At 4:00 on a Friday afternoon, there is a unique business in Ligonier Township that becomes a very busy place. WildFire Bread, at 3478 Route 711 North, is The Place To Be. Cars quickly fill up the small lot and parking stretches up and down the road. Customers are lined up at the door, anxiously awaiting their weekly sourdough bread fix. They happily exit the building clutching paper bags filled with heavy loaves - breads with names like Rustic White, 6 Seed, Cranberry-Pecan, Jalapeno-Cheddar, Guinness-Rye, Garlic-Parmesan, and Cinnamon-Raisin.
WildFire Bread was opened two years ago by Nate Johanson, a former sculptor and toy designer who has been passionate about the authentic tradition of ‘extended fermentation’ sourdough bread for more than seven years. The process of sourdough baking requires special fermentation by lactic acid bacteria and wild yeast. This type of bread does not use ‘baker’s yeast’, which was introduced about 150 years ago, allowing for the mass-production (and mass-consumption) of over-processed, cryptic ingredient-heavy loaves of consistently-formed bread. In contrast, Nate’s sourdough is made with organic wheat and a few other simple, often locally-sourced ingredients.
All told, the extended fermentation process from fermentation of the starter to a finished loaf takes approximately 36 hours. It’s the extra time that it takes to ferment the dough that also makes this type of bread easier to digest, and ‘Baker Nate’ often suggests this article to his customers who may have a gluten sensitivity. Chances are good that those who have developed a sensitivity or even an intolerance to gluten may be able to digest Nate’s bread much better than common store-bought loaves. Another advantage of the long fermentation process is that the sourdough microbes consume a lot of the excess sugars in the wheat, thus making this particular bread a low glycemic food. Nate says that, because of this, diabetics are able to eat his “Rustic White” with a minimal spike in their blood sugar.
WildFire is housed in a former seasonal ice-cream and sandwich shop. It is a shiny, tidy, tight space with four bar stools lined up in front of a tasting station - chunks of sample breads with a block of Irish grass-fed butter helps customers with the difficult decision of which artisan bread to take home. Customers are greeted by friendly employees who happily spread their knowledge of the benefits of fermented sourdough. The bakery houses a one-of-a-kind oven that ‘Baker Nate’ built himself, an impressive 9000lb structure that is capable of wood-firing 24 of their two-pound loaves of bread at a time, and also their famous soft, lye-dipped sourdough pretzels.
In addition to the unique breads and pretzels, WildFire also sells four different types each of organic granola and the softest, most delicious cookies on the planet, made by a local chef named Elise Wigle. During the winter she has also made soup - Potato Leek, Organic Chicken and French Onion soups pair well with a large slice of organic artisan sourdough!
Nate is intentional with his locally-sourced ingredients. For the popular Guinness-Rye, he has bought his Guinness from Maggie Nied of The Ligonier Country Inn, and he has also used beer from 4 Seasons Brewery in Latrobe. His Honey-Wheat bread sources honey from a beekeeper by the name of Alvin Leslie in Fort Hill, PA. All the flour used in this bakery is certified organic and comes from Frankferd Farms Organic Foods in Saxonburg, PA.
The fermentation process of sourdough is a careful, lengthy process, which is why WildFire doesn’t hold traditional bakery hours. Prior to the cold months of this past winter, WildFire was open two days a week. Sourdough didn’t rise well in the bitter cold (in a building that was poorly insulated due to its previous seasonal business), so Nate had to limit his sale day to Fridays only. The limited hours lend to its appeal, however… people wait all week for the door to open so they can line up to replenish their supply.
A plume of delicious-smelling smoke rises from the chimney on Thursday as Nate fires his oven and prepares his heavenly products for his Friday bake day. After two years delivering beautiful loaves of carefully-produced sourdough, WildFire Bread has established its product as one that is ‘worth the wait’. The presence of a business like WildFire Bread in Ligonier Township is a treasure. If you are visiting the lovely town of Ligonier, make sure you time your trip so that you can experience what WildFire Bread has to offer. Follow WildFire Bread on their website http://wildfirebread.com and their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WildFireBread. You can even take a virtual tour inside the bakery!
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