South Portland girl’s curbside bakery is a local sensation

SOUTH PORTLAND — A small bakery operation has taken shape outside the Heeley family home near Roger Road and Clemens Street, with packaged pastries, breads and muffins set out for neighbors and passersby to buy on an honor system.

The Little Crumb Bakery is run by Charlie Heeley, 14, who bakes from her family’s kitchen and sells the goods from a curbside stand on most Saturdays. Customers can pay with cash or Venmo, and the selection has included cinnamon rolls, cookies, scones, muffins, sourdough bread and English muffins.

Charlie started the bakery in May after realizing her baking had outgrown what her household could eat. Her mother, Sarah Heeley, said the idea came after Charlie saw honor-system farm stands online and around Maine.

“We just can’t eat it all,” Sarah Heeley said.

The stand usually opens by 8 a.m. on Saturdays with about three dozen boxes of baked goods. Charlie advertises through Nextdoor, Facebook, Instagram and chalkboard signs placed along the street. On many weeks, the items are gone by 2 or 3 p.m.; on a recent busy day, everything had sold by 12:30 p.m.

The setup has included small pumpkins, jars of flowers, a repurposed tea tin for cash and a small plate of blueberry muffin samples. On a recent Saturday, three customers bought items within 15 minutes after 10 a.m.

One of them was Vanessa Bissell, the Heeleys’ next-door neighbor, who picked up cinnamon rolls for her children.

“I couldn’t help myself,” Bissell said.

Baking began as a hobby for Charlie while she recovered from significant health problems. She is being homeschooled this year and has also been homeschooled during other periods of her life. Her mother said baking gives her a calming routine and something to look forward to. Charlie hopes to return to school once she feels better.

The family recently had its kitchen certified, and Charlie plans to keep the outdoor stand going while the weather allows. When winter snow makes the curbside setup impractical, she plans to switch to pre-orders.

The Saturday sale is the end of a multi-day process. Thursday is dough day, with sourdough requiring a full day of feeding, stretching, folding and rising. On one recent Thursday, Charlie was up at 5 a.m. to feed her starter, which then needed four to eight hours to rise.

Friday is the main baking day. Charlie has started at 7 a.m. and worked through cookies, scones, bread and English muffins until after dark. She and her mother have stayed up until 10 p.m. packaging the goods. On Saturday morning, Charlie gets up early again to make the final items, including pumpkin muffins, which are packed while still warm.

The weekly output can be substantial. One recent Friday’s baking included 24 English muffins, four loaves of sourdough and dozens of cookies. Charlie uses about two dozen eggs and 16 sticks of butter each week, and the family recently switched to a larger bag of flour to reduce costs.

English muffins and sourdough are among Charlie’s favorite things to make. She checks the muffins with a meat thermometer and considers them done at 200 degrees. Her mother said Charlie has become especially focused on sourdough.

“She is obsessed with sourdough,” Sarah Heeley said.

Charlie has also developed specific techniques through trial and error. She feeds her sourdough starter the day before baking and keeps the dough thicker when she wants a crunchier crust. For cookies, she melts the butter and chills the dough to make the finished product softer. While she has tried different flavors, the classics — chocolate chip and oatmeal — sell best.

The bakery is a family project. Sarah Heeley makes ingredient labels, while Charlie’s father, Pete Heeley, built the chalkboard signs and permanent stand. Both parents help clear and reset the kitchen counters as the baking moves along.

“You’re the talent,” Sarah Heeley told Charlie during a baking day. “We’re just the behind the scenes.”

Charlie puts much of the money back into the business. She typically keeps about $250 a week and has used some of the earnings for personal purchases, including Adventure Time figurines and furniture for her room. She also bought a rolling metal cart that gives her more workspace on baking days.

Away from the kitchen, Charlie likes watching history documentaries with her father, reading, using the elliptical in the basement and spending time with the family’s five cats.

The cats are kept out of the kitchen on baking days, and the finished goods have to be stored securely. One cat, Randall, a long-haired tuxedo, has shown particular interest in the bakery’s bread.

“Leaving him around the bread is a bad idea,” Charlie said.