By Michelle Sharp, founder of Meet the Minnesota Makers

Tahir Sandhu and Gwen Williams of St. Cloud, Minnesota’s Artisan Naan Bakery found that the easiest way to eat the naan and other flatbreads they enjoyed was to make it themselves. 

“We started the bakery for purely selfish reasons,” laughed Gwen. “My husband was quite dissatisfied, and had been for years, with the frozen naan, roti and pita that we found in stores.” 

Channeling that disappointment into perfecting their own techniques and recipes led them to found a bread bakery in St Joseph in 2014. As demand for their naan, pita and chapati grew, they moved to a much larger facility in St. Cloud where you will find their retail store and wholesale bakery today.

What does ‘artisan’ mean for their bakery? Every single piece of bread is handmade, even as their production has increased. Nothing they sell has been pre-frozen.

Most recently, Artisan Naan Bakery began a new journey in sustainability by incorporating locally-cultivated Kernza® perennial grain into select bakery menu items. 

Gwen and Tahir learned about Kernza through AURI (Agricultural Utilization Research Institute). AURI is a Minnesota nonprofit that works with growers and food innovators to advance the Minnesota ag sector. AURI introduced the bakery to this new grain by embarking on a Kernza pilot project with them, as part of a Stearns County Soil and Water Conservation District research project.

Stearns County, where St. Cloud is located, is a transition point for the Mississippi River. North of St. Cloud, the river has consistently good ratings from the Pollution Control Agency. South of St. Cloud there are zones where it is unsafe to swim or fish. “We felt like we were geographically and operationally ideally located,” explained Gwen. “We’re a small bakery. We bake from scratch. Finding a use for this grain supports exactly the corner of Minnesota where we’ve built this life around our business.” 

Gwen explained that there were some adjustments necessary for their recipes because the gluten found in Kernza is weaker than gluten found in traditional wheat. You won’t have the rise you expect for a slicing bread. But for a flatbread baker, that doesn’t turn out to be a limitation.

The Marvel naan, which includes Kernza, has a ratio of 75% wheat flour to 25% Kernza flour. “I really like the flavor. I think that the Kernza brings a bold taste, something new for your tastebuds,” shared Gwen. “It’s bold in the same way that rye flour has a bold taste.” 

Initially the Kernza naan and pita were only available at the St. Cloud farmers’ market and at their retail location. Educating their customers was a high priority. “People were intrigued. I think initially people purchased this new bread because of the positive environmental impact of this grain on water and it being something new,” stated Gwen. 

Many of their customers were excited to learn that the University of Minnesota has one of the largest Kernza research programs in the country. Their customers were proud that the grain was being grown in Stearns County, which allowed them to support local growers as well as their local bakery. 

Gwen knew that they had a winning recipe once there were return buyers. “You can sell a product once based on novelty and its environmental draw,” said Gwen. “When they’re a return customer, you know that it’s for the flavor.”