Molly Newman, a California science teacher turned Aiken baker, is transforming the sourdough hobby she started during the global pandemic into a brick-and-mortar storefront.
Thorough Bread Bakery & Cafe is expected to open at 115 Laurens St. later this fall.
“I’ve always loved baking, but I started baking a lot then and had the time to perfect my sourdough. I got really good at it and started giving it to friends and family, who loved it,” Newman told What Now Charleston.
Newman moved to the East Coast in 2023, where her sourdough journey gained momentum and she began selling at farmers markets.
“When we got here, I started doing the same thing, and it was a great way to meet people. I started taking it to farmers markets and just kept selling out, couldn’t keep up,” she said.
Newman transformed her laundry room into a bakery to meet demand. She purchased a commercial oven and mixer, producing upward of 150 loaves a week.
“I have a really loyal following. One of my customers, we started talking about how Aiken doesn’t have a bakery, so we came up with the idea,” she said. “We knew the cafe had to be in downtown Aiken.”
After searching for a space, the bakery found the ideal location in a historic building once the old Coca-Cola bottling plant, and the team was off to the races (no pun intended).
“On Laurens Street, there’s constant foot traffic, and it’s just a super cute, traditional Southern main street,” she said.
Newman said the name “Thorough Bread” plays off Aiken’s reputation as a horse town.
“Our tagline is ‘Elegantly Unrefined.’ We’re using all-natural, unbromated, unrefined flour—very clean, local ingredients, but still very elevated. That’s also kind of how a thoroughbred horse is. We just wanted something very unique,” she said.
To bring the vision to life, the team worked with Erin Eisele to develop the logo. The interior design will reflect the logo’s color palette of grey, blue, brown and white.
“We’re going for a nice relaxing, welcoming environment–very soft, traditional design. We want customers to be able to come in and feel like they’re at home and comfortable to stay a while,” Newman said.
The menu will focus on quality and craft, featuring fresh bread, pastries and cafe staples such as sandwiches, soup, salad and quiche. Highlights include breakfast egg and cheese sandwiches, a fig, brie and arugula sandwich on a baguette and a classic ham and butter sandwich.
Everything will be centered around the sourdough. Newman said her sourdough process takes about 36 hours. The basic sourdough recipe uses just flour, water and salt. Other ingredients, like chocolate chips or jalapeño and cheese, can be added depending on the flavor of bread being made.
“You make the dough one day, and that’s about a six-hour process, mixing. They’re called stretch and folds. Next you shape the dough and put it into a banneton, the basket you put the dough in to proof. It’s an eight- to nine-hour process. Then it goes into a refrigerator for 24 hours, which is called cold proofing, and that’s when you really get the fermentation that gives it the taste. It’s also where the natural yeasts are developed. We don’t use any commercial yeast in our products,” she said.
To complement the fare, the cafe will offer a coffee program featuring espresso favorites.
Newman looks forward to welcoming familiar faces and building new connections in the neighborhood.
“The thing I loved most about working at the farmers market is getting to know the community and knowing all my customers by name. I’m excited just to be a large part of the community of Aiken,” she said.
Thorough Bread Bakery & Cafe plans to open in November. Visit the website for the latest updates.
