You can almost smell the freshly baked bread from Dibble Dough. Photo: Dibble Dough Instagram

Bringing joy to others through baking is what fuels Stephanie Dibble. Dibble Dough evolved during the pandemic when working from home gave her the chance to explore her love of baking as a creative outlet. Sharing bread, bagels, and other goodies with neighbors and friends became a regular occurrence.

Coronado has always held a special place in her heart; her dad was in the Navy and she was born at Balboa Naval Hospital.

Since moving to Coronado in 2020, Stephanie has fully embraced the island life and can be seen riding her pink bike around town. Two of her favorite Coronado spots are the Sweat Circuit Gym and playing with the Coronado Mahjong Club, both of which offer friendship and fun.

Stephanie Dibble is the baker extraordinaire behind Dibble Dough. Photo by The Coronado Times

Although she’s worked in the finance world crunching numbers for 25 years, she’s loved cooking and baking since she was young, with cupcakes being one of her first creations. Dibble Dough is an extension of that creativity and the joy she finds in making others happy.

Stephanie’s sourdough starter has been with her for seven years but she notes the age of a starter doesn’t really matter, because regular additions mean that the original has been turned over many times. For perspective, one of the oldest  known sourdough starters originated in 1849 at the San Francisco Boudin Bakery, which I can attest to being deliciously sour. That said, I am also a big fan of Stephanie’s version.

With large loaves of homemade sourdough bread starting at just $10, it is evident that this is a passion project for the exuberant Stephanie. “Everyone has passion within them,” she says. “They just have to find it and let it out.”

Dibble Dough offers a variety of breads and bagel bites. Photo: Dibble Dough Instagram

Flavor options include classic with sea salt (the most popular), rosemary and sea salt, Italian herb, “everything” seasoning, jalapeno and sharp cheddar, Trader Joe’s unexpected cheddar with Italian herbs, just cheddar, cinnamon (brown) sugar, Kalamata olive and rosemary, and almost any other flavor you can dream up. She has made rye and whole wheat, and she has mastered a special 72-hour fermentation process for gluten-friendly bread. Banana bread, sweet treats, pretzel bites, bagels, bagel bites, and bagel bombs are available. Mini sourdough loaves, with a minimum order of four, are offered upon request.

This Dutch chocolate, chocolate chip sourdough boule is one of Stephanie’s latest creations. Photo: Dibble Dough Instagram

Creative ways Stephanie has used her sourdough starter include chocolate sourdough cake, crackers, tortillas, and even sourdough chocolate chip cookies. Recently, she created a chocolate sourdough starter from which she made a Dutch chocolate, chocolate chip sourdough boule.

“Any idea you have, I’ll do it,” she says. Like when a customer recently asked her to make zucchini bread with the abundance from their garden.

Stephanie’s dependable delivery driver is her 12-year-old son Liam who named her enterprise and delivers her tempting baked goods around the island on his bicycle. Some customers order weekly and other occasionally when a craving strikes.

From friends’ experiences, I know that keeping sourdough starter viable isn’t as easy as it sounds. Stephanie explains that she begins with flour and water, coupled with an abundance of patience over time. Daily monitoring requires determining how many grams to add, as she gets into the cycle of consistent feeding and care.

“I love to experiment with flavors and textures, and I am constantly sharing samples with neighbors and friends to solicit feedback. They have been very encouraging and pushed me to start my business,” she shares. One of her neighbors even asked for bread making lessons.

Just three simple ingredients are added to the starter to make her scrumptious bread: King Arthur flour, Maldon sea salt, and filtered water. She never buys bread herslef, and she challenges people to read the labels on store-bought loaves to see how many ingredients and fillers are included.

Liam says the sourdough bread made with Trader Joe’s Unexpected Cheddar and Italian seasonings tastes like pizza. Photo: Dibble Dough Instagram

Stephanie bakes every day for either her family or her business. It’s a 24-hour process that starts with feeding the starter, waiting for it to come to peak, creating the dough, then coiling and folding over a period of several hours while it bulk ferments. Then into the refrigerator it goes for 12 to 72 hours to cold ferment, then out it comes to be scored, which releases steam while baking, giving it bubbles on the crust. In the oven it bakes for one hour, and it then cools for two hours. It is truly a labor of love, as each loaf has its own characteristics.

Although she is more of a salty versus sweet girl, she loves to share the joy of baking, whether sweet or savory, to brighten people’s day. She is known for her upbeat demeanor and smile, and emphasizes, “Life is too short to not be happy and share that with others. Everyone needs a creative outlet and once you find it, it changes your life.” I promise that your tastebuds will thank you for ordering any of her baked goods on Instagram @dibbledough.

My classic sourdough loaf didn’t last long. Time to order more!  Photo by The Coronado Times