About Mike

Mike Hilburn is a stay at home dad and sourdough home baker turned cottage baker. He lives in Turlock, a small town in California’s Central Valley, with his wife and two young children. His obsession with sourdough started back in 2013 when he and his wife lived in Santa Barbara, California. After re-discovering authentic sourdough at a local cafe, he went home and began the process of creating his own starter from scratch. Self-taught from blogs, books, and YouTube - he's been on a constant quest to make his own “perfect loaf” ever since - documenting his journey on Instagram along the way.  

On Instagram he was surprised to find a vibrant and diverse community of #sourdough home bakers, professionals, authors, bloggers, growers, millers, artists - all with the same passion for sourdough and sharing of information. After connecting with so many from this encouraging sourdough community, in 2018, he decided to start a podcast to tell the stories he wanted to hear (but couldn't find) from the community he found so inspiring. 

In 2020 - motivated by the conversations he was having with bakers from around the world AND the local community he was building through the sharing of bread - Mike opened his own cottage bakery, Mission Bakehouse, to serve his home town.

Press:

Feb 2021 - The Brewed Palate - Meet the Baker Behind the Loaves: Michael Hilburn of The Sourdough Podcast

June 2021 - Good Day Sacramento - Live interview