Baking with Integrity

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/04/2018 (2715 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

We begin today’s piece with word of Hildegard von Bingen, a German philosopher, artist and composer who also happens to be the namesake of Hildegard’s Bakery, a weeks-old venture at 686 Portage Ave.

Hildegard of Bingen, as she’s commonly referred to, was a major advocate of natural medicine. In her book Physica, written close to 850 years ago, she extolled the healing powers found in everyday objects such as trees, fruits and herbs. She was also a proponent of spelt, a grain routinely used to bake bread in the Middle Ages, before common wheat rendered it nearly obsolete. 

Lately, spelt has been making a comeback. According to an article published on the website www.organicfacts.net, spelt contains less gluten than traditional wheat, helps regulate metabolism, increases circulation, improves the immune system and assists in lowering blood sugar and cholesterol levels. All of which helps explain why the owners of Hildegard’s Bakery, which specializes in organic, whole-grain products including a few different spelt breads, chose to title themselves after the 12th century theologian, when they opened for business Apr. 7. 

“A few, for sure,” Hildegard’s co-owner Dave Newsom says, when asked how many customers have openly wondered, “So, which one of you is Hildegard?” when addressing him, his wife Judith Newsom and their friend and business partner, Michael Harms, since the trio’s grand opening.

“What’s also been interesting is talking to people already familiar with Hildegard of Bingen. For instance, there was one group of women who told me they were going on a religious tour of Europe in a couple months, and one of the things they were specifically interested in was visiting ruins of old monasteries Saint Hildegard helped start. Before I could tell them that’s who our bakery is named for, one of them asked if I’d ever heard of Hildegard of Bingen. To which I replied, ‘Hmm, let me tell you a little story.’ ” 

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Judith Newsom grew up on a farm seven kilometres north of Riverton, where her parents, Cornelius and Dora Friesen, raised livestock and grew cereal grains. In 2000, they changed direction completely, when they converted their double garage into a bakery called Integrity Foods. (Describing her mother and father as “life-long health nuts,” Judith explains they picked the tag “integrity” because the wares they were churning out were largely organic and “baked with love.”)

“Their customer-base was a mix of very conservative Mennonites from the surrounding area, hippie-types from Winnipeg’s Wolseley neighbourhood, who would drive out for the day and campers and cottagers from the Hecla (Provincial Park) region,” says Judith, whose parents also distributed their home-baked goods to various retail outlets, such as Vita Health in Winnipeg and Good n’ Natural in Steinbach.

OK, before we jump ahead to how, when Cornelius and Dora decided it was time to retire, Dave and Judith picked up the ball, so to speak, and carried on from where her parents left off, we should go back in time to the Newsoms’ first date, just over four years ago.

It’s somewhat amusing how the two met, Dave says, balancing the couple’s nine-month-old daughter Cora on his left knee. In 2013, Dave went on a pair of “not super-romantic” dates with one of Judith’s cousins. Towards the end of their second outing, Judith’s relative turned to Dave and said, in the politest way possible, she’d been thinking about it, and had concluded she knew the ideal woman for him.

‘… Ever since I met Judith, I’d often thought in my mind how cool it would be to be a baker, instead of an engineer, but had never said it out loud. Suffice to say, the moment I finally did, it just seemed to make perfect sense’
— Dave Newsom

“Our first date was Jan. 3, 2014,” Dave says, giving Judith a playful pinch on the shoulder when she remarks, “Wow, right day and month and everything.” “At the time, she was studying music therapy in Vancouver, but was back for the holidays. We went to Little Sister in the Village for coffee then walked to this Vietnamese restaurant in the West End that used to be Coconut Garden, but is now Pho Que Huong.” (After their interviewer interrupts them, stating, “Wow, that’s quite the hike; it must have been nice out,” Judith replies, “No, it was actually bitterly cold.” But because the conversation never waned during their 60-minute stroll, each went to sleep that night convinced they had just met their perfect match.)

Judith moved back to Winnipeg a few months later, following her graduation. She and Dave, who, at the time, was completing his master’s degree in engineering, picked up where they left off. In January 2015 — almost 12 months to the anniversary of their first date — they tied the knot.

According to Judith, Dave was “totally into cooking” prior to their relationship, but had limited experience with regards to baking. His interest in that area was piqued, however, as he began to learn more about the types of breads she helped her parents bake when she was living on the farm.

“He’s very scientific,” she goes on, using the term “bread engineer” to describe her spouse. “He loves doing research to pinpoint exactly what to change or alter, in order to get the desired result he’s looking for.”

In June 2016, Dave’s work contract with the Manitoba provincial government was set to expire. His chosen field — water resources engineering — is, in his words, highly specialized, so it seemed quite likely he would have to relocate to another part of the country if he intended to remain employed on a full-time basis. Because he and Judith were planning on starting a family, and because they didn’t want their children growing up without their grandparents nearby, moving from Winnipeg was never seriously discussed, Dave says.

“One day, I came home from work and said to Judith, more as a question than a statement of fact, maybe we should just start a bakery,” he says, sweeping away the crumbs from what’s left of his daughter’s pumpkin millet muffin. “The thing was, ever since I met Judith, I’d often thought in my mind how cool it would be to be a baker, instead of an engineer, but had never said it out loud. Suffice to say, the moment I finally did, it just seemed to make perfect sense.”

The Newsoms signed the lease at 686 Portage Ave., a former car dealership, in November 2016. Figuring they’d be up and running by August 2017, they spent the next several months driving back and forth to Judith’s parents’ place every few days, where they kept themselves busy perfecting recipe after recipe. The renovations at their own premises took much longer than originally anticipated — heck, have you ever tried building a 40-cubic-foot, wood-fired oven, brick by brick by brick? — so when they finally got around to welcoming their first customers three weeks ago, it wasn’t a surprise there was a lineup outside the door, when they flipped their sign from closed to open.

“We papered the windows during much of the renovation phase but for sure, when we took (the paper) down and people were finally able to see what we were up to inside, there were a lot of gawkers pressing their noses up against the windows,” Judith says, noting Hildegard’s has a seating capacity of 30, 31 if you include the highchair currently parked beneath a botanical “painting” comprised of moss and birch bark. (“We don’t have to water it, per se, but we do have to give it a spritz, every once in a while,” Dave explains.)

Hildegard’s, which is open Tuesday to Saturday, offers a mix of products, among them a prairie sourdough (a mix of rye, spelt and organic white flour), a Kamut-blend sourdough (Kamut and organic white flour), a “mostly white” focaccia loaf and two other sourdoughs, one containing cheese, the other done with olives. The owners will also offer a variety of sweets, including cookies and biscuits, and, beginning this week, Neapolitan-style pizzas, which Dave promises will taste better when devoured in-house, as opposed to take out.

“In my opinion, pizza should be eaten fresh,” he says, gritting his teeth when the topic of fast-food pizza joints that offer unlimited toppings for a pre-specified price comes up. “To me, pizza should have four high-quality ingredients, maximum, so that what you’re tasting is good tomatoes, good mozzarella and the crust. It shouldn’t be about piling on 10 different toppings; if it is, you’re missing the point.”

As for her own profession as a music therapist, Judith says she still plans to find time for it around her schedule at the bakery. (Hildegard’s Bakery is also responsible for producing and distributing Integrity Foods products, on a wholesale basis.)

“The funny thing is, I always envisioned myself as having a career involving music, being a mother and working part-time in a quaint, little cafe or something,” she says. “I just never expected it would all happen at once.”

David Sanderson writes about Winnipeg-centric businesses and restaurants. 

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca