Mom makes sourdough bread on international flight
Maria Baradell, a mom of five, traveled from Dallas to Barcelona, Spain, and decided to make sourdough on the airplane. In a viral TikTok, she can be seen mixing, folding and fermenting the dough. See it!
A woman went viral on TikTok recently for showing how she managed to make sourdough bread from scratch while she was 30,000 feet in the air. (See the video at the top of this article.)
Maria Baradell, known as @leadandloafco to her thousands of social media followers, recently traveled from her hometown of Dallas to Barcelona, Spain, to see her sister for the first time in six years.
In an era when making your own sourdough bread has become the prerequisite for "homesteading trad wives" on social media, Baradell decided to document her process in two videos that have been viewed over 1.8 million times combined as of right now.
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The mom of five told Fox News Digital that she fed her sourdough starter before she left her home in Dallas to ensure it would be ready to go later in the day.
In the videos posted, Baradell can be seen mixing water, starter, flour and salt into a large bowl on her connecting American Airlines flight from Chicago to Barcelona.
A woman made sourdough bread while on a recent flight to Barcelona, Spain, and documented it on social media. (@leafandloafco/TMX)
"I was very mindful not to bother anyone," she said.
"I boarded 15 minutes before my seatmates, which allowed me to mix the ingredients really quickly before they even sat down."
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After conversing with her fellow travelers about the bread experiment, Baradell said there were no issues among other passengers or flight attendants throughout the flight — saying she didn't think anyone even noticed.
Maria Baradell said her sourdough experiment wasn't even noticed on the flight by other passengers or flight attendants. (@leafandloafco/TMX)
Fox News Digital reached out to American Airlines for comment.
As the hours passed, Baradell proceeded to stretch and fold, coil fold and ferment — all while sitting the dough on her tray table.
Baradell explained that the sourdough went through eight hours of bulk fermentation during her flight, but it was still not ready to bake — something she said was due to the altitude, humidity and temperature of the airplane.
However, once Baradell made it to her sister’s kitchen in Spain, she pre-shaped the dough, let it bench rest and gave it a final shape before letting it cold proof for another 20 hours — and then finally putting it in the oven.
The mom of five completed nearly the full sourdough preparation routine while in the air. (@leafandloafco/TMX)
After posting the video to social media, however, some users had an issue with her experiment.
One user wrote, "Looks really cute, but please don’t do it in planes. It’s a really closed place and a Celiac could suffer an intoxication — the flour can easily ‘fly’ and spread."
Other social media users were concerned about the bacteria swirling around the cabin and advised her against doing this again.
Baradell took to TikTok shortly after and posted a video giving her sincere apologies for offending anyone with the post, saying, "Yep, I am that crazy lady who made bread on a plane."
Maria Baradell, right, arrived to see her sister in Spain with her sourdough bread in tow. (@leafandloafco/TMX)
She told Fox News Digital that bread is baked at 450 degrees Fahrenheit, which would kill any germs, and that she used hand sanitizer before every step.
"I said I wouldn’t try this again because it was brought to my attention that the flour could be a risk if there were Celiacs on the plane since the air recirculated," she said.
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Celiac disease is defined as an "illness caused by an immune reaction to eating gluten," according to the Mayo Clinic.
Some social media comments, however, had no issue with Baradell’s bread experiment.
Baradell said the bread turned out fine thanks to her hours of prep work on the plane. (@leafandloafco/TMX)
"As someone who gets super nervous flying, if I saw you doing this next to me, I would instantly feel relaxed," one TikTok user wrote.
Another said, "Now that’s what I call a dedication."
Baradell said her dream is to bring bread back to America and have "a bread baker in every neighborhood" by sharing hacks and content on social media.
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The woman, originally from Venezuela, told Fox News Digital that she started making sourdough bread in early 2024 and fell in love with it.
A woman made sourdough bread while on an airplane to see her sister for the first time in six years. (@leafandloafco/TMX;iStock)
"I started gifting bread to my neighbors who loved it so much they asked if they could buy it weekly, so I got licensed and started selling my breads," she said.
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Today, she makes 60-plus loaves of bread each week for her community.
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