“Nobody warns you about baking your first loaf,” says Jennifer Brown, the heart and hands behind Hazel & Crumb. “You don’t realize how deeply it connects you to something bigger than yourself. What starts with flour, water, and salt quickly becomes a lesson in patience, trust, and joy.”
Jen’s journey into sourdough began unexpectedly after a women’s event at her church. “I brought home a dehydrated sourdough starter with the simplest instructions: feed it, revive it, and wait. I had no idea that something much bigger was being stirred inside me,” she recalls. Five days later, she baked her very first loaf—and a few days after that, another. Around the same time, she found herself reading John 6, where Jesus calls Himself the Bread of Life. “It hit me—this is nourishment, provision, and grace. And here I was, watching warm bread cool on my counter, experiencing that grace firsthand.”
Shortly after that, someone asked Jen if she’d bake them a few loaves. That moment, small as it seemed, planted the seed for what would become Hazel & Crumb. “That little moment felt so small, yet it sparked something I couldn’t ignore. I realized that baking for others was more than making bread—it was creating joy, connection, and memories.”
As a competitive body builder, Jen shares; “My days are all about discipline, structure, and precision. Ironically, I now spend my time baking the very carbs I rarely get to eat. Yet that contrast feels like grace, joyfully creating something not for myself, but for others to enjoy. Hazel & Crumb was born from that balance: creativity, patience, and the belief that the best things truly take time.”
Specializing in small-batch artisanal sourdough, Hazel & Crumb offers classic country loaves to inventive flavor combinations like Black Truffle Cheddar Gruyère and Jalapeño, every loaf is naturally leavened, hand-shaped, and baked fresh in her home cottage kitchen. Beyond bread, Hazel & Crumb offers seasonal menus, mini loaf flight boxes, sourdough cookies, and rotating specialty bakes that invite the community to taste something new each month.
At the heart of Hazel & Crumb is Hazel, her sourdough starter. “Hazel is more than a starter—she’s a living legacy. She was passed down to me from a fellow baker at my church and traces back over 130 years to the Klondike Gold Rush,” she explains. “Back then, sourdough wasn’t a trend; it was survival. Miners and homesteaders carried their starters through brutal winters, feeding them with flour, water, faith, and grit. Hazel has survived countless hands, seasons of abundance, and seasons of ‘just enough.’”
Today, Hazel rises in Jen’s Texas kitchen, feeding new families and creating memories with each loaf. “Every bake is an honor,” she says. “I’m stewarding something timeless, resilient, and deeply meaningful. When you enjoy a Hazel & Crumb loaf, you’re tasting a little history and a whole lot of love. Some starters just make bread—mine carries history.”
With Hazel & Crumb, Jennifer Brown is proving that baking is never just baking. It’s patience, creativity, connection, and above all, a way to bring a little grace into everyday life—one warm, fragrant loaf at a time.
Hazel & Crumb offers weekly pick-ups in Tomball, Magnolia, and Spring/The Woodlands
@hazel.and.crumb/instagram
“It hit me—this is nourishment, provision, and grace. And here I was, watching warm bread cool on my counter, experiencing that grace firsthand.”