Neighbors had questions when 7-year-old Frank Robertson came to their doors selling his homemade sourdough.
Frank’s handcrafted loaves were vastly superior to anything on grocery store shelves. Their crust was crispy. Their interior was chewy without being tough. And their flavor had just enough, but not an overwhelming amount, of sourdough’s signature tang.
“How do you get more?” Andrew Boyette remembered asking after he sampled a slice. “Where’s the rest of it?” He added that Frank’s sourdough tastes particularly delicious toasted with butter.
When word of the young baker’s skill spread to social media in mid-March, Frank and his 5-year-old brother, Walt, set up a sourdough and cookie stand to satisfy the growing demand for Frank’s high-quality product.
The brothers sold individually packaged loaves for $10 a piece. Each was sealed with the words “‘Frank you’” or “‘Franks’ for buying Frank’s sourdough!” Chocolate chip cookies made by Walt cost a quarter. Customers, including neighbors, dog walkers, and hungry golden retrievers, could also take home their own starter for $5.
Frank spent a week baking 22 loaves for his sale. Each loaf, he explained, takes two days to make. The St. Mark’s School of Texas first grader could recite the ingredients in his recipe down to the gram, and was able to describe the stretch-and-fold technique that gives his bread its crucial air bubbles.
“Without air bubbles, people will be like ‘I don’t believe that this is actually sourdough,’” Frank explained. “It’s really important that you make air bubbles.”
So why does Frank’s bread taste amazing?
“Personally, I don’t really know,” he remarked. “I like it more when it’s a bit warm.” Frank added later that he only uses glass bowls to create his sourdough. Plastic doesn’t work well.
Frank learned to bake from his mom, Kelsey. A good friend taught her how to make sourdough and gave her some starter, the natural leavening agent that gives the bread its flavor, about a year and a half ago. She hasn’t needed to buy bread from the grocery store since.
“I love baking because it’s a way to use my hands. It almost feels artistic,” Kelsey said. “I see that he seems to get the same kind of joy from stretching and folding the dough and manipulating it to make really good bread.”
Kelsey has also enjoyed observing Frank’s entrepreneurial spirit. The young baker doesn’t plan to spend his earnings, at least not immediately. He’s putting his sourdough funds into a retirement account at the bank.
“I wanted to save some money for me when I get older,” he explained. Frank’s foresight came as a pleasant surprise to his parents.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Kelsey said. “I was like, ‘This is great. I’m glad you get the power of compounding.’”
The limitations of Frank’s home kitchen mean that his sourdough isn’t ready for mass production. But fans can monitor the Park Cities neighborhood Facebook group to stay apprised of any future sales.
“I really like baking sourdough,” Frank said. “It’s fun. And it also gives you a bit of a brain break.”
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