The Fabulous Baker Girls

Like many small businesses, Terra Cotto bakery began in the kitchen

After years of cooking for a daughter with celiac disease, Jan Wilson began to capitalize on her new expertise. Another daughter, Jackie Hodgins, joined her to start the two-year-old business out of Nanton.

“My mother is a great cook and a great baker. The recipes are all our own,” says Hodgins.

Terra Cotto products are aimed at those with an allergy to wheat, or those with celiac disease, intolerance to the protein gluten, found in wheat, rye and barley. Terra Cotto blends a variety of flours for each recipe, such as rice bran, brown and white rice, potato, millet, and garfava (a mix of garbanzo and fava beans). The bakery sources its carrots and eggs from a local Hutterite colony.

Crowd-pleasers include the white chocolate and raspberry scones, and ‘everything muffins’ including carrot, coconut, nuts raisins, applesauce, and zucchini, much of which emanates from Alberta’s fall harvest. Terra Cotto also offers baking classes on Saturdays in Nanton, and plans to publish a seasonal cookbook full of original recipes this fall.

“We want to show people how to use a variety of flours and start enjoying foods again. It’s not as hard as people think it is,” adds Hodgins.

Alas, labour shortages mean that there is no more storefront sale of the baked goods. For store locations, check out www.terracotto.com.