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When Alexandra Gold and Alexis Dalinka first started baking sourdough, they weren’t thinking about launching a business — they were thinking about survival.

“Sticky dough sticks to everything. Bowls, sinks, tools. Once it dries, it feels almost impossible to remove,” Dalinka shared with the New York Post. “At one point, it actually backed up so badly that the starter literally exploded out of the drain. It was like a sourdough science experiment gone wrong.”

That very real frustration became the spark for Dough Dissolve, the women-owned, patent-pending cleaning solution that has now gone viral among home bakers, selling out its first two production runs and already preparing for a third.

Gold and Dalinka are not professional chemists or cleaners but rather experienced brand builders who decided to solve a problem they personally faced. “The funny part is we had absolutely no background in the cleaning industry until Dough Dissolve,” Gold admitted. “For years, we helped build brands and develop products for other companies. Dough Dissolve is the first company we built for ourselves.”

The two women self-funded the venture, breaking open their own piggy bank to create something sustainable and thoughtful, designed to make sourdough cleanup effortless.

The need was clear. Traditional dish soap, Gold explains, simply isn’t designed for dough. “Dish soap is designed to break down fats and oils. That works great for greasy pans, but dough is a completely different kind of mess. Dough is mostly starch, not fat, so regular dish soap is not actually targeting the structure that makes it sticky.”

Enter Dough Dissolve, which uses a high-potency, food-grade amylase enzyme system to break starch bonds at the molecular level, paired with natural soap nut surfactants to rinse residue away. “It becomes a one-two punch. The enzyme breaks the starch down and the surfactants wash it away, turning a frustrating cleanup into something quick and easy,” Dalinka says.

The concept evolved naturally from their personal frustration to a serious business opportunity. “Once we realized we were both dealing with the exact same frustration with dough cleanup, we had a gut feeling we probably weren’t the only ones. At some point, we just looked at each other and said, ‘If no one has solved this yet, why can’t we?’ So we followed that instinct and decided to build it ourselves,” Gold explained.

Their process was a meticulous year-long journey, testing countless formula versions to balance effectiveness with ingredient integrity. “The biggest challenge was balancing effectiveness with our ingredient standards. We wanted something that truly solved the problem but still aligned with our values,” Dalinka added. The result is a product that is non-toxic, cruelty-free, sustainable, gentle on hands and yet tough on dough residue.

Dough Dissolve is beyond convenience and is keyed in on preserving the joy of baking.

“Baking itself was such a joyful ritual. It’s slow, grounding and nourishing. But the cleanup was starting to get in the way of something we loved doing,” Gold reflected. By targeting the unique chemical properties of starch, the product dissolves dough instead of forcing bakers to scrub or risk clogged drains.

“Every ingredient had to meet rigorous safety guidelines while still delivering real performance,” Dalinka emphasized.

The reception has been extraordinary. A video demonstrating the product went viral on TikTok, confirming just how widespread the problem of sticky dough really is. “Home bakers, professional bakers, micro bakeries — pretty much anyone who works with dough deals with the same sticky residue and frustrating cleanup. The more people we talked to, the more we heard the exact same stories about clogged drains, ruined sponges and bowls that take forever to scrub,” Gold said.

Fans have responded enthusiastically, sharing stories of how Dough Dissolve has transformed their weekly baking rituals — and Gold and Dalinka see Dough Dissolve as only the beginning.

“We believe bakers deserve tools designed specifically for their craft, and we are already working on several new products we hope to launch soon,” Dalinka said. For now, they remain deeply connected to the sourdough community that inspired their product. “We are incredibly proud of how Dough Dissolve has grown and, most importantly, the community that has formed around it,” Gold noted.

For anyone who has ever faced the dreaded dough cleanup, Dough Dissolve promises a simple solution. Just add water, let the enzymes work their magic and watch stubborn dough dissolve, leaving bakers free to enjoy the slow, satisfying ritual they love without the sticky aftermath.

As Dalinka puts it, “That is exactly why we created it.”

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