The Bread Shed opens in West Sayville

One Saturday morning last October, Meggin Hall set up a cart that her father-in-law had made at the end of her driveway in Oakdale. On it, she placed about a half-dozen fresh sourdough loaves that she had baked with sign that said "fresh bread." When she checked on the cart later that afternoon, the loaves were gone, hungry passersby had left money in a cash box or used a QR code to pay via Venmo, and a new business was born.

Hall, a second grade teacher in Massapequa, had been baking sourdough bread for about two years when she started her driveway business. Four months later, she outgrew her home ovens, which could bake three loaves at a time, and bought a programmable, steam-injected Simply Bread oven, which can handle a dozen. She was able to make more bread, but soon outgrew the driveway.

On March 1, she opened The Bread Shed in West Sayville, a neat storefront that formerly was Infuse Tea Bar. Since she still teaches full time, Hall only operates the bakery on weekends, selling about 120 loaves (plus cookies and muffins) each Saturday and Sunday. By the time she opens the doors at 11 a.m., there are a few dozen people lined up outside.

"That first day, I overbaked — I figured it would be better to have stuff left over than to sell out. But it’s like I can’t make enough. Every day we are open we sell out, sometimes in 25 minutes, it’s never more than an hour."

The Bread Shed’s classic sourdough ($13) has the shape and upraised flap ("the ear") of a traditional loaf, but most are baked to a pale blond, not the deep, crackly-crusted russet of some other sourdough breads. "I like it softer," she said, "and a lot of my customers do too." Cinnamon-raisin ($17) is also available every weekend. (Both breads are available either round or as oblong "sandwich" loaves.) Weekly specials might include rosemary, garlic or everything-seed breads ($14 to $17) and there are always cookies (six for $12) and muffins (two for $8).

Hall believes that it’s not only the taste of her wares that keep her customers coming back. "Yes, people enjoy the flavor, but they also want to live healthier, they are looking at my ingredients and seeing no filler, no dyes, no preservatives — plus the health benefits of sourdough." (Sourdough bread gets its lift not from commercial yeast but from a "starter" that the baker feeds and maintains over the years and decades. This natural fermentation process is thought to promote digestive health.)

If not reluctant, Hall considers herself an accidental shopkeeper. "I just wanted somewhere to park the cart," she said. That cart isn’t nearly big enough to hold all the bread she sells, but it holds most of the muffins and cookies as well as sourdough knives ($25) also made by her father-in-law.

The Bread Shed, 106 Main St., West Sayville, Instagram: @south.shore.sourdough. Open Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. until the bread sells out.