09/14/2026
🤗🫶 I don't have words, just immense gratitude.
🌟 Community Spotlight: Melly of The Undead Bread Co.
The story behind “The Undead Bread Co.” starts long before the first loaf was sold. Melly grew up in Hamlin, graduated from Brockport High School in 1998, moved around for a while, and eventually found her way back to Brockport.
“I did a lot of moving around in my young adult years, but all roads eventually lead back to Brockport for me.”
Melly has been baking since she was 8, back when Sunday mornings on PBS were about as close as you could get to watching cooking shows. Feeding people became one of her “love languages,” and over the years she became increasingly interested in recreating the foods her family loved without unnecessary additives. That eventually led her to sourdough.
Her original loaf is simply flour, water, salt, sourdough starter—and time. And yes, there’s a story behind the name. Sourdough relies on wild yeast, so in Melly’s words, it really is ”undead.” Her starter, created in late September, is named “Morticia” Add a family that loves spooky season and appreciates a good pun, and The Undead Bread Co. was born.
The business itself started almost accidentally. Melly was baking so much that her family couldn’t possibly eat it all, so she began putting baked goods on a table at the end of the driveway and giving them away. Over time, it grew into something much bigger: a way to feed both her family and her community while keeping prices as affordable as she can.
That community focus led to the **Community Loaf Program**. For $4, anyone can sponsor a loaf for someone experiencing food insecurity. Melly works directly with several local families and has also used the fund to provide bread to the Brockport Warming Center.
For Melly, being a good community neighbor comes down to one thing: "Giving back."
Of course, running a microbakery isn’t all warm bread and happy customers. There are dishes. Lots and lots of dishes. A bake day can involve dough prepared several days ahead, a 3:30 AM alarm to preheat the oven and cast iron Dutch ovens, baking 6–10 loaves at a time, then moving through everything else based on oven temperature. After that comes cooling, packing, labeling and cleaning. Melly can be on her feet for about 14 hours, then get up around 4 AM the next morning to make it to market.
And what are people lining up for? Bagels are a favorite, along with cinnamon rolls, danishes, the original sourdough loaf and browned-butter sourdough double chocolate chip cookies. Her own current favorite to bake is English muffins.
Much of the seasonal produce she uses comes from local farms including Kirby's Farm Market, Heberle’s, Partyka Farms and Robb Farms , along with honey from Edmister Apiary
But the part of the business Melly values most has very little to do with bread itself. She loves hearing that something she made has become a family favorite or a staple at someone’s table. “It’s satisfying at a soul level to feed and nurture the people and the village that I love so much, and I appreciate the opportunity to be included at someone’s table with every single sale.”
Seymour Library has been part of Melly’s Brockport story for a long time, too. As a self-described antisocial 12-year-old, she spent plenty of time at Seymour Library when it was still on State Street, stocking up on Stephen King novels for the long bus rides back and forth to Hamlin.
Now another generation of her family is using the library. Her children and grandchildren visit several times a week. Violet gets sewing lessons from Leslie, meets there with her Girl Scout troop and attends Pokémon Club, and the family recently helped break the mosasaur piñata.
So maybe it’s fitting that someone who spent so many hours growing up with books at Seymour Library now spends her days creating something else meant to be shared.
🍞 For Melly, baking is really about feeding the community—and getting to know the people in it.
Know someone who is always showing up for our community? Tag them below or send us a message. We’d love to feature them in a future Community Spotlight.
