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Please join me in the Community Bread Fairy Movement!

My first order ready for delivery!

This Bread Fairy website was created in order to invite others who have a passion for making (and of course eating) homemade bread, a love of connecting with new people, and a bit of time on their hands, to join me in making and delivering free homemade bread to their fellow community members who are being negatively impacted by Covid-19.

I will be putting everything you might need on this website to get you started, including the ad I first posted in Front Porch Forum on March 23 which got this joyous project started, a template to keep track of your orders, my two main white and whole wheat recipes (simple sourdough to come!), and a list of basic supplies and ingredients, with some other supplies listed that I just couldn’t do without any more!

Please contact me if you have any questions at maryjane@thebreadfairy.org. I am happy to do all I can to help you spread homemade-bread-love in your community!

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Today is the first day of Bread Deliveries to People in Shelburne!

4 warm loaves of white bread
4 warm loaves of white bread

The Bread fairy post appeared on Shelburne Front Porch Forum yesterday afternoon and we already have deliveries of warm, fresh from the oven white bread going to people in Shelburne.

We have just about 2 months in Shelburne to share bread with our new neighbors. With this great start it looks like we will be able to share quite a bit of “bread love” with folks in Shelburne.

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The Bread Fairy will be Delivering to folks that live in Shelburne Vermont Until May!

We have found a home and are setting down roots in Westford Vermont! We hope to close on the property May 3rd. Until then, we have relocated to Shelburne and want to serve folks in our new area.

Here is the new listing on Shelburne’s Front Porch Forum:

Do you find yourself impatiently waiting for a Covid vaccination and feeling isolated due to your health or other life circumstances, such as the need to self-quarantine? I have been baking and delivering free homemade bread  since Covid began to folks in my local community beginning in Williston, then to Waitsfield in September, and now Shelburne (yes, my husband Steve and I have moved a lot in the past year and just purchased a home in Westford which we will be moving to in May!) If you are curious to read more about my bread-making journey, you can find me at https://thebreadfairy.org/. 

To let me know you are interested, please send me an email by replying to this post and I will call or text when I am on my way to your house (usually within a day or two) and will leave the loaf on your doorstep in a Ziploc bag for contact-less delivery, though I love to say a socially-distanced and masked “hello!” if you’re home. —


Mary Jane

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The Bread Fairy has moved to Waitsfield, VT!

Steve and I moved to the Mad River Valley in August and, until recently, cases of Covid-19 were few in our town. With so many talented bread makers offering their wares at Mehuron’s, the weekly farmer’s market, and our local Tempest bookstore from Rick, it didn’t seem like there was much of a need here for free homemade bread deliveries to people isolated or quarantined by Covid. With the numbers significantly rising in the past month or so, we decided to fire up the bread ovens and once again advertised in Front Porch Forum:

My husband Steve and I recently moved here from Williston, where in March we began making and delivering homemade loaves of bread for people who were isolated or in quarantine due to Covid. We created a website called “The Bread Fairy” in which we provided recipes, videos, and instructions for others who might want to start a similar venture in their community. One of my customers, Dawna Pederzani, named me “The Bread Fairy” on Front Porch Forum and recently published a delightful illustrated children’s book of the same name about her family’s experience during Covid. (Please see next post for more about Dawna’s book.)

Sadly, Covid is on the rise here in the Mad River Valley. We want to begin making and delivering bread for those of you who cannot leave your house due to isolation or quarantine… Please copy and paste the following link to place your order: …

Since the posting went up on Friday, we have happily made and delivered several loaves of free bread and have received so many kind messages from townspeople who’ve read the post, with one even offering me a gas fill-up at his store to offset the cost of deliveries (thank you Troy)! It is heartwarming to have landed in such a caring community.

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“The Bread Fairy” Book by Dawna Pederzani: On sale Now!

The Bread Fairy

by Dawna Pederzani Illustrated by Kate Cahill Vansuch

About the Book

This treachery called Covid 19, a deadly virus, a pandemic has risen from it’s sleep, a voracious beast and is devouring all that we know to be our normal. People are afraid, sad, lonely and confused. There is little to be hopeful about or thankful for. That is until one lady with an idea born of caring for others and their well-being, reaches out through a public forum. Her idea is primal really. Everyone needs food. Food is a connection, a binder of experience. And so the “Bread Fairy” is born.

About the Author

Dawna is a lover of animals, an artist and writer living in Vermont. She is a tireless advocate for children with special needs including her own and the ones whom she has fostered over the past thirty years. Dawna operates two non-profit dog rescues with the help of some loving and dedicated volunteers. Together they rescue, rehabilitate and rehome hundreds of neglected, abandoned and abused dogs from many parts of the United States. She lives in Vermont with her two children who have overcome enormous obstacles to become their full and creative selves, as well as Peter, Lulubelle and Buttercup her three English Bulldogs..

Purchase Book

Contact Dawna for purchase at staurolitefarm@aol.com and mention “book order” in memo line. Hardcover retails for $28.99 She can sell for $25.90 plus media postage. Soft cover retails for $20.99. She can sell it for $18.99 plus media postage. The book can also be found at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Authorhouse.

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Make Two: Share One/Eat One!

Two loaves of cooling Sourdough Peasant Beer Bread

While many of you are reading this website to learn how to make bread simply for yourself, family and friends and don’t intend to become “Bread Fairies”, it is so easy to share the bread-making love! Every batch in these recipes makes two loaves. So just think about anyone in your life, a neighbor, a friend, or a colleague who you think would love a homemade loaf of bread and give them other one!

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Getting Started with Sourdough Starter

I posted in our local online Front Porch Forum asking people to let me know if they would like free sourdough starter. I have had wonderful responses and it is clear from quite a few that they are new to working with sourdough, and some are new to bread baking at all! I am delighted to get people started and want to be clear that I only started making sourdough when new Front Porch Forum friends Kathleen and Jamie shared some of their starter with me a month ago! The pictures speak for themselves (along with the extra pounds I am trying to keep off – No picture of that!)

So airy!
My first three sourdough boules baked in the dutch oven.

In case you aren’t very familiar with sourdough, I wanted to share a couple of tips to get you started. These directions begin with an established sourdough starter. Go to the Simple Sourdough Starter website for making sourdough starter from scratch.

  1. Transfer established sourdough starter to a quart mason jar.
  2. Mix it with ½ cup of water and 1 cup of all-purpose white flour. Stir until smooth and thick like peanut butter. Put a rubber band around the top of the starter so you can see how much it rises.
  3. Let it rise on your counter until at least doubled in size, typically 4-6 hours. The starter should now be twice as high as the rubber band.
  4. Skip to Step 6 in the Simple Sourdough Starter website  – DO THE FLOAT TEST. (This has been my go-to website to learn how to work with sourdough starter.)
  5. If you’re an experienced sourdough baker, you are ready to go! You should have 1 1/2 cups of starter to use in your recipe. If you need more, repeat steps 2-4 until you have enough.
  6. If you are new to baking bread, watch my video for making no-knead bread and follow the recipe for No-Knead Sourdough Bread.
  7. Email me at maryjane@thebreadfairy.org if after reading all the resources, you’re still unclear about something. I’m certainly not an expert and I’m happy to share what I’ve learned so far making bread, including sourdough, for my family, friends, and Bread Fairy “customers”!

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Questions and Answers

I added a page called “Questions and Answers” where I will post questions I get from folks who are trying out the recipes and something is unclear. I will also use these questions to help me refine my recipes, so thank you for taking the time to write me at maryjane@thebreadfairy.org!

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New Recipes!

I added recipes and pictures for No-Knead Sourdough Bread and a simple Rosemary and Sea Salt Focaccia. Check them out under the Recipes Tab! I also posted in Front Porch Forum, asking if people would like to pick up some of my sourdough starter and letting them know the instructions are on this website. So many people are turning to the comfort of bread-making in these times, and with a dearth of yeast, sourdough is not only a great alternative, but may become your go-to recipe as it is in our home!