The weekly rhythm to Derek Lucchese's work includes making bread dough on Thursday, baking it on Friday, and selling the end product on Saturday at the Thunder Bay Country Market.
On a typical Saturday at this time of year, all 500 loaves sell before the morning's over.
And he and his Both Hands Bread assistants also sell about 40 pizzas baked on-site in a portable oven that's also available for catering. On a recent Saturday, customers had a choice of four toppings: pepperoni, veggie, Hawaiian and spinach pesto.
The bread selection typically spans about eight varieties, Lucchese says. They include "hedgehogs" (a white sourdough loaf with sesame seeds), raisin fennel and rye.
The bread's organic flour - of which Lucchese uses a few tonnes annually - comes from Daybreak-Scheresky Mill in southeastern Saskatchewan.
Thunder Bay Country Market is open Saturdays at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition's Dove building from February to December. Both Hands Bread is there almost every Saturday.
"It's pretty slow in February, but still worth it for me to go," Lucchese says.
"In August I bake as much as I can and it all sells."
