Wingfield Bread Company sells at the Prescott Farmers Market on Saturdays, the Prescott Valley Farmers Market on Tuesdays as well as farmers markets in Camp Verde and Sedona. Market Manager JB Del Campo sat down with Rachelle to learn more about their business.
Prescott Farmers Market: Tell us about who you are and where you’re from. Have you always lived in Arizona?
RWP: My name is Rachelle Wingfield Pozza. I was born in Arizona. My kin, the Wingfields, were early Arizona pioneers who settled in Camp Verde.
PFM: What do you sell at your booth?
RWP: We sell sourdough bread, cookies, cornbread, and yeasted donuts in a variety of flavors.
How long have you had your business?
RWP: We’ve been operating for six years. We started off very small, completely on our own. We didn’t have any grants or loans; we built everything from the ground up. The American Dream!
PFM: Tell us about how you get ready for the market.
RWP: The bread is made the night before. It takes about 8 to 9 hours for it to rise properly, letting the natural yeast process correctly. In the morning, the bread is ready to be packaged and sent to the market.
PFM: How would you explain cultured sourdough starter to someone who doesn’t know about it?
RWP: Wingfield uses the European (or “Old World”) process of making bread, which is how the pioneers did it. This process takes longer – but it makes the bread come out so much better because of the natural process the yeast takes. We use a five year old culture which we feed constantly. The culture we use in each bread is from a mother culture and a small portion is extracted for a large batch (approximately 44 loaves).
Note from PFM: More information on sourdough starters can be found at this external link.
PFM: What’s special about your business?
RWP: We are a family-driven business. We create a family environment and lifestyle to strengthen the community around us. It’s how our forefathers did it, and we hope to continue that same community with love and hard work.
PFM: What are your plans for the future?
RWP: Right now everything is done from home with a small conventional oven. We would hope to one day expand our facilities, with larger ovens, to produce more with the increase in demand.
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