Maiken has swapped sick leave for sourdough and home baking.

An old children's room in Hedensted is fitted out with a refrigerator, oven, and stand mixer.

Maiken Mondrup often sells out. (Photo: © Maiken Mondrup)

After several long periods of sick leave that interrupted her career in professional kitchens, Maiken Mondrup decided during her most recent sick leave to find a new path and open a bakery at home.

- And then I thought that this must be where I should try my hand at making something from home, says Maiken Mondrup.

She now makes a living baking sourdough bread and cakes, which she sells every weekend, turning her utility room into a bakery shop.

And many weekends, she has to report being sold out.

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Works best at home

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During the summer, Maiken Mondrup only baked for people on her street. When demand increased, she set up a business.

Customers come mainly from Hedensted and the surrounding area, but also from Horsens, Juelsminde, and Kolding.

- I'm running at full capacity right now, so I'm hoping to be able to buy another oven so I can bake more, says Maiken Mondrup.

She finds that people buy bread from her because her baked goods are made from scratch without additives, and because they keep better and have more flavour.

And she doesn't mind customers coming to her home at the weekend.

- I simply love the customer contact. When they're here, we also often geek out a bit over sourdough talk. I like that it's a bit old-fashioned and homely, she says.

At the weekend, Maiken Mondrup's utility room becomes a bakery shop. (Photo: © Maiken Mondrup)

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Food as identity

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It's not only in Hedensted that people want to buy bread made from scratch with few ingredients.

So-called micro-bakeries are popping up in several places.

According to Julia Lahme, who is a trend researcher, this is linked to the fact that we increasingly use food to show who we are.

- Just as we buy a cool sweater, we buy the right coffee or the good bread. Then we can use what we eat as part of our identity-building, she says.

That is also why we are willing to pay a little more for a sourdough bread.

- Food has to a great extent become a kind of luxury product for us. We buy good food when we want to show who we are, she says.

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