Sourdough

Lois Clary works as a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with large ambitions. She spends her days writing code and her nights too tired to do much else. Her only regular human contact is with two brothers who run a small neighborhood takeout place, where she orders dinner every evening.

When the brothers hit visa trouble, they have to shut the shop quickly. Before they go, they give Lois one last delivery: the sourdough starter they used for their bread. She is told to feed it daily, play it music and learn to bake with it. She has never baked, but she has been lonely, and a demanding colony of microorganisms is at least company.

The bread turns out well. Lois soon eats her own loaves and supplies the General Dexterity cafeteria every day. The company chef pushes her to bring her bread to a farmer's market, which points her toward a very different life from the one she has been living at her desk.

The book is a contemporary workplace and food story with a light, curious tone. It begins in the isolation of long tech hours and moves toward something warmer, built around one odd gift and a woman learning a new craft by hand.