Last year, Patrick Duffy had a cameo role in the BET series The Family Business, and this year, he has a starring role in a real-life family business. The venture is called Duffy’s Dough, and together with partner Linda Purl, Patrick has resurrected an old family recipe, the sale of which is helping to fight hunger in America.
The saga of Duffy’s Dough dates back to the Alaska gold rush of the 1890’s when miners developed a starter culture used in the making of sourdough bread. Fast forward to 1952, when Patrick’s family moved to Alaska, and his mother Marie was gifted a batch of sourdough starter, which she used to bake the special bread and serve as part of their daily diet.
Marie’s recipe was passed down to Patrick, but the actor had little time for baking because of his non-stop career, which included starring roles in The Man From Atlantis, Dallas and Step by Step. However, during the pandemic, he and Linda used their free time to bake sourdough bread for friends, and the recipe was so well-received that the couple decided to share it with the public.
I first met Patrick in 2009 when I produced and moderated “A Salute to TV Dads” for the Television Academy. That night, Patrick was joined on stage by fellow TV fathers including Dick Van Dyke, Bryan Cranston, Michael Gross, Bill Paxton, Jon Cryer, Dick Van Patten, and Reggie Vel Johnson. It was a landmark event that resulted in lasting friendships between and among the participants. I caught up with Patrick recently to learn more about Duffy’s Dough.
JL: What was the impetus and mission for starting Duffy’s Dough?
PD: It was never in my mind to make a business out of my mom’s sourdough recipe. Linda and I began to think of what kind of legacy we could leave behind. We’ve been fortunate in our careers, and taking Newman’s Own as our example, we thought we could use the sourdough starter as a business if we could give away 100% of the profits to charities. Food security seemed like a natural goal for a bread-making business.
JL: How did you go about selling and distributing Duffy’s Dough?
PD: Doing the research, we narrowed down the possible companies and chose Kroger to be involved with because they make their own products and, most importantly, they have a “Zero Hunger, Zero Waste” mandate for their stores. They also have one of the most vigorous philanthropic arms of all the food companies. Therefore, they were the perfect company for us. We pitched our idea to Kroger’s Board, and it fit with their business model.
JL: Help me understand. Kroger isn’t baking and selling the sourdough bread itself, right?
PD: Right. Our product is the dough that you use to bake your own sourdough bread with, and it’s taken directly from my mother’s original sourdough starter. Kroger’s test kitchen came up with a variety of breads, and we narrowed it down to multigrain loaf, regular loaf, baguette, dinner rolls, and sandwich rolls.
JL: Is Duffy’s Dough exclusive to Kroger’s?
PD: Yes, you can only buy it at Kroger’s or its affiliates. We have a website where you can learn about Duffy’s Dough, but it is not sold online. So far this year, Linda and I have appeared at some of the stores that offer Duffy’s Dough, and the rollout will conclude in Alaska this June, the state where my mother got the original sourdough starter.
JL: It seems like everyone is on some sort of health kick these days. Is sourdough bread a good source of nutrition?
PD: Sourdough is healthier for you and has many advantages over plain breads. We get reports of people saying sourdough is easier for them to digest, and it’s growing in popularity. Recent data shows that the sourdough market is growing by about 12% each year.
And that rise in popularity is good news for food banks nationwide who will benefit from the sale of Duffy’s Dough.
The product is already available in nearly 20 states, including at Kroger stores in North Carolina, where food insecurity is a problem for one in six people and where one in five children don’t get enough food to thrive.
Duffy’s Dough is a labor of love for Patrick and Linda, both of whom are still acting, sometimes on the same stage in productions like “Love Letters”. Of course, you can also see them on various channels and streaming platforms (Linda in shows like Happy Days and Matlock), but now you can see an illustration of Patrick’s face on every package of Duffy’s Dough.
JL: Is your face the logo for Duffy’s Dough because you are still so disgustingly handsome?
PD: The logo is a compilation of headshots so that my age is timeless and not a representation of who I am at 77! I’ll be like Betty Crocker.
You can learn more about Duffy’s Dough at DuffysDough.com.
Duffy’s Dough Rises to Fight Hunger
Last year, Patrick Duffy had a cameo role in the BET series The Family Business, and this year, he has a starring role in a real-life family business. The venture is called Duffy’s Dough, and together with partner Linda Purl, Patrick has resurrected an old family recipe, the sale of which is helping to fight hunger in America.
The saga of Duffy’s Dough dates back to the Alaska gold rush of the 1890’s when miners developed a starter culture used in the making of sourdough bread. Fast forward to 1952, when Patrick’s family moved to Alaska, and his mother Marie was gifted a batch of sourdough starter, which she used to bake the special bread and serve as part of their daily diet.
Marie’s recipe was passed down to Patrick, but the actor had little time for baking because of his non-stop career, which included starring roles in The Man From Atlantis, Dallas and Step by Step. However, during the pandemic, he and Linda used their free time to bake sourdough bread for friends, and the recipe was so well-received that the couple decided to share it with the public.
I first met Patrick in 2009 when I produced and moderated “A Salute to TV Dads” for the Television Academy. That night, Patrick was joined on stage by fellow TV fathers including Dick Van Dyke, Bryan Cranston, Michael Gross, Bill Paxton, Jon Cryer, Dick Van Patten, and Reggie Vel Johnson. It was a landmark event that resulted in lasting friendships between and among the participants. I caught up with Patrick recently to learn more about Duffy’s Dough.
And that rise in popularity is good news for food banks nationwide who will benefit from the sale of Duffy’s Dough.
The product is already available in nearly 20 states, including at Kroger stores in North Carolina, where food insecurity is a problem for one in six people and where one in five children don’t get enough food to thrive.
Duffy’s Dough is a labor of love for Patrick and Linda, both of whom are still acting, sometimes on the same stage in productions like “Love Letters”. Of course, you can also see them on various channels and streaming platforms (Linda in shows like Happy Days and Matlock), but now you can see an illustration of Patrick’s face on every package of Duffy’s Dough.
You can learn more about Duffy’s Dough at DuffysDough.com.