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Heidi Van Erkel started Chick Chick Hooray last fall and has seen growth since then. Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune

Heidi Van Erkel loves experimenting with different types of sourdough bread. Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune

Heidi Van Erkel loves experimenting with different types of sourdough bread. Pictured here are cranberry, Oreo and classic loaves. Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune

Van Erkel cuts into a loaf of her Oreo sourdough bread. She makes both sweet and savory breads,but she said customers like the sweet ones best. Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune

Van Erkel said the cranberry loaf pairs well with a variety of foods. Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune

Van Erkel has a Minnesota cottage license through her business, Chick Chick Hooray. Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune

VanErkel’s chickens produce anywhere from 18-21 eggs per day. Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune

Each week, Van Erkel puts all of the goods she is selling into this shed,and people can drive through, pick them up and pay with cash or through Venmo. Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune

VanErkel’s chickens produce anywhere from18-21 eggs per day. Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune

It all happened organically when Heidi Van Erkel of Hollandale wanted to get chickens.

“I said, ‘OK, four chickens, super manageable,’” she said. “Then I went to the store with my children, and now we have 21.”

It hit her later that a chicken lays an average of an egg a day, and she realized quickly they didn’t need that many eggs.

At first she said she panicked, but then she decided to make a small farm stand outside her home and sell her extras to others. For the stand, she used the initial chicken coop she had ordered that ended up being too small.

On Sept. 13, she put out eggs and some sourdough cookies, and the following week, she put out homemade sourdough bread.

“It just spiraled from there,” Van Erkel said. “So I kept putting bread and eggs out on Fridays and cookies here and there.”

Under the name Chick Chick Hooray, the business has made a name for itself in the time it has been open selling eggs, cookies and a variety of both sweet and savory options of sourdough bread. Recently, she also started selling granola.

Van Erkel said she has a tier 2 Minnesota cottage license, which allows her to make and sell food from her home kitchen.

With the cookies, she makes everything from butterscotch chocolate chip, to classic chocolate chip, a sprinkle cookie and a couple of Crumble Cookie copycats that are sour dough.

For her breads, she has everything from a classic loaf that is probably the most versatile and can pair with everything, to a cranberry loaf, and sweeter options like Oreo, brown sugar cinnamon and blueberry brown sugar cinnamon. She also offers savory options such as three cheese, cheddar bacon and onion, onion and garlic, and everything but the bagel, among others.

She said she loves experimenting to come up with different combinations and said there was definitely a learning curve when she first started.

“It was like a competition with myself when I first started because you have to figure it out,” Van Erkel said, noting the outcome can depend on many factors, including the weather and the temperature of your house. “When you start adding ingredients to it, it can just unravel everything because some things make it rise faster or slower. I just really enjoy figuring it out and having fun with it — and everybody loves bread.”

She said she only sells breads and cookies made with sourdough, noting the bread doesn’t make you feel bloated and is satisfyingly filling.

All of her breads are made into boules, which are round loaves.

Van Erkel started with sourdough bread after a friend in Austin was making it and gave her a starter one day.

She said she has never had a recipe book but listened to her friend’s instructions. She started measuring things out but then started going more by the feel of the dough.

“If you go by that, I don’t think you can mess it up,” she said.

When she sells the loaves, she weighs them to try to make sure they are all the same.

Each week on Wednesdays, she prepares her dough, waking up at 3:30 a.m. to start. She gets her dough going, does her stretch and folds and then moves on to her inclusions, when she incorporates other ingredients into the dough to add extra flavor or appeal.

From there she lets her dough bulk ferment while she is at work at Tubb’s Chiropractic, and then when she comes home before she picks up her children from day care to go to hockey practice, she shapes the breads and puts them into the refrigerator to do their cold ferment overnight.

Her baking day is on Thursday, which she starts after work until she’s done.

While it makes for a long day, it works with her schedule.

“I don’t know why, but I really enjoy making bread,” she said. “I never planned on doing this, but it’s just been really fun.”

She typically posts her menu for the week on Sundays on Facebook, and then updates the post when orders are closed. People interested in getting something from the menu that week should post in the comments on the page.

Fridays are pickup, where people can swing by her red “bread shed” near her home. She has all of the breads on shelves in the shed for that day, and people can pick them up at their convenience and pay either through Venmo or on the honor system.

She will also do special orders as her schedule allows, and she asked that people message her for those orders.

“Everyone has been pretty excited about it, and I love getting feedback from people,” she said.

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