T-L Photos/GAGE VOTA So Simply Sourdough baker and owner Tammy Selick gives a sample of the sourdough bread she’s offering at her holiday pop-up shop.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — A local woman is sweet on an ancient recipe, and she is making it the cornerstone of her new business.

So Simply Sourdough hosted a holiday pop-up shop at the St. Clairsville Area Chamber of Commerce office Friday morning, offering an array of sourdough bread in flavors ranging from jalapeno cheddar to sweet treats such as lemon blueberry crumb.

Baker and owner Tammy Selick just started the business right before Thanksgiving and dove head-first into satisfying customers. She accepts orders through her personal and So Simply Sourdough Facebook and Instagram accounts. She also accepts orders by phone at 216-401-6085.

“I started this business just before Thanksgiving and it’s really taken off,” Selick said.

She added that she plans to launch a monthly subscription box for her customers. The subscription will allow customers to mix and match the sweet and savory sourdoughs.

“I’ll have it rolled out by next Friday. Right now my plain loaves are $10 and my flavored loaves are $14, so it’ll be at a discount. So if you wanted to do two loaves a month, instead of it costing $28 I’m thinking probably $24,” she said. “The more you buy, the more of a discount we’ll do.”

Selick said that she became inspired to create her business through the social media website Tik-Tok.

“It’s kind of funny. I wanted to jump on this sourdough train, and I got a starter and I fed her morning and night for a month and stared at her and was scared to death to bake,” Selick said.

A sourdough starter is a living combination of yeast and warm water with sugar and flour, according to Pillsbury.com. A technique used by ancient Egyptian and Greek bakers, the sourdough was also a staple food product for people settling the American West.

Selick added that the task of baking the sourdough bread for the first time seemed daunting for her. She said she purchased a book that teaches how to bake sourdough bread and learned from that.

“I tried it and it was horrible and I hated it, but I was like, ‘Nope, I’m going to master this,’ and within a week I fell in love and it’s become my thing,” Selick said. “Every morning I get up and I start a batch of it. It’s an all-day process. You’re kneading and working with the dough. It’s almost like a healing process, it’s very calming.”

She added that she fell in love with baking sourdough bread because she believes it gives her the opportunity to be creative as well as giving her time for herself.

Every item So Simply Sourdough offers includes sourdough and has no preservatives.

“I make fresh sourdough and fresh quick breads. Everything I have has sourdough incorporated in it, so it’s gut healthy,” she said. “There’s no preservatives. Everything is natural and organic.”

Friday marked her second pop-up shop and she plans to continue to host more in the foreseeable future.