I’m Jo, a Chilean living in London. I started baking sourdough last year during lockdown like the rest of the world! My flatmate and I took a series of online classes with Chilean baker and started baking. Soon we realised that we had stopped buying bread as we were baking so much of it.

I got interested in bread art, creating beautiful designs by scoring, adding seeds, edible flowers, natural colouring (such as turmeric, matcha or activated charcoal) and which I started to share via the Instagram profile SourJough. With another friend we created the Instagram platform of @theliterarybakery, where we both create bakes that are linked to a work of literature, which allowed me to explore ways in which bread can be treated as a canvas for art.

Having been part of a food club, I had the opportunity to bake in bulk, which is a challenge when baking in a home oven. This led to the opportunity to briefly work in a north London cafe baking, which made me realise I would like to pursue a parallel career as a baker (I am currently doing a PhD in early modern literature). All this led me to start working and being trained at Margot Bakery – they make everything from sourdough! This has been an absolutely fantastic experience and I have already learnt so much from Michelle, who is a wonderful mentor.

I can’t wait to see where this unexpected path in my life takes me!

Instagram @sour_jough