For more than two decades of working in professional kitchens across the world—from New York and Los Angeles, to Singapore and London—Karla Mendoza heads back home to the Philippines.
“I felt it was time to take a step back, explore different opportunities and reconnect with home,” she says. “I’ve always enjoyed the creative side of what I do, and coming back to the Philippines gave me the opportunity to pursue projects on my own terms.”
Interestingly, her homecoming led her back to a specific pandemic obsession.
How Lockdown Led Her to Turn Sourdough Into a Business
Sourdough kept her company during the lockdown. “It was something I turned to as a way to keep myself occupied and, quite honestly, to preserve a little bit of sanity during a very unusual time. It wasn’t something I initially intended to turn into a business.” What began as a sanity-saving quarantine pastime slowly turned into a genuine fascination with fermentation.
Though she spent more than 20 years working professionally in stand-alone restaurants and partner hotels, bread-making was something she wanted to study and explore more deeply on her own, particularly with the process: from working with a natural starter and understanding fermentation, to learning how flour, water, time and temperature come together to create something so simple yet complex.
He curiosity bordered to a bit of an obsession. “I started baking for friends and family, and it grew organically from there. It was also a very unique time with the lockdowns, and all I had was time and the four walls of my apartment in Manila,” she says.
When she moved to London for a job opportunity, she had to put her baking on hold. But now that she’s back in her home country, she wasted no time in rolling her sleeves up and working on a floured counter in her condominium kitchen. “I wanted to create something of my own, something smaller and more personal than the restaurant kitchens I had spent most of my career running.”
From Fast-Paced Kitchens to the Slow Art of Sourdough
Like what the pandemic offered, Karla wanted a slow down. Coming from a hot kitchen pumped with so much adrenalin and frenetic energy, the quiet patience of dough offered an entirely different kind of relief and satisfaction.
“There’s something incredibly satisfying about making bread,” she says. “After spending so many years in professional kitchens, where everything is driven by service, timing, volume and the demands of running a restaurant, bread-making offers a very different kind of gratification. Sourdough requires patience. You can’t rush fermentation, and you learn to work with the dough rather than dictate what it should do. Every batch is a little different, and there’s always something to learn or improve.”
She adds, “I also love how something made with just a few basic ingredients can be so rewarding. There’s a certain simplicity to it that I find grounding. And, of course, there’s nothing quite like cutting into a loaf you’ve spent hours nurturing and seeing how it turned out. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a hobby anymore, but I do want to retain that personal connection to the process. Even as it becomes a business, I want it to remain handmade, thoughtful and produced in small batches.”
Crust, Crumb and Creative Focaccia
Named Crafted Sourdough, her home-based business focuses primarily on naturally leavened sourdough loaves and inventive focaccias, honoring traditional fundamentals (a good crust, an open and well-developed crumb, and the characteristic flavor that comes from natural fermentation) while still leaving plenty of room for play.
“I enjoy approaching it almost the way I would develop a dish for a restaurant menu. Some flavors are inspired by the Italian food I have cooked throughout my career, while others come from ingredients and combinations I simply love.”
There’s the Puttanesca Focaccia, for instance, one of her original offerings that takes inspiration from the classic Italian pasta sauce. The bread is studded with an ensemble of tomatoes, olives, capers and anchovies.
Then there are the Potato, Leek and Bacon Focaccia, and, something more basic, the Rosemary and Sea Salt.
At Crafted Sourdough, everything is handmade. And because every batch is treated with meticulous care, production is strictly limited. She simply announces her upcoming bakes via Instagram, and soon as a batch fills up, orders close until the next baking day.
It’s a bit of a waiting game. But as the saying goes, great things come to those who wait. This doesn’t simply apply to the sourdough or its availability, but also to chef Karla whose homecoming was very much anticipated. She’s finally back!
Frequently Asked Questions
Karla Mendoza is a veteran chef who spent more than two decades working in professional kitchens across the world, including cities like New York, Los Angeles, Singapore, and London, before returning home to the Philippines.
She initially turned to baking sourdough during the pandemic lockdowns as a way to keep herself occupied and preserve her sanity, which gradually developed into a genuine fascination with fermentation.
After years of working in high-pressure, fast-paced restaurant kitchens driven by service, timing, and volume, she wanted to step back, explore opportunities on her own terms, and embrace a slower, more grounding creative process.
She approaches baking almost the way she would develop a dish for a restaurant menu, drawing inspiration from the Italian food she cooked throughout her career as well as her own favorite ingredient combinations.
It focuses primarily on naturally leavened sourdough loaves and inventive focaccias, of which include the Puttanesca Focaccia (inspired by the classic Italian pasta sauce with tomatoes, olives, capers, and anchovies), the Potato, Leek and Bacon Focaccia, and the more classic Rosemary and Sea Salt.
Orders follow a waiting game: she announces upcoming bakes via Instagram, and once a batch fills up, orders close immediately until the next baking day.
