Freshman Matthew Chayka recently started making sourdough bread and selling it to Roseville High School students and staff. He started making bread a few months ago and after posting it online, he found that people were interested in paying for it.

“I started making the bread a few months ago after my aunt gave me a starter,” Chayka said, “I got the hang of it pretty quick and it ended up getting some traction from my friends so I decided to sell them some.”

After being gifted the starter, Chayka used recipes he found online to make different types of bread. Eventually, through a process of trial and error, Chayka created his own recipe to bake and sell.

“I learned to make it with a bunch of different recipes,” Chayka said, “ The person that gave us the starter gave us a recipe and I kind of just edited that recipe with stuff I experimented with and found online and I ended up with a nice recipe.”

After a few weeks of selling his bread to students, some staff started to catch wind of his business and took interest. He has sold bread to Mr. Hobbs and other teachers who were interested.

“Mr. Hobbs, he’s my friend’s dad, and I started making bread and I posted it on my story he was like ‘Hey! I would like to buy some.’ So I decided to sell him some,” Chayka said, “I kind of just make it to whoever, whoever wants my bread I make it for them.”

Chayka bakes this recipe over the span of a few days before selling it to students and staff around campus. While most people have different tools to assist in making the dough, Chayka prefers to do it hands-on.

“When I was gifted the starter I looked up different tutorials on how to make and knead the dough but I didn’t really like any of them,” Chayka said, “I found it easiest to just use my hands for the whole process.”

After the entire process of kneading, setting, and baking the bread, Chayka is ready to sell his bread to anyone who is willing to pay. One of his friends, Freshman Samuel Hobbs, is one of his most frequent clients.

“I just text Matthew or i just see him on campus and ask, ‘Can I get some bread?’” Hobbs said, “What I would say is really special about it is the fact that you’re getting it from someone thats making it at their home instead of just going to a bakery and for the price its pretty special too.”