During her first time at the Tillamook County Fair, Emilie Sisco knew she wanted to be a part of it.
“I had never been to a fair like the one here,” she said. “I walked around and realized it was something special. It sounds cheesy, but it wasn’t about winning or losing. I just thought having stuff there would be so cool.”
A few years later Sisco is not only a fair exhibitor, but a two-time, blue-ribbon winner in sourdough bread.
“About four years ago, I wanted to make my own starter from apples on our street,” Sisco said. “I thought it would be this really charming thing but, that starter never took. I was super frustrated and discouraged. My kids were also really little so I was spending every little sliver of what free time I had for a bread process that wasn't working out.”
But rather than throw in the bread towel, she decided to change out an element.
“I got starter from my sister, Heather,” Sisco said. “My sister has been making sourdough bread for a really long time, so I believe that the starter is around 14 years old.”
Sisco recalled that her mother brought a little bit of the starter on the airplane when she came for a visit.
“I had practiced so many times with bad starter, so when I added the healthy starter, the bread just worked,” she said. “Every time you give a starter to somebody, it takes on the microbes of their climate and household.”
Inside her kitchen, Sisco pulls out the prized starter from the refrigerator. It’s housed in a pink dish, happy and bubbling away.
“The starter is the foundation of your sourdough,” Sisco said. “It’s always alive and it’s always fermenting so the bubbles mean that it’s active. You don’t use anything else but water, flour, salt, and olive oil. You’re not even adding store-bought yeast. So, it’s a relatively non-processed bread. And you don’t need much equipment, not even a mixer.”
Sisco walks through the bread-making steps known as the “Tartine Method.”
The oven is “piping hot.” She measures each ingredient. Stretches and folds by hand. Adds a healthy drizzle of olive oil for taste. Gives it time in a bread bowl. And cuts out a “window” for design.
“I think home baking is a great art and we should encourage the younger generation to do it,” Sisco said. “I think these hobbies are important to people and traditions. There's a connection I get from touching the dough, slicing it up, and eating it. That just makes it a different experience then getting it from the store.”
Tucked in a Dutch oven, the sourdough bakes for 20 minutes. Another 20 without the lid. From the oven it cools and then is sliced. Perfect, crunchy crust on the outside. Soft on the inside. And a classic sourdough taste. No wonder it’s a winner.
But, it’s also encouraging for new bakers to know that even award-winners have off-days.
“Bread can very moody,” Sisco said. “Three months ago I made bread and it didn't turn out. It was really dense, the dough was uncooperative, and the crust was gummy. It was super temperamental. No matter how much you make sourdough, it will surprise you by being moody or not cooperating.”
Everyone loves a baker and Sisco has graciously shared her talents with others. Donating each year to the YMCA auction, and giving away bread to neighbors and kind souls. She even provided bread for a wedding last summer.
“I was telling my sister about a scenario where I was giving bread to somebody for helping me with some random thing,” Sisco relayed. “She said, ‘You sound like you live in a small town.’ That’s how it works; it’s a great little trade.”
This year, Sisco entered her sourdough as well as a challah bread into the Tillamook County Fair.
“Being a part of the Fair is a huge accomplishment. It’s always fun to see my stuff there,” Sisco said. “It’s also important for me to meet a goal, sign up for something, and submit it. When you have little kids, it keeps your pulse in the real world and that’s important.”
When asked what she thinks Fair judges have loved about her bread, she leans towards the consistency.
“The texture and flavor is what I'm guessing,” Sisco said.
She dreams of milling her own flour one day and perfecting "add-ins."
“I might have the guts to do a flavor one day and then see if the judges still like it,” Sisco said.
When not baking bread, Sisco is a mom to three boys (a pair of twins in the mix), teaches art via the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, and volunteers her time and translating skills to the Tillamook YMCA. Spouse Kaylan Sisco is CEO & Executive Director at the Tillamook County YMCA.
“I feel part of the Y family,” she said. “I don't necessarily do anything in particular, but I feel like since we moved here, I've grown there. I feel like it's our little family.
After the bread’s been judged and the fair ribbons are given out, Sisco will return home to her kitchen and the starter in her fridge she must keep alive.
“I feel so much like ‘The Tell-Tale Heart.’ It’s like this haunting thing in the fridge,” Sisco laughed. “It's alive and you have a relationship with the starter. And sometimes you have time for it and sometimes you don't. Sometimes I'll make a lot of bread and then I'll need a little break. So, it'll go back in the fridge. It's just a fun little cycle.”
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