Have you ever tasted a homemade cookie, or a slice of cake, and told the person who made it, “This is so good, you could sell it”? Today, many Americans are taking the compliment seriously. And they’re making a killing.

Gabby Golden lives in Dyersville, Iowa (population: 4,500). Her career as a home baker started in 2023, when she made a few loaves of sourdough bread for a church fundraiser, which sold out immediately.

“My husband was like, ‘Babe, you should make bread and sell it,’ ” she said.

Golden’s husband is a pastor, and at the time their family of six was reliant on his income. To help out, Golden said, “I was planning to go to nursing school.” But she thought baking might be a way to make extra grocery money in the meantime.

Soon, she was at a local farmers market hawking sandwich bread and jalapeño cheddar loaves every week. But managing her four kids while manning her booth was chaotic, and she found herself wondering: Could she sell her bread from the covered porch of her 1,300-square-foot home instead?

She started doing just that in January of 2024. “I set it up really cute, and then I started advertising,” she said. “Word of mouth in a small town travels like wildfire.”

These days, Golden sells about 60 loaves of bread a week, and between 600 and a thousand cookies, plus dozens of scones. Six months ago, she upgraded to a 20-quart industrial mixer to accommodate larger volumes of dough. Golden Goods, as she called her at-home bakery, hasn’t just subsidized the weekly grocery shop, she said; it has paid for a trip to Disneyland, plus two couple’s cruises to the Bahamas, and “multiple car repairs” that added up to around $7,000. All in all, Golden said she brings in approximately the same as an elementary school teacher would in her area. Except, she gets to work from home, and for herself.

“I feel like God handed me the home bakery and said, ‘Here, this is going to be your extra-income source. This is gonna help you stay home with your kids. This is gonna be a blessing to your family and your community.’ ”...