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ORAL HISTORY
Anne Clapper
The Family Crumb
Anne Clapper, better known as Annie, was born in Des Plaines, Illinois. After moving to Bentonville, Arkansas, in 2017, she watched a sourdough-centric episode of Michael Pollan’s Cooked, and was, as she puts it, “hooked.” Not long after, a friend saw some images of loaves that Clapper had baked and asked if she’d be interested in selling at a local farmers’ market he ran. Although the first bake was stressful—Clapper recalls asking herself, “Is this the worst idea I’ve ever had?”—she decided to stick with it, and has since become one of the better-known bakers of sourdough in the region.
Although Clapper’s journey as a baker took some twists and turns (spending a year baking out of a commercial kitchen, for example), COVID-19 presented the biggest curveball. When her husband, a musician, saw all his work quickly dry up, the bakery became the family’s sole source of income. To Clapper’s surprise, her clients’ desire for bread was unwavering — and the bakery carried the family through those lean years. In fall 2022, she decided to take a step back from baking full-time and take a part-time job outside of baking. Although she’s still deciding what the future holds, she says her life is far more balanced now.
