Feature: Fresh ingredients, friendly people

At Great Harvest Bread Co., wheat is harvested from the high plains of Montana and milled on site at the bakery. From that basic ingredient, breads and sweets are baked five days a week. The company’s signature honey wheat bread has only four other ingredients: filtered water, honey, yeast, and salt.

The Des Moines store opened about eight years ago and has been owned by Julia and Brian Borchardt since May 2005. Julia handles the day-to-day operations and much of the baking. Great Harvest Bread Co. is based in Dillon, Montana, but franchisees have considerable leeway in developing their own breads and sweets and in determining the schedule for breads.

When first entering Great Harvest, take a look to the right where breads sit waiting to be sampled. A thick slice of your choice will be cut and a spread or two offered. Do not hesitate to ask for samples of more than one bread. While enjoying the flavor and texture of the bread, either pick up a copy of the monthly bread schedule or look at the chalkboard on the north wall. This schedule is essential for cooks who like to plan their meals in advance.

Julia told me that customers delight in sharing their recipes for meals that accompany the bread they buy. She told me one gentleman stopped at the bakery to buy garlic cheese bread to go with his chili. He then wanted to share his special chili recipe. Other customers are not sure which bread to select to accompany their dishes. “That’s what so fun about this job,” Julia said. Customers “love talking about their bread.”

The day begins for Julia and the other bakers at 3:30 in the morning. They mill the wheat on an electric-powered stone, but that does not take long. Rising, without preservatives or other additives, requires time, though. The first loaves come out of the oven around 9:30 or 10:00 a.m. and baking continues for about another hour.

The bakery opens at 7:00 a.m. and a few loaves will remain available overnight for early morning customers. However, there is no guarantee that any particular type of bread will last until closing. Requests to hold a loaf are accepted and regular customers have placed standing orders. Julia said she has not had to retire any bread but sometimes she will remove one from the rotation for a couple months due to slowing sales. Then, when she returns it to the schedule, it will sell as well as it did before.

Great Harvest encourages its franchisees to experiment with recipes. The only requirement is that they share recipes with each other. Thus, if you have visited another Great Harvest bakery and particularly liked a bread or a sweet but do not see it on the local schedule, do not hesitate to ask about that item. At the Des Moines store, the bakers are increasing their selection of sweets. They considered baking an organic bread but obtaining ingredients, particularly organic honey, can be a challenge and quite expensive. Julia said they are trying to come up with a sourdough and with a gluten-free bread. There is a demand for gluten-free products but getting the taste right is difficult.

Other than the wheat, local sources for the ingredients are sought. Honey, which is the principal sweetener, comes from Perry, Iowa.

Julia said some of the bakery’s best-selling breads are the honey whole wheat, Dakota four-seed, and cheddar garlic. I asked Julia what her favorite was. She kept thinking of certain breads that she likes at different times of the day and the list rapidly grew too long to keep track. Many of the loaves are available in full size and in half size. The weight varies by the type of bread but is generally around two pounds for a full loaf.

Julia said she has “always had passion for baking and cooking.” She and Brian had enjoyed patronizing Great Harvest stores in other places where they lived. Fortunate was such that when they were ready to buy, the original owner of the Des Moines franchise was ready to sell. Brian hails from Forest City, Iowa, but Julia comes from Buffalo, New York. Before taking on the operations at Great Harvest, she spent seven years at home with her children. Now her 12-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son help with the bakery. There are ten employees, most of whom are part-time.

Great Harvest Bread Co. is located at 543 28th Street, just north of Ingersoll, in Des Moines. Hours are 7:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 7:00 am. To 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. It is closed on Sunday and Monday. The local store does not have it’s own web site, but the telephone number is (515) 288-0899.

M.R. Field is editor of Leading Voices: Iowa.