‘Bread Baker of Riverdale’ on Kelly Clarkson

The so-called “Bread Baker of Riverdale” went national last week with a spot on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”

Readers got to know Arnie Adler, a Riverdale commercial photographer, last year after he was featured in a pair of stories in The Riverdale Press. He had turned a COVID-19 hobby of making sourdough bread into a bakery barter business with a little help from his friends.

During a segment that Clarkson calls “What I’m Liking,” the television show host and singer introduced Adler: “It’s one of the biggest clichés of the pandemic. People making sourdough. Sixty-five-year-old Arnie from the Bronx hopped on that bread train, and it led to a wonderful and unexpected journey.”

“When the pandemic came, I had no work,” Adler said when asked how he started baking sourdough. “And I’ve always loved sourdough bread, eating it. But I was always intimidated on how to make it.”

He credits his daughter for pushing him to go forward with making the bread after she made some.

“I got to tell you, the first batch I made was terrible,” he said. “I then posted (pictures) of the bread online, and a friend of mine gave me some tips.”

To get started, he said you need to have a mix that includes the recipe as well as any additional flavoring.

“I was making all this bread,” he said. “And I needed something to do with them. So, I went to pantries” and they sold them for me.

Word of his bread and its tastiness went viral through word of mouth and social media. Even an artist friend of his, Nina Velasquez, dubbed him with the “Bread Baker of Riverdale” name with a drawing that has been posted online.

Clarkson ended the segment by praising Adler’s efforts during the pandemic.

“I love this story,” she said. “Life, it gets hard. But then it takes a left turn. It’s a whole ‘nother beautiful chapter. Thank you, Arnie. I’m liking your post right now.”

She saved the best for last by offering Adler $1,000 through a partnership with Pilot Pen.