient for
many artisan bakers.

[Josey Baker] When we
opened our doors officially,

everything is going better than
I think any of us had planned.

And then, this
article comes out.

The title was, "$4 Toast:

Why the Tech Industry is

Ruining San Francisco."

[machine hissing]

I think it's a valid
critique that our bread is

more expensive than other bread.

But if you compare a loaf of
our Wonder Bread to a loaf of

the mass-produced Wonder Bread,

they're totally different foods.

"If I want my bread
to be less expensive,

where am I going
to compromise?"

[Staff Member] I would say.

It would be all obviously
wholesale prices, which.

[Josey Baker] When it
comes down to it,

I'm not gonna pay my staff less,

I'm not gonna start
using conventional grain.

Oh, my goodness.

[laughing]

I'm proud of, of the work
that we're doing and the,

you know, the way that
we're, we're doing it.

[Justin Gomez] California, in
general, can definitely feel

like a little bit of a bubble.

And by no means is the
San Francisco Bay Area perfect.

But ultimately, what we are
trying to move towards to as

a community are
really more progressive,

inclusive values
for a better world.

[Narrator] It's 6:00 am
on San Francisco's

Fisherman's Wharf,

and Z Anderson is
getting to work,

but for him, baking bread
has become much more

than just a job.

[Azikiwee Anderson] I've
never seen a Black baker.

I'm 40 something years old.

How is it that I've never
seen someone that looks like me

represented in this whole
entire world of baking?

I am very proud to be a person
of color that comes at it a

different way because what
inspires me is different.

During the whole George Floyd
murder and upheaval,

I kind of fell apart.

There was a
month where I, like,

literally cried every
day, every other day.

The act of making bread
actually gave me solace.

[♪ classical music]

All the anger and
the frustration,

it didn't matter when I
was doing that one thing.

[Narrator] When Z
launched his business in 2020,

he called it Rize Up.

[Azikiwee Anderson] That icon
to me means that you basically

are standing up and fighting
against the status quo.

I just see it as
power to the people.

[Narrator] In Z's kitchen,
sourdough is an expression

of that philosophy.

He works with a wild array
of ingredients that draw

inspiration from the
San Francisco melting pot.

From hot peppers, to a purple
tuber called ube that's popular

in Filipino cooking.

Ingredients that infuse
his sourdough with color,

flavor and purpose.

[Azikiwee Anderson]
Living in San Francisco,

we are a multicultural city.

And so, all of those flavors,
like why wouldn't I want to

help represent and use my
platform to show and highlight

these amazing, beautiful
parts of what make us

all cool together?

When people see it,
they're like,

"Wow, you care about us."

"You're spending all
this time and energy,

like, putting into making
something that represents me."

[Narrator] But Z's least
flashy loaf might just be

the most meaningful.

It's a standard white sourdough
called the "Pay It Forward".

When customers buy one, another
gets donated to organizations

helping those in need.

[Shani Anderson]
So many feelings,

heading back to
where it all began.

[Narrator] The GLIDE Foundation
is near and dear to Z

and his sister, Shani.

[Azikiwee Anderson] Part of the
reason that I have a love for

food is when you go
without, and you don't have,

it's much more
important to you.

So the feeding of other
people does feel like love.

Oh, the bread's here.

Because when you're
hungry and someone feeds you,

you feel loved.

[Worker] Like a
home-cooked meal.

You can feel the love,
you know what I'm saying?

-Yeah.
-So that's awesome, man.

[Azikiwee Anderson] Well, when
we, when we first got here,

my mom was a single mom.

We lived in a
battered women shelter.

And for a period of time,
we were homeless.

And so we actually got fed
here, so it, it's like.

[Worker] Seriously?

[Azikiwee Anderson] Yeah. It's
like extra special, you know.

-That's, that's beautiful.
That's a great story, man.

It's like come, it's
coming full circle, man.

[Shani Anderson]
It's so surreal.

[Azikiwee Anderson]
When I go there,

I only feel like one step away.

Like sometimes I do feel
like I have imposter syndrome,

like, like I shouldn't
be exactly where I am.

Like my stars
kind of worked out,

so I want to make sure that I
treat people just the same way

I want to be treated.

And I want to make sure
that if I have a little bit,

I'm going to break off a piece
and give it to someone else

because I want them to
be able to do what I did,

which is change your
stars or make things,

use those negative
things to make you stronger.

[Narrator] Back in Point Reyes,
Celine Underwood is finishing

up another bake
day at Brickmaiden,

a place that's been as much
a home to her as a bakery.

[Celine Underwood] As a
small business owner,

and as that person
who is a perfectionist,

my hands are deep in here.

There's so much invested
in every square inch of

the physical space here.

And there's so many memories
invested in every corner.

I made an apartment upstairs
when I was

pregnant with my second child.

So, it's like both my children,

like it feels like they're
born in this space.

It's a old house, so all the
doors just slam shut with the

wind, or people
stomp up the stairs.

I remember just coming out of
the room so many times just

being like, "Shut up!

I'm trying to put
the baby to sleep."

And they'd be like, "Sorry,"
and, like, tiptoed.

[Rose Wilde] There's something
very romantic about having the

corner store and bread
smells wafting out the door.

But the reality is that it's
an extremely demanding job.

There's a high
burnout rate on a baker.

It can be a real financial
and personal challenge

to take on this job.

[Celine Underwood] From the,
the moment that I made the

decision to open a
bakery and be a baker,

my life became kind of
a slave to a timeframe.

You're doing that
day in and day out,

every day for, you know,
20 plus years.

Baking for me, what made me get
into it in the first place was

the exact opposite.

It was like losing
yourself in the dough,

in the process of the dough.

I don't want to be
confined by that.

Over the years, some really
special staff members

who'd been with me for
seven to 13 years,

their families are like,
"Where are you?

You're gone for 10
hours at a time.

You're not here when
the babies wake up,

you're not here to put
them to bed because

you need to go to sleep."

I've watched them make the
decision time after time to say

like, "This is too
hard on me physically.

I need to rest.

This is, you know, my
family's calling me."

I kind of looked
around and I was like,

"What else do I have to build?"

I need to make that
decision for myself.

[Narrator] After 20 years
as a professional baker,

Celine is making a
monumental decision.

She's selling Brickmaiden.

[Celine Underwood] I've kind of
done what I came here to do.

I'll always be a baker.

I need to give a
little bit back to myself.

[latch clicks]

[Justin Gomez] This is
something that I know brings

joy to other people, but it
also fills me up in such a way

that if I were doing
anything else right now,

I don't know if I would be
excited to get out of bed.

But, "Is this enough?"

What are you doing?
Ready?

"Is this enough for my family?"

Constantly, there is this push
and pull between what work

is perceived as
valid in our society.

How was school today?

[Daughter] Good.

-Good? What did you learn,
anything exciting?

[Daughter] No.

[Justin Gomez] Nothing?

I don't even work
in a real bakery.

I work in a bakery
that's in my house.

[Daughter] I don't want crust.

[Justin Gomez] You
want the crust off?

[Daughter] Uh-hmm.

[Justin Gomez] You know I
worked really hard for this

crust and you don't want it?

Do you want this one?
No crust.

[Angela Gomez] Perfect!

[Justin Gomez] For some
people, it'd be like,

"What? You left your
career to do this?"

[Daughter] Me.

[Angela Gomez] You.

[Justin Gomez] As the kids
are kind of getting older,

and they're going
to go to school,

oftentimes, it comes up
with Angela and I like,

"How long am I
going to do this?

How long does this make sense?

Am I providing for my family
in a way that is sustainable?"

[♪ funky music]

[Narrator] In downtown
San Francisco,

social media bread
friends Justin and Z...

[Azikiwee Anderson]
What's up, dude?

[Narrator] Are meeting in
person for the first time.

[Azikiwee Anderson] How you
doing, brother?

[Justin Gomez] Good to see you.
Good to see you in real life.

[Azikiwee Anderson] Nice to
see you too. In real life.

[Justin Gomez] Not on the gram!

For me as a person of
color in the baking space,

to see a Black baker come
into the scene and was like,

"Hey, like, let's connect,
like, you and I.

Like, how can I help you
in what you're doing?"

[Azikiwee Anderson] The quality
of the bread looks so good.

[Justin Gomez] Oh, thank you.

[Azikiwee Anderson] I only
knew Justin Gomez

as Humble Bakehouse online.

I think the algorithm
brought us together.

Being two people of color in
a predominantly White field,

and just seeing kind of a
reflection of yourself,

it's like, kind of,
"Game recognize game."

When I'm shaping bread, I
got a smile ear to ear.

[Justin Gomez] Yeah.

-Even if I'm late, even if
I didn't get enough sleep,

I get my fix.

I can tell that I've gotten
better because my bad days

are so much better.

[Justin Gomez] Yeah. Yup.

[Azikiwee Anderson] I
feel a part of a club,

where it's like
the waking up early,

the working hard, the
standing on your feet all day,

like, I feel connected,
physically connected to

what I've chosen to do.

And when I watch
other people do it,

like, I just have a
smile, like a nod,

like way to go, you know?

[Narrator] On Mondays.

[Josey Baker] Coming
in with pizza here.

[Narrator] Josey Baker hosts
a community pizza party

at The Mill.

[Josey Baker] What?

[Sarah Owens] I'm a hugger.

[Azikiwee Anderson]
Oh, I'm a hugger, too.

[Justin Gomez] Can you say hi
to Z? This is my friend Z.

-Hi.
-He bakes bread, too.

-She's like, "No."
"I don't know about this guy."

[Josey Baker] All right.

[Azikiwee Anderson]
Oh, that looks good!

[Sarah Owens] I'll borrow some.

[Azikiwee Anderson] I'll be
happy. Thank you.

[Justin Gomez] Very good.

[Azikiwee Anderson] I'm so
glad I didn't miss this!

[Eric Pallant] Bread
is about connectedness.

That sounds grandiose and,
and, and really expansive.

But in so many ways, bread
is about the survival

of a village, of a
community, of a family.

To break bread together
really means more than just,

"Here's a slice of bread,"
"Here's that sandwich."

But it's, it's about we're here
in this together collectively

to move on into the future.

[cheering]

[birds chirping]

[rain]

[Celine Underwood]
Since I left Brickmaiden,

I've been spending a lot
of time with my family.

It's been a, a total joy to,
to be able to do that again.

I can actually bake.

I can actually do the things
that drove me to build this

business in the first place.

I want to just relax, just
go to the beaches out here,

lay in the sun, sit on my
deck, just totally be quiet.

You know, have no agenda,
nothing to do.

[laughing]

Ooh, I could actually
go to bakeries again

and maybe travel.

And, like, I can
do a world tour.

[Azikiwee Anderson]
Good morning, y'all.

[Group] Morning!

[Azikiwee Anderson] I used
to think that when I made

30 loaves in a day,
that it was a huge day.

Now we're doing about
2,000 to 2,500 in a week.

[Worker] Z, what's ETA
on these being baggable?

[Azikiwee Anderson]
Give me one second.

[Worker] Oh, so I shouldn't
be standing around waiting.

[Azikiwee Anderson]
In the last year,

the amount of change.

Do you think we're going
to be ready for the

Ferry Building on Saturday?

[Worker] I think so.

[Azikiwee Anderson] We
were doing one market a week.

We were in 15 to 16 stores.

Now we're in a 5,000
square-foot facility.

We're in six
Farmers Market's a week.

I have, like, 22 employees.

Things have changed so much, I
feel like I'm duct taped to the

front of a rocket ship.

We wanted to be in the
Ferry Building Farmers Market,

which is like the Mount Everest

of San Francisco
food scene markets.

It's where all the chefs go.

I've wanted to be in
there now well over a year.

I'm always going back and forth
because it's so new for me.

A lot of people I
feel like in life,

"Oh, I have to do something,"
and this is, like,

one of the first times
of my entire life where

I feel like I get
to do something.

There's not a lot of fear.

It's just excitement.

I've heard that, too.

[Narrator] Living in a
city that's always

reinventing itself,

baking a bread that
plays by its own rules,

the sourdough life isn't easy.

But every baker charts their
own path and success isn't

one loaf fits all.

[Azikiwee Anderson]
It's not just about,

"Oh, I like fancy bread."

It's like, "I have a cause.

I'm trying to do something
and this something is for the

masses and is for
the greater good.

I just invite everyone into the
room so that we can all

get to know each other.

And what better way to do
that than breaking bread

at a beautiful table
with people that care.