TikTok baffled as airline passenger makes sourdough loaf mid-flight

Molly Byrne
Baker makes sourdough loaf mid-flight

Viewers were amazed at a TikToker’s ability to assemble a loaf of sourdough bread during her American Airlines flight. However, some thought it was too “unsanitary.”

TikToker Maria Baradell was flying from Dallas, Texas to Barcelona, Spain – a flight that lasted nearly 10 hours.

During this, Maria made her own sourdough loaf. While she didn’t have all of the materials to finish baking her “insane” dough, she made do with what she had.

In a viral TikTok, the baker said she “wanted to surprise my sister with a fresh loaf of bread,” and that’s exactly what she did.

While she was mid-flight, Maria began to make her sourdough. First, she added water, yeast, and flour into a mixing bowl. After mixing the dough until it all came together, the TikToker added salt.

She then began kneading the dough with her hands. Once that was done, she covered the dough for a duration of time until it puffed up enough to begin stretching and folding.

The baker then put her mixture aside and slept while the sourdough fermented for eight hours. By the time all of her steps were finished, Maria’s loaf was a ball of dough, ready for the oven.

Once Maria was at her sister’s home in Spain, she shaped the dough and allowed it to rest for another 20 hours before baking and serving.

Though she was busy at work during her flight, Maria said nobody around her was bothered by her baking assembly. “They were so nice and I didn’t bother them at all,” the TikToker said in response to a comment about what other passengers thought.

Other viewers debated about her decision to ‘cook’ on the plane, saying that it wasn’t sanitary. “This is why I don’t shake people’s hands or eat from people I don’t know,” wrote one.

Some, however, were impressed and found that Maria made good use of her flying time. “This is, without a doubt, an original experience,” said one.

TikToker Chef Barfly, who has gone viral for making food in a plane’s bathroom mid-flight, was also scrutinized for being unsanitary.

When he shared the shrimp and mashed potatoes he made in the bathroom sink, many viewers said he was exposing his food to “millions of germs.”