At Nana’s Cottage Bakery, Adria Turner creates beautiful loaves of sourdough, as well as other beloved bakery treats such as baguettes or scones. Photos: Chris Emeott
A baker creates sourdough bread that connects the community.
When it comes to sourdough, patience isn’t just a virtue—it’s a necessity. For local baker Adria Turner, patience, curiosity and a nod to family traditions have culminated in a thriving cottage bakery named Nana’s Cottage. Inspired by her daughter Marissa Knudson’s gift of a sourdough starter in 2021, Turner embarked on a baking journey.
After retiring at 48 from a decades-long career in consumer packaged goods, Turner sought a slower pace and new hobbies to enjoy. It was during this time that sourdough entered the picture. What began as a personal experiment in her kitchen quickly grew into a labor of love—and eventually her business. “I was making bread for myself, my family, and I started sharing with friends and neighbors,” she says. “It really grew organically.”
Adria Turner
The Art of Sourdough
The process of creating sourdough bread is as intricate as it is rewarding. It all starts with the sourdough starter, a living culture that must be fed daily with flour and water; Turner is committed to using all organic ingredients, which is nonnegotiable in her kitchen. From there, a levain is created, which acts as the active version of the starter, before moving on to the dough itself. Each loaf requires hours of stretching, folding and resting—not to mention a night in the refrigerator to develop its delicious flavor and digestibility.
“Preparing the dough, start to finish, is 24 hours. You don’t work the whole time; you have to wait a lot,” Turner says, noting she typically allows her loaves to rest in the fridge for the next 24 hours.
In Adria Turner’s kitchen, perfecting her sourdough takes a minimum of 24 hours—a product of love, indeed!
“You really have to listen to the dough,” she says. “I would follow directions to a tee, and it wasn’t working. I told my husband, ‘I’m going to do what I think I need to do …’ You really have to figure out what works for you and what works in your kitchen. That’s where the magic happens.” Some liken sourdough baking to a dance—you’re not in control as much as you partner with the dough, letting it dictate the tempo. The dough’s rhythms require flexibility and the ability to adapt to the seasons and temperature. Summer’s heat accelerates the fermentation, while winter slows it down. For Turner, the magic lies in learning what works for her kitchen and her organic ingredients.
From the Kitchen to the Market
By 2023, Turner started bringing her bread to the Lake Elmo Farmers Market, where she enjoyed connecting with customers. The following year, she joined the Woodbury Farmers Market, which further cemented her love for bringing handmade, wholesome bread to the community. She’s enjoyed selling through Nana’s Cottage so much so that she and her husband, Jeffrey Turner, built out a bakery in their basement, complete with a professional bread oven.
A beautiful loaf of sourdough has a crisp, golden crust and an airy crumb with irregular holes throughout.
In addition to sourdough, Turner’s repertoire includes a variety of sourdough-based products. One standout, she notes, is her soft sandwich loaf that’s enriched with milk and honey. Her scones, a top seller, are a testament to her creativity; she often experiments with seasonal flavors, such as pumpkin spice in the fall or cranberry in the winter, to keep her offerings fresh.
While her bread usually comes out of the oven beautifully golden, not every loaf is picture-perfect. Even an occasional misstep finds a purpose—often as a treat for the ducks behind her house. The perfect loaves are sold at the local farmers markets in the warmer months, and Turner also offers a porch pickup option via Hot Plate during the winter. The process is simple: Customers are alerted when Turner is baking, they place their orders in advance and she ensures bread is ready for collection at the chosen time.
Shaping the Future, Honoring the Past
Looking ahead, Turner has no significant plans for growth. For her, the joy lies in the simplicity of what she does—creating something healthy and handmade that can’t be found at the supermarket. While she’s open to where the journey may take her, she’s content with the balance she currently has with the bakery.
Its name—Nana’s Cottage—holds a special place in her heart, Turner says, as it’s a tribute to her stepmother, Diane Nelson, who ran a coffee bar called Nana’s Cottage in Chetek, Wisconsin, during the 1990s. Naming her business after her children’s Nana felt like a way to honor her legacy and bring it into a new era of homemade goodness. Even the sourdough starter shares the name Nana, a fitting moniker for a starter that has been lovingly nurtured and shared.
Nana’s Cottage
Facebook: Nana’s Cottage Minnesota
