Featured Business: Wise Oven Bakery

By Cory Kibler

Although the Havelock neighborhood is now a part of Lincoln--it was once its own village until it was annexed by the city of Lincoln in 1930-- it is still very much its own community.  Havelock’s former downtown area is its current business district, and the home to a wide variety of fine local restaurants, art galleries, bars and shops that all have a certain small town charm.      

Started in early 2007 by the native Havelock husband and wife team Todd Rivers and Susan Ames Rivers, Wise Oven Bakery is surrounded by businesses that have already made their mark in Historic Havelock. Taking up residence at the back of the Against the Wall Art Gallery and below the already popular Pepe’s Bistro, Wise Oven Bakery is just as unique and charming as the neighborhood and businesses surrounding it.

     
One distinctive aspect of the bakery is its imposing oven. The owner of the building, John O’Hare, laid the brick for the oven and Todd Rivers (a metalworker by day) got an old boiler-cover from a friend and converted it into an oven door.  Stamped on the face of the door is the word “Wise,” and settled in between the letters is an owl--the inspiration for the bakery’s moniker. The Rivers utilize this distinctive wood-fired oven to create their all natural, “old world” style breads.

The Rivers’ business venture was actually inspired by another bakery in Hastings, NE called the Back Alley Bakery--as a tribute, both bakeries share similar baking methods. However, while Todd stated that he and Susan are “very interested in food,” they didn’t want to start a full-blown restaurant because running one can be “almost suicidal.” 
     
Indeed, the overhead for a restaurant is incredibly high--the hours are long and the work is often unrewarding, both emotionally and monetarily.  It also requires a great deal of time, something the Rivers have little of. Therefore, they decided to compromise.  The shop is only open from 12-5 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. For the couple, the bakery is more of an enjoyable hobby than a livelihood. 
     
Even so, it takes up a great deal of time. When the shop isn’t open to the public, the Rivers and their full-time baker Laura Christensen are constantly in the bakery working on their selection of breads.  During my visit, I was fortunate enough to sample their green apple bread and black olive bread (the black olive bread being my personal favorite), but the bakery also offers white, wheat, sesame, garlic, cinnamon-raisin-walnut, sunflower wheat, multi-grain, honey-oat, green olive, rye and beer breads. They also feature some delectable sourdough cinnamon rolls.
     
While the black olive and beer breads have proven to be among Wise Oven’s most popular products, the Rivers say that their white bread (or any bakery’s white bread, for that matter) is the true test of a bread’s quality.  Since the white bread is the foundation for all their breads, the Rivers firmly believe that “if you can make white bread taste good, you can make any bread taste good.” 
     
The thing that makes Wise Oven Bakery especially unique is the fact that they bake their bread without using the standard fast-rising commercial yeast to make their bread dough rise. Instead, they opt for the (much slower) natural-leavening process. This process sees the dough mixture of flour and water being allowed to rise for a long period of time (6 to 8 hours). During this time, a complex family of bacteria thrive on the rich nutrients found in the flour, producing carbon dioxide gas. With fermentation brings the leavening of the bread dough, an all around intricate process with healthy advantages.

This method is highly uncommon--the Rivers estimate that the three closest cities that share the same methods are Hastings, Nebraska; Kansas City, Missouri and Ann Arbor, Michigan. 
     
This natural-leavening process technically makes all of Wise Oven’s breads “sourdough breads,” but that title is a bit misleading. The term “sourdough” simply means that there isn’t any commercial yeast in the bread, not that it will possess the flavor normally associated with sourdough bread.
     
The advantages of this process are few, but extremely important.  First, the bread takes on a completely different flavor, as it’s leavened utilizing a naturally-occurring community of local organisms.  It is literally a product of its surroundings, as the climate of where the bread is baked affects how it will look, feel and taste.  The bread would be different if it were leavened in San Francisco, Barcelona or anywhere else, and so the bread from the Wise Oven Bakery is truly unique to Havelock.
     
Second, it theoretically offers more complete nutrition. According to an article by Dr. Mark Sircus, with sourdough bread, complex carbohydrates are broken down into more digestible sugars and protein into amino acids. The fermentation process greatly helps to aid the digestion of all complex carbohydrates, restoring the functioning of the digestive tract and creating a more positive digestive experience. Studies also reported that sourdough bread can significantly lower serum glucose and insulin responses, ensuring that blood glucose levels remain in line and guard against diseases like diabetes.

Wise Oven Bakery has only been around for a few years and the business is a little tricky to find (there are no signs on the front--you have to enter the Against the Wall Art Gallery and walk all the way to the back), but the Rivers have faith in the potential for their business, as well as the other businesses in the Havelock community. 

Personally, Todd hopes that “more people will appreciate this unique bread and seek it out.” With the national growing interest in locally-sourced, organic “slow food” and the fact that Wise Oven Bakery produces a definite quality product, it is likely that Lincolnites will offer their patronage to such a unique business.