The Stars Align For Gemini Twins Bakery
There’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sign tacked on a utility pole on a residential street in La Mesa with one word scrawled across it: SOURDOUGH. Megan Loney has lived in the Academy Heights neighborhood all her life—in fact, her parents reside next door and she lives in the house she grew up in. Out of her kitchen, she runs Gemini Twins Bakery. But based on demand, she may need to start looking for space somewhere else.
“We already have, let’s see, one, two, three…” she counts the equipment around the room. “Six fridges in the house.” (One fridge even gets delivered in the middle of our conversation.) Of course, not all of them are for the bakery, she adds. Half are dedicated to fermentation, from pickling peppers to making kombucha.
Scientists have long touted the benefits of yeast and bacteria converting sugars as a way to improve digestion and overall gut health (among other benefits) for many years. Handmade, housebaked sourdough bread has particularly regained popularity after a dip in production during the commercial bread heyday of the mid-20th century, driven in part by at-home attempts during the pandemic. Loney began experimenting with her sourdough starter in 2019, hoping to improve her family’s nutrition and eating habits.
It didn’t click right away. “It took me a year to keep my starter alive,” she laughs. “I didn’t bake any bread until 2020.” Once she did manage to nurture her starter to life, she taught herself how to bake better versions of store-bought items. “Look at anything on a label in a store these days, and it’s terrifying!” she says. “I was like, ‘No, no, no, we can do this fresh.’”
Loney started selling loaves and baked goods to friends and family before officially launching Gemini Twins (named after her twins, naturally) in 2024, first appearing at La Mesa Oktoberfest. Now, you can pick up her products at the Lakeside farmers market on Thursday afternoons, the Sharp Grossmont farmers market every other Friday morning, Cardiff farmers market on Saturday mornings (although not as the main bread vendor), and the first and third Saturdays of every month in her driveway—just follow the sourdough signs.
Gemini Twins mainly sells sourdough loaves, both traditional and flavors like blueberry lemon basil (made with lemon basil, not lemon and basil) and Dilly Jack (dill, Monterey Jack cheese, and dried onion), plus cookies, cinnamon rolls, scones, and bagels. Loney makes her own in-house blend of fresh-milled whole grain wheat that she mills herself, along with Central Milling organic high-mountain bread flour, a blend of spring wheat and high protein winter wheat. Using organic is key, she says, to avoid negating the health benefits of fermentation with possible exposure to pesticides, herbicides, or other chemicals.
After leaving a steady job in construction to launch Gemini Twins, she’s determined to make it work by any means necessary—literally. When she was pregnant with her youngest child, she was baking up until and actually on the day she gave birth. “It’s a dedication for sure, but it’s one that I love,” she says. Launching a viable sourdough brand isn’t exactly the easiest business to get into—most farmers markets and small grocers already have an overabundance of products. But the chance to be her own boss, support her wife who’s currently going to school full-time (as well as their kids), work from home, and share her wares across San Diego? It’s worth it. “The most important part is that it’s family-based,” she says. “We’re just hoping to see it grow… there’s a pretty big horizon in front of us.”
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Beth’s Bites
- The hottest weekend of the entire year is upon us: the Del Mar Wine & Food Festival’s two-day Grand Tasting. This scorching-hot bonanza of bites and beverages hits Surf Sports Park on Saturday and Sunday at Surf Sports Park, with the biggest star-studded lineup of culinary talent this side of the Mississippi. Rub elbows with chefs like Drew Deckman (Deckman’s en el Mogor), Matt Peters (Bocuse d’Or champion), Mawa McQueen (Mawa’s Kitchen, Mawita), and many more from your TV screen to San Diego’s most delicious weekend. Tickets are (almost!) sold out, so get your hands on some Grand Tasting tix before they’re gone forever… or at least until next year.
- The Kitchen @ MCASD got the memo—it’s apple season. On October 1, the scenic eatery will host a five-course tasting menu showcasing the versatility of America’s (okay, maybe just my) favorite fruit. From savory pastries to apple cider doughnuts, won’t you join the growing ranks of apple enthusiasts and welcome the start of fall?
- When I found myself on Coronado this week, there was no way I was leaving the island without trying Moo Time Creamery’s viral half-baked cookie sundae for myself. The ooey gooey chocolate chip cookie comes with your choice of ice cream (I went with coffee) and an optional chocolate drizzle for a ridiculously indulgent, messy, delicious, over-the-top treat that I needed a full day to recover from. In short: get thee to Orange Avenue.
- What I have not yet managed to snag is the ultra-viral, instant sellout pizza by AJ Miller in Ocean Beach. Trying to get one of his 15 New York-meets-New Haven-style pies each week is harder than getting Comic-Con tickets, so needless to say, I must have it! AJ, can we talk?
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