My Story

My name is Billy Lush, and I’m an actor and a baker — two things that don’t usually go together, but here we are.

On the acting side, you might’ve heard me in video games and voice work — including the game Dishonored. (Yes, the same hands that hold a controller also shape a lot of dough.) But these days, the thing I make most is bread.

I started baking sourdough back in 2012 to stay busy between acting jobs. There’s a lot of waiting around in this business, and somewhere between auditions I got it in my head that I could make better bread than what I was buying. One stubborn starter, a lot of flat loaves, and a few burnt-on-the-bottom disasters later, friends started calling me “The Bread Guy.” I took that as a compliment.

How Billy Bread started

For years I daydreamed about opening a bakery but always had an excuse. Then 2020 happened, the world shut down, and I officially ran out of excuses. I did some digging and discovered California’s Cottage Food Law — which lets you legally bake and sell certain foods right out of your home kitchen. That was the permission slip I’d been waiting for. In September 2020, Billy Bread was born on my kitchen counter in Newbury Park.

What began as a way to share a few extra loaves with neighbors turned into something I get to do every single week. No investors, no factory, no shortcuts — just me, my oven, and a community that keeps showing up for fresh bread.

What “small-batch” really means

When I say small-batch, I mean it. Every loaf is mixed, shaped, and baked by hand — no machines doing the work for me, no preservatives, nothing you can’t pronounce. My sourdough is naturally leavened with a starter I’ve kept alive for years, and the slow, two-day fermentation is what gives it that blistered crust and tangy, open crumb. The flagship Coyote Sourdough takes two days to make and about two minutes to disappear.

Because everything is made fresh in limited quantities, I bake on a simple rhythm: prep on Thursday, bake on Friday. You order online by Thursday and pick up — or grab a local delivery — on Friday while it’s still warm. Around here, Fresh Bread Friday is basically a holiday.

More than sourdough

These days the menu goes well beyond the classic loaf — pillowy Japanese-style milk bread, golden sourdough focaccia, browned-butter sourdough chocolate chip cookies, and rotating seasonal specials. I also teach hands-on sourdough classes for beginners, where you’ll go home with your own live starter, a banneton, and enough confidence to fill your kitchen with the smell of fresh bread.

Billy Bread is proudly a neighborhood operation serving Newbury Park and the greater Conejo Valley. When you order, you’re not buying from a faceless brand — you’re buying from a neighbor who takes bread a little too seriously. And honestly? Life’s too short for boring bread.

Thanks for being here. I can’t wait to bake for you.

— Billy