South Shore Sourdough started as the overflow from the love of breadmaking and clean eating with the Hall family in Oakdale.

Starting a cottage bakery from her home with a bread cart put out at the end of the driveway every Sunday morning to dozens of customers lined up hoping for a loaf, Meggin Hall said they would sell out in less than two minutes.

Earlier this week, Meggin and supportive husband, John, announced on social media that they would be moving the business into a brick-and-mortar store on Montauk Highway in West Sayville to increase production and meet the bread demand they had been trying to accommodate for weeks now.

“Due to the overwhelming support from our breadheads, family, and friends, the South Shore Sourdough bread cart will soon have a new location. We think this location will let us grow while staying true to our vision of community connection. We are beyond excited to be a part of the West Sayville community. We hope your enthusiasm for our bread carries over to The Bread Shed,” said Meggin.

The new location will be at 106 Main Street, Montauk Highway, in West Sayville.

Greater Sayville Chamber of Commerce president emerita, Eileen Tyznar, said, “The Sayville Chamber is so excited to have an artisan feel right here in West Sayville! South Shore Sourdough will be a great addition to town and complement our already existing artisan stores, such as Sayville Cheese and West Sayville Flowers, for a nice farmers’ market feel. Add in Eastbound Trading Co., and the small strip of shops in West Sayville provide an afternoon for a great shopping and eating experience! We can’t wait to see what ‘arises’ in the new shop! Look for a ribbon-cutting date!”

Currently, baking begins a couple of days before the Sunday dispersal, giving the dough time to rise, and for the confections to cool down to be packaged.

Sourdough, the bread popularized on TikTok that gives the impression of being alive with its bubbling and growth, comes from a starter with flour and water.

“I made my starter about two years ago; it has lactobacillus in it. You start with a cup of flour and a cup of water. You let it rise for 24 hours and then scoop out half and then ‘feed’ it again with more flour and water,” said Meggin.

“It’s all natural; there’s no yeast packet needed in sourdough—it rises naturally,” said Hall.

The starter, which remains in the refrigerator, is then incorporated into the recipe with a 2-to-1 ratio (i.e., 60 grams of newly made dough will combine with 30 grams of the sourdough starter dough).

“It’s a whole family of bacteria growing,” said Hall.

In the beginning of November 2024, Hall began selling her sourdough creations. Inspired by health experts studying “blue zones” (i.e., places around the world where people live to be a 100), Hall began to cook with sourdough because of its popularity in areas like Greece.

“My grandmother lived into her 90s and that’s my goal—I want to live into my 90s. I started looking at what they eat and I saw in Sardinia, they were eating sourdough bread,” said Hall.

Hall reported that it took some time to master sourdough baking and said, “It’s so precise; it’s a science to it.”

Bartering her bread with a co-worker who made meatballs, Hall was encouraged to sell her bread.

“I said, ‘Get the hell out of here, I’m not selling bread,’” said Hall.

What changed her mind was thinking of the nearby artist colony that offered fresh vegetables for sale and another neighbor who sold eggs.

“How cool would it be to do something for the community where they could get bread?” said Hall.

With her first batch selling out quickly, Hall decided to increase her stock and has even invested in more commercial equipment from her certified kitchen.

A bread influencer posted about Hall’s bread, and the following week, she sold out her stock in less than four minutes.

Currently, Hall has been baking 50 loaves of bread in her home along with 33 standing orders, as well as 10 bags of cookies and 24 muffins.