Downtime Bakery’s Dayna Evans on Trading Food Journalism for Sourdough

Dayna Evans, owner and baker of Downtime Bakery / Photograph by Bre Furlong

If a hot new bakery had opened in Mount Airy a few years ago, Dayna Evans would have covered it. Instead, she runs the place.

A longtime journalist, including for Gawker, New York mag, and Eater Philadelphia where she worked as the editor, Evans started baking sourdough for fun. Then a little bit for charity. Next, there was a steady pop-up, and in December of 2024, Downtime Bakery — owned by Evans and her partner (in both life and starter), Sam Carmichael — became the latest addition to Philadelphia’s bread and pastry riches.

Downtime is a local’s place, but also increasingly a destination, and one that’s known for baking on a schedule. (It’s also this year’s Best of Philly winner for Best Bakery!) Certain loaves (challah, whole wheat sandwich bread, a weekly special) are only made on certain days, and what’s freshest and available throughout the day is also staggered.

Evans spoke with me on one of her two days “off” — and the one day that she uses her computer — to talk about her Delco roots, going all-in on career change, the importance of freshly milled local flour, and why she loves a fruitcake.

I am from … Leicester, England and Delco, Pennsylvania. My mom is American — she’s from Ridley — and my dad is British. I was raised in England until I was eight and [then] grew up in Springfield.

My favorite thing to eat as a kid in Springfield was … Imperial Pizza. I had it not that long ago, [to see] if it still tasted the way I remember. A real corn-mealy, sandy-bottom crust, and sweet tomato sauce.

My first baking memory … I’m from a really big Italian family, so a lot of my youth was spent around the holidays baking cookies: pizzelles, spritz cookies. We do a Thanksgiving doughnut in my family called scuppelles.

I started working with sourdough … Sam actually introduced me to sourdough 10 years ago. He had been baking sort of in the tech bro tradition: really specific about the details, and the starter. We’d just started dating, and he was going on a trip, and he had left some of his starter for me. And I was like, “Oh, it’d be a nice romantic gesture to make a loaf of bread for him.” Because he’s really into it, and it would show that I took care of his starter. It was a loaf of love for him, but it became my life.

And it was funny, because he had been so detail-oriented precise about his recipes and formulas. And I was like, “Oh, it’s not that complicated actually!”

Downtime Bakery’s bread / Photograph by Bre Furlong

I was originally inspired to bake for the public … by my husband. When I was baking a lot, and really learning and teaching myself, he saw I was so passionate about it. Being a baker is one of the happiest jobs in the world, because no one comes into a bakery in a bad mood. Everyone’s there to get something delicious. And when he saw how much I loved it, he really put the idea in my head that it could be something I do seriously.

The name Downtime comes from … the fact that I was working full-time at Eater and running the bakery in my downtime. Now I joke that [for] anyone who comes into the bakery, it’s their downtime.

I wake up at … on a good day, I wake up at 4:30 a.m. On a particularly busy day — where I have pre-orders, or there’s a holiday — I’ve been known to get up at 3 a.m.

The best time to come is … we get an intense rush right in the morning, because people want bagels. And people come at like, 10:55 a.m., or 11 a.m., because that’s when sandwiches and tomato pie comes out. But I’m such a pie fan. We do afternoon pie at 1 p.m. If you really want something good, definitely come then, because we care a lot about pie.

My best baking teachers were … so many. My mom is an incredible baker. And I learned a ton when I worked in Machine Shop. Emily Riddell, I’m not as inclined to precision as she is. She can really get things super-elegant: the most beautiful pastry you’ve ever seen. I learned a lot about French pâtisserie at Machine Shop that I didn’t know before.

And I learn so much every day from my staff. They’ll ask me a question, and I’m like, I actually don’t know the answer to that, and then we all have to go find it. It’s a real blessing to get to work with people who care and are curious. They help you become better at what you do.

Sam Carmichael and Dayna Evans / Photograph by Bre Furlong

The best thing about owning a business with your partner is … I say this all the time: He’s the best front of house person you could ever have, because he’s just really kind to people, and really warm. And I think we are symbiotic that way. Not that I’m not warm. But I’m so busy and I’m so stressed, in the back doing my work. It feels really fulfilling to know that there’s someone I trust so implicitly on the other side of things.

If I had to write about restaurants now, I would approach it differently by … I just have so much empathy for everyone who does it. Not that I didn’t before. But I think one of the things that food writing gets wrong sometimes is, there’s too much emphasis on the owners. I mean, you’re interviewing me. I’m an owner. We’re the faces of the thing.

But there’s so much that goes into running a place. The bakery is like a thousand stories from a thousand different people. So, I feel like I would try to do a better job of hearing more from people who are working in the places, rather than the people in charge.

Freshly milled local flour is so important because … we overlook flour as an ingredient. We talk about where the seafood is coming from, or, that this beautiful radicchio came from this farm. Flour is something that deserves to be highlighted, and deserves to be, like, actually good! And coming from a local place. For our bread in particular, we worked really hard on getting a formula right that highlights the flour that we’re using. And it tastes better. It just has so much more flavor and substance.

I wanted our tomato pie to be … vegan and not super sweet. I feel like sometimes tomato pie can be bracingly sweet. And a lot of the sauce that goes on tomato pie has Parmigiano in it. We have so many vegan customers, so it was really important for me that they are able to eat tomato pie as well. So, we keep that out, and it is so rich that it still tastes great.

Tomato pie and sandwiches / Photograph by Bre Furlong

For me, the best bagel … should have a nice exterior crunch and a chewy but softer interior. Something you can make a sandwich on that feels a bit more substantial on the chew.

I make Christmas fruitcake because … I’m obsessed with fruit in general. Any baked good that is fruit-based, I love it. And I think fruitcake is one of those pure representations of what fruit can be.

I grew up eating it. Obviously, I’m from England, so fruitcake is really huge in my family. It’s ritualistic. You start making fruitcake in October, and then you feed it with brandy every week. And I wrap mine in house-made marzipan and royal icing, and it’s just this really deluxe flavor that feels medieval. I get really excited about stuff that feels of a different era.

The most hours in a day I’ve worked … oh my God. I think there was one day I worked maybe … is 17 hours possible?

I feel a little crazy doing this sometimes … because it’s kind of relentless. There’s never not something that you’re trying to solve. A piece of equipment that’s not working, or you have to pick up hours. And specifically with bread, it’s not consistent. The days are so different, and the temperature changes things. Sourdough, you’re kind of at its whims or at its disposal. Once, I was feeding the starter, and crying while I was feeding the starter. I was just so burned out.

But you wake up the next day, and you do it all over again, and it’s like it never even happened the day before. I love what I do so much, and I feel such pride in it every single day. I really I feel like I found my life’s work.