Baking to the Beat of a Different Drum

by Will Stenberg

Jesse Stenberg—along with his partner in business and romance, Maria Flynn—is the founder of Hard Head Bread, a cottage bakery in our hometown of Fort Bragg. Jesse is also my younger brother. Jesse and I grew up there, first as barefoot kids running around in the woods, then as disaffected young punk rockers who couldn’t wait to get out. We both did as soon as possible but have since come to love our hometown, warts and all. Jesse even came back to Fort Bragg, where he and Maria started Hard Head Bread in December of 2022 in our childhood home. In fact, the bakery itself is in my old bedroom, once festooned with Ramones posters and angsty poetry, now producing the finest long-fermented breads on the North Coast. Life takes some unexpected turns.

I had a chance the other day to talk with Jesse and Maria about the origins of the bakery. Jesse was hired at Grand Central Bakery in Portland, Oregon in 2002, where, “being young and without any formal college education,” he fell into the kind of counter-service job that had kept money in his pocket since his early teens. But this time, Jesse became friendly with head baker Mel Darbyshire, who asked if he wanted to come back and learn. To this day he gives “big props” to Mel, whom he says has always been available for “questions, support and advice” on his journey to becoming a master baker.

It was in 2007 when fate played its hand and Maria ended up with the same company. She recalls how she felt “very much like the bakers were the cool team, rowdier and having more fun, throwing dough balls at each other”—as opposed to the more composed and conventional front-ofhouse. I don’t know if Maria sneaking salt in Jesse’s water was what started everything, but if so, her prank caught his attention. The two have been inseparable ever since.

Jesse found baking “pretty interesting from the beginning.” He recalls, “I remember when I first transferred to the baking department, Mel printed me out a forty-page pamphlet from one of her books. I dove into it. I asked questions. I’ve always been fascinated with stats. That’s one of the reasons I’m such a big baseball fan, and baking is all percentages.”

Eventually, Jesse and Maria left Portland for California’s Central Coast, where Jesse continued his education in other bakeries. It was there that the two first began thinking seriously about opening a bakery of their own. They partly credit their friends Jesse and Christina at Hey Brother Baker in Long Beach, who showed them an example of “serious and passionate” baking on a “smaller scale.” Jesse embarked upon a reconnaissance trip in order “to see the scope and hang out with them and see what their set-up was. [The trip] made it less abstract and more tangible, where I realized this was a feasible thing.”

But why choose to come back home to Mendocino County to make this dream a reality? “I missed being around ferns,” says Jesse. Maria adds that a visit to Fort Bragg around the time that Fort Bragg Bakery was being sold gave her hope that they could succeed here. Hanging out at The Golden West one evening, a whole crew of old friends encouraged them to move back and try their luck, promising support. “And then when we moved here,” says Maria, “people followed through with that support. Unique to this town is that people just want to see you succeed, and they’ll help you as much as they can. Most towns talk about it; this town backs it up.”

“Look at the fight to keep big box stores out,” adds Jesse. “We’d rather keep our Corners of the Mouth, our Down Home Foods, our Pippi’s Longstockings, our Purity. Small local shops. Fort Bragg really stays true to that.”

When I ask Jesse about what style of baking he practices, this long time Wu-Tang fan says, “I like to say we’re kind of the ODB [Ol’ Dirty Bastard] of baking: there’s no father to our style.” Maria chimes in with, “Some might describe it as a rustic style where the crust is meant to be very crusty and the interior is soft…”

“… Like me,” offers Jesse, getting a chuckle. Then, more seriously: “I want to make bread that everyone can afford. We’re here to feed people. We’re here to nourish people. Being an elitist can be detrimental to the mission, which is to make people happy. Keeping it small—no staff, baking at home with an affordable rent—we’re able to maintain our prices at a reasonable level.”

Some staples include the Sourdough Country Loaf, the Baguette, the Sourdough Bagels and, for those with a sweet-tooth, the indispensable Triple Chocolate Rye Cookies. Recently, Jesse has been “super into the Sesame Khorasan Loaf,” stating that “toasted sesame is in our blood as Lebanese people. I love the smell of it.”

With Jesse baking and Maria handling “literally everything else,” Hard Head Bread has been servicing the Fort Bragg area since December 2022, offering primarily pick-up, while delivering for a few choice retail accounts. They recently celebrated their best month ever, and couldn’t be more grateful.

“We have been so supported,” says Jesse. “I couldn’t imagine doing this anywhere else.”

As for me, while it’s always a bit of a shock to go into the room where I played my first guitar chord and see a commercial baking oven, I couldn’t be prouder of my little brother, his wonderful partner, and all they’ve accomplished.

Order bread online at hardheadbread.com

Photos courtesy of Hard Head Bread

Will Stenberg is a screenwriter, poet, and musician who hails from Fort Bragg and currently lives in a cabin in Oregon with his dog and turtle.