Meet Nicole Murray | Cottage Home Baker & Mom of 4

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nicole Murray and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nicole, is there a quote or affirmation that’s meaningful to you?
“Take care of your customer or somebody else will.” My father used to have this quote up in his office. He started a small business with a friend that grew to become quite successful. He always strived to build personal relationships with his customers, make sure they felt listened to, respected, and that their needs were met. He used to tell me that if you take care of your customers they will in turn take care of you.

This quote is important to me not only because it reminds me of my late father and the lessons he taught me, but also because I have found it to be very true in the business world. Providing excellent customer service is something that I strive to do with each and every one of my customers. I try to go above and beyond their expectations, to take time to send a thank you note days later, and to make right anything that wasn’t satisfactory. What I have found is that my customers in turn bless me by not only returning to order, but also by telling their friends and family about me. So although it’s a business lesson, it’s also a model for building a symbiotic relationship with my customers.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My bread is my art and I am most proud of how far I’ve come in just over 1 year of baking. It’s amazing what you can learn and how much you can grow when (1) you enjoy something and (2) you do it multiple times a week for close to a year. It wasn’t an easy journey and it involved a lot of failures but with the failures came lessons learned and growth. I still have a lot to learn and I’m excited to continue. It may be just bread but sourdough has taught me patience and a desire to return to a simpler way of living. With sourdough and the slow fermentation process you have to be patient, it takes me at least 3 days to make a bread for example. But it’s also so simple….flour, water, salt, yeast. That’s it. The Egyptians first started using a yeast similar to sourdough and this process has changed slightly over time….but at the same time it’s still just flour, water, salt, yeast. This return to the past, return to a simpler product has also carried over in other parts of our lives like in my husband’s vegetable garden where we grow many of the vegetables we eat as a family. Talk about hyper local when a neighbor buys a sourdough focaccia bread for example that I make with my hands and top with organic tomatoes and rosemary that is harvested minutes before being baked. Then after it’s baked I package it up in a 100% recyclable box. These small differences in how I impact the earth through what I do, the ingredients that I choose…they all matter.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
San Diego is a beautiful city with lots of scenic areas but right off the bat I would say breakfast at The Mission in Mission Beach is a must as is a long walk along the boardwalk from Mission Beach to Pacific Beach. During the week time relaxing at the beach, walking along La Jolla Cove, walking through Balboa Park and walking through Del Mar would also be great. Eating at The Pardo in Balboa Park, tacos from Tacos El Gordo in Chula Vista, Burgers at Burger Lounge, and Korean Chicken from Cross Street Chicken and Beer.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
A woman in my local Buy Nothing group was giving away some sourdough starter.

This was during the lockdown when it seemed like everyone was baking with sourdough so I thought I’d try it for myself. After loads of failures, a recipe on Little Spoon Farm’s website changed my life as their video and recipe led to one successful bake after another. I was having fun and giving bread away to anyone who wanted some. But then my friend Christine Perez insisted on buying a loaf of bread from me, even after I told her that I’d just give it to her because I wasn’t a good enough baker to sell bread (cue imposter syndrome). From there my friends continued to support and encourage me and I’ve continued to grow as a baker through watching countless videos online and even taking some online pastry classes from a classically trained pastry chef, Molly J Wilk. Those pastry classes have led me to start baking French macarons, another difficult baking item that requires a lot of patience. Apparently I like a challenge.

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/sweetmaisonbakery/

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