The journey from being a cottage baker—legally baking and selling pre-ordered items to friends and family from your home kitchen—to opening a retail bakery storefront comes with a steep learning curve.
That’s certainly been the case for Atsuko Hammann, who ran her cottage bakery business for two years before opening Sour Rabbit Bakery in Platte Woods. She and her husband, Rolf Hammann, leased the former home of Anita’s Famous Rolls on January 1. By early March, they were open to the public—only to be forced to close the very next day due to heavy snowstorms that rocked the area and knocked out power at the bakery—not once, but twice.
When she finally reopened a few days later, Atsuko sold out of every item within hours. With just herself in the kitchen doing all the baking, she’s been trying to play catch-up ever since. When I showed up to interview her, she apologetically turned me away—she was too busy making cookies. Instead, I interviewed her husband, Rolf, who explained that while he is her partner in the business, the baking is all hers.
Atsuko learned her craft from Rolf’s mother, who was in the bakery business back in Germany, where he grew up. Atsuko has been honing those skills for over 30 years, although it was only three years ago that she began baking exclusively with sourdough starter as her leavening agent.
To manage the growing demand at Sour Rabbit, she now posts a weekly baking schedule so customers know what’s available on which days. She’s also in the process of hiring additional bakers to help—an enviable challenge for a bakery that’s only been open a month, but it speaks volumes about the quality of her handcrafted goods.
Sour Rabbit Bakery is open Tuesday–Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. During the week, she offers an array of fresh bread loaves, bagels, and pre-made sandwiches. Saturdays are for laminated croissants, Danish pastries, sweet rolls, and more. On Sundays, you’ll find loaves and a rotating selection of cakes and other desserts.
Inside the bakery, a mural painted by local Mexican artist Socorro Reyes Ramírez features Atsuko’s own drawing: two rabbit ears and a pair of eyes. It’s the bakery’s logo, and it captures the whimsical yet deeply personal nature of the business. The name, Sour Rabbit Bakery, was inspired by the sourdough starters Atsuko uses—one made from wheat flour, another from Japanese sake—and the rabbit, her favorite animal, and her birth sign in the Japanese zodiac.
The couple met and fell in love in Japan in 1986, where Rolf, a master sausage maker, was completing a culinary apprenticeship. After marrying, they debated where to live before ultimately choosing to move to Kansas City in 1997.
“Atsuko had always dreamed of opening her own bakery,” Rolf explained. “I helped her build her cottage bakery in our basement. Eventually, she wanted to go bigger. The cottage laws were too restrictive—she couldn’t make or sell cheesecake, for example, or sell to coffee shops and restaurants. She wanted the freedom to do that.”
The best-selling items at Sour Rabbit Bakery are also the ones Atsuko loves to make most—and the ones that take the longest: her pastries. Using sourdough starter, she crafts buttery French croissants, chocolate-filled croissants, and cinnamon swirls, just to name a few. On cake days, you might find German streusel cake filled with apple or plum-blueberry compote. She also makes a rich cheesecake with house-made strawberry sauce, flan with dulce de leche, and red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.
Her sourdough loaves vary widely—from seeded sourdough and green olive-rosemary to a classic boule (French for “ball”). Her bagels, which are more like sandwich rolls, come in flavors like sesame, plain, cheddar, asiago, and cheddar-jalapeño.
In less than three years, Atsuko has taken her passion for sourdough baking from basement to booming business—and Northlanders are taking notice. Most weekends, she sells out.
Which means if you want to try something from Sour Rabbit Bakery, you’d better get there early—for the best selection.
Sour Rabbit Bakery
7715 NW Prairie View Road, Kansas City
@sour_rabbit_bakery