our story
Sprout is a family owned and operated artisan bakery located in the beautiful Okanagan Valley of British Columbia.
Pete and Ava opened the doors in August of 2018, three weeks later they were married and welcomed friends and family to celebrate in the newly finished bakery space. From there, there was no turning back! Sprout quickly grew into a community hub that brought people together and centered around one thing – good food and coffee.
Located in the historically important Arts & Cultural district of downtown Kelowna, the Cannery buildings originally hosted the British North American Cigar Company before converting to fruit & vegetable canning operations in 1919.
Now, Cannery Lane is a vibrant restaurant and retail hub of the city, within which you’ll find Sprout nestled - a bright & airy space with 18-foot-tall ceilings and the original wooden beams that allowed trucks to maneuver into loading bays to deliver their bounty.
With the help of amazing customers and incredible staff, Sprout has become more than just a bakery.
Although it’s no longer just Pete, Ava and a handful of employees, Sprout is proud to maintain the same commitment to quality that drove its inception. Offering a wider variety of food and baked goods, Sprout aims to showcase the incredible natural abundance of the Valley and work with more farmers and suppliers to bring local flavours to more of the community.
In 2021 Slowside Coffee opened its doors – a passion project designed to highlight the incredible depth and breadth of flavours present in the world of specialty coffee.
In a region well-known for its wine culture (where wine-tasting is almost a rite of passage) Slowside aims to demonstrate the similarities between wine and coffee and how the latter can exhibit just as much nuance . . . but it’s not just coffee - slowside has exquisite donuts and pastries, fresh made in-house and available every day.
Our Bread
Sprout’s bread journey began in 2012 when owner, Peter van Boekhout, was introduced to the craft of sourdough baking while working as a barista in Vancouver.
Originally from New Zealand, Pete ended up doing his apprenticeship in Melbourne, Australia before moving back to Canada and continuing to refine his passion for naturally fermented bread. Having worked with coffee for a number of years already, Pete was enamoured with bread and eventually dreamt of combining his two passions into one warm space that brought people together, caffeinated their brains and filled their bellies.
Fast-forward to 2017 and that dream began to take shape. With the help of friends & family the bakery was designed and built, and before long fresh loaves were getting pulled from a stone-hearth oven and sent out into the world – with these principles at their core:
ORGANIC – all of our breads are made with certified organic flour. Among other health benefits, organic farming practises require thoughtful crop rotation and ensure greater bio-diversity for the land.
NATURALLY FERMENTED – natural fermentation in bread occurs when specific wild yeasts and bacteria are carefully managed to create a symbiotic culture which can be used to leaven (raise) dough. This ancient process - more commonly referred to as ‘sourdough’ - can result in a higher acid load and that signature ‘sour’ tang, but not necessarily; naturally fermented breads can also range from mild - to sweet and balanced. During the fermentation process, lactobacilli – probiotic microbes naturally found in wheat – consume damaged starch and sugars, which considerably lowers insulin shock (the Glycemic Index) as well as the gluten content. It also neutralizes phytic acid – making previously unabsorbable nutrients available – and creates lactic acid, which helps in the regulation of blood sugar. Most of our breads are 100% naturally fermented with the exception of baguettes, focaccia and some feature loaves that contain small amounts of commercial baker’s yeast.
LOCAL – all of our whole-grains come from a small family run farm and mill located in Creston, B.C. Ben and Claudia Yanschenko of Treasure Life Flour Mills have worked tirelessly to propagate one of the most unique seed banks of heritage, Canadian grains in the country. These grains are organically farmed on their land in the Kootenay mountains before being milled into the highest-quality flour we’ve had the pleasure of working with. Ben’s incredible eye for detail ensures an unparalleled particle uniformity and fineness across their range of whole-grain flours. This translates to greater volume, consistency and texture in all our breads.
FRESH-MILLED WHOLE-GRAIN - the flour we source from Treasure Life is truly 100% whole-grain flour; containing the bran, germ and endosperm of the grain, with nothing removed or added. This significantly improves the nutritional value of the flour and provides a much greater depth and richness of flavour. Unlike most ‘wholegrain’ flours - where the germ is removed to improve shelf stability - Treasure Life Flours are freshly milled and still contain those rich, fatty oils present in the germ…and that’s the part that is so good for us!