CANMORE – Behind the new, fresh and unique bread served in the Bow Valley by Uprising Craft Bakery is one passionate baker.
Patrik Beil, the owner and baker at the new bakery, has made a name for himself here with his artisanal sourdough bread.
“People even don't know my name anymore. I'm Pat the bread guy,” Beil said with a laugh.
Since the age of 15, Beil has always wanted to become a baker. Surrounded by chefs throughout his life, including his mother, Beil decided he wanted to do something a bit different.
“I decided to be a baker. [It] was always my passion," said Beil. "I really always liked the baking and cooking and stuff like that. But there were many chefs around me and so I wanted to be something different. And I did the excellent choice and [am] super happy about it, that I chose to be a baker."
From that point on in his life, he pursued baking and worked in internationally famous bakeries including Café Savoy in Prague and Rein Van Hauen in Copenhagen, where he further honed his art working with experienced bakers.
“As I started my career [learning] from old bakers, they introduced me to the sourdough culture here, baking from sourdough cultures. Once I moved to Prague I got the experience to work with a different type of sourdough culture ... it was really interesting to see how all those cultures work,” Beil said.
After living in Copenhagen for nearly seven years, Beil found himself growing bored and he wanted to pursue something different. Being a well-traveled baker throughout Europe, he wanted to try someplace else.
That’s when he moved to Canmore and started the Uprising Craft Bakery, which specializes in all kinds of sourdough breads, some originating from Egypt, France and New Zealand.
“All those [sourdough] cultures come from different countries. So each culture with different bacterias taste a little bit different, rise a little bit different. That's really interesting and I'm happy to have that opportunity to have those other cultures and offer it to the people to have a little bit of a taste from international life,” he said.
Beil also wanted to focus on creating specialty breads for local restaurants, working closely with chefs in both Canmore and Banff.
Among the restaurants that Beil works with are The Bison, Chuck’s Restaurant, Park Distillery and Bar, Sky Bistro, Nourish, The Sensory Wit and Bar and Tapas Restaurant. Beil develops bread unique to each restaurant’s taste.
“Now I'm working closer with Chef Tracy [Little from The Sensory] and I built one really beautiful product, which contains a pork fat from Valbella's butcher and I'm using the pork fat to build beautiful pork buns,” he added.
While the Uprising Craft Bakery currently does not have a store front, Beil’s artisanal sourdough bread can be found at Valbella Gourmet Foods, Rusticana Grocery, Banff National Perk Coffeehouse and An Edible Life.
