1.    Cora Wiens (Eadha Bread)
2.    Quinn McMurray (Oma's Bakery) / Suzanne Gessler (Pennyloaf Bakery) / Oh Doughnuts (tie)

Winning the Uniter 30 poll for the second year in a row, Cora Wiens of Eadha Bread continues to be Winnipeg’s favourite baker as she brings happiness and sourdough-baked goodness to her customers.

“I never started off thinking this is where I would end up, but the business has just been growing as the demand grows, which is exciting for me,” she says.

The baker extraordinaire highlights that her business growth came in several stages.

“Eadha started in the summer of 2016 out of my house and selling at a farmer’s market,” she says.

“Over the next two years, business grew steadily, I got a regular customer base, and I started to do more farmer’s markets. During the second summer at the markets, I had quite a busy summer. I thought either I need to stop doing this or find a location for the bakery to run out of.”

Opting for the latter choice, Wiens began to bake bread out of Pizza Place’s kitchen while it was closed during the day. She became acquainted with the owner, who she later began renting a building space from in 2018, which is where the bakery is currently located.

Wiens credits her business growth to the rise in demand for sourdough bread and her unique breadmaking process.

“We do not have any commercial yeast in the bakery at all,” she notes.

“Everything that we make, including cookies and cakes, is fermented. So that means that everything takes a long time. It also requires the bakers to pay attention to the process, because the variables of time and temperature impact the process quite a bit.”

She says having a sourdough-only menu is great, because it caters to a range of health and dietary needs.

“It is nice to have a menu that is fully sourdough, because a lot of our customers are concerned about their health in different ways, as some have gluten intolerances and others may have high blood sugar,” she says.

As a business owner, Wiens gives crucial advice to prospective owners. She says although some business concepts may seem enjoyable and successful, it will not grow to its potential if there is not a demand for it.

So, she encourages, “it has to be something that you enjoy doing and something that people actually want.”

The warm aromas of Eadha Bread can be found at 577 Ellice Ave.

Published in Volume 74, Number 12 of The Uniter (November 28, 2019)