Favourite local baker

1. Cora Wiens, Eadha Bread
2. The team at Tall Grass Bakery
3. A massive tie

Cora Wiens, owner of Eadha Bread, won the Uniter 30’s favourite baker category for the past few years, and for good reason.

Located on Ellice Avenue in the West End, Eadha Bread is known for its community spirit and great sourdough baking. 

Wiens explains that “everything is fermented with our sourdough starter that we feed and care for every day in the bakery,” including “an assortment of sourdough breads, cookies, cakes, scones, cinnamon buns, pies and twists.”

The bakery began as a solo project in 2016. At that time, Wiens rented a shared kitchen space and sold her products at markets. 

“I was picking up the flour from the mill, making the bread ... driving it to the farmers’ market and handing it to the customer, who was eating it,” she recalls, “so it was me the entire way through.”

In 2018, as demand grew, Wiens expanded the business and opened the storefront on Ellice Avenue.

Wiens points out that “the business has transformed far beyond (its early stages) in these last four-and-a-half years, and there’s no way that could happen with just me.”

“We have a full staff of wonderful bakers, who are basically the bakery at this point. I feel like it’s the reputation of the bakery that has me winning favourite baker, and that reputation can’t just sit on my shoulders.”

One thing that makes Eadha unique is their focus on community-building. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Wiens says “we got in the habit of doing a pizza party once a month ... We’d make a bunch of pizzas and sell them, and a good portion of the price of the pizza would go to raising funds for community organizations and initiatives.”

The pandemic has posed many challenges, Wiens explains. “I’m a bit weary for it at this point, and I know the staff are feeling that, as well.”

“But I think that spirit of community being able to be together is still echoing in the bakery,” she says.

Published in Volume 75, Number 12 of The Uniter (December 3, 2020)