Food worth eating

It started with a vision to provide real bread to Fernie, but the Loaf Bakery is now serving more than, well, loaves

Fernie's Loaf Bakery has expanded past pastries and artisan breads and now offers meals as well. — Photo courtesy Phil Gadd

Loaf Bakery & Restaurant in Fernie has been following through on its vision to bring people authentic baked goods since 2009. Since opening, the bakery has moved locations and now includes delicious, but equally authentic, restaurant fare. If you’ve ever wondered what honest food tastes like, cut a slice of artisan bread from The Loaf. Owner Phil Gadd took some time to talk about where he and his wife have found their business inspiration.

Where did you find inspiration for Loaf Bakery?

It was actually from a bakery café that we discovered in the U.K. just before we immigrated. It was a style that we really liked and thought would work very well in Fernie. So, we essentially took that idea and brought it here.

Is there a particular cookbook that influenced you as you started your restaurant?

No, it wasn’t really cookbooks. When we first opened it was very much my and my wife’s ideas. Now we have a head chef who comes up with the ideas for the menu, so we’ve kind of evolved from just ideas that myself and my wife liked to where the kitchen is now run by a head chef. We employed, right at the start, a very experienced baker who had all the recipes. But it was the type of bread that we wanted to make. It was hand-moulded, artisan-style bread. It’s (moved) from simply stuff that we like to more of a professional angle.

Who would you name as your favourite chef or cook and have they influenced your own style?

We’ve never taken inspiration, really, from chefs. More just from the kind of food and type of bread that we wanted to make. We tried to be kind of original with what we were trying to do, but it’s been more inspired by the people that we employ, really.

What is one dish that you would say is it among the most popular at your restaurant?

Some of our pizzas are very well known and always get talked about. We have one called The Griz—which is kind of our take on a Canadian pizza—that is very well received. It’s a favourite among customers. We’re all about changing our menus regularly to meet the seasons, so we’re trying to give our customers something new all the time. But the pizzas are a constant.

The breads are also pretty consistent. We have our breads, which sell well every day, but especially in the summertime, when we do lots of farmers markets, we do create more specialty breads. Nothing is really set in stone for too long.