Archibald's sourdough breads wow her customers

Mary Archibald is the owner and sole employee at Nine Loaves, a home-run sourdough bread baking company that has taken Choteau by storm in less than a year. She offers sourdough bread loaves made with four variations of flour along with bread-making classes. Loaves cost $10 to $12.

Born into an Air Force family, Archibald moved every few years when she was a child. Her father, stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls three separate times, retired there when Archibald was a senior in high school.

Mary Archibald, owner of Nine Loaves, makes sourdough bread and sells it to the community. She participates in Fresh Fridays with other local vendors.

After graduating, she attended cosmetology school while waiting tables and eventually moved to Helena. There, she worked at a salon and coached All Star and high school cheerleading. She met and married her husband, Nate Archibald, in 2010 and started their family.

"I have been blessed to be able to stay at home and make my children my priority," Archibald said. "My husband is a journeyman lineman and had been working for a contracting company on the road. He got on with the power company in Great Falls to be able to travel less."

Knowing that they wanted to move to a smaller town, the couple looked into jobs for Nate to take located in Choteau but was unable to find any. They decided to build a custom home in Great Falls two years ago and then a job opened up in Choteau.

Archibald said the decision to move after putting down semi-permanent roots somewhere was one of the hardest things she and her family had to do.

"It took a huge leap of faith and getting settled here was the hardest patch I think we have ever experienced," Archibald said. "We absolutely love it [in Choteau] and it was worth the struggle to get where we are now. Nate's great-grandpa graduated high school here, so I guess we have some roots."

Archibald never expected her passion to be baking, as she says her passion has always been centered on her family and homemaking.

"I started making sourdough for my family in the early summer of 2022, and they ended up loving it," she said. "I have all these picky eaters, yet they loved this sour-tasting crusty bread. I don't think I realized how lucky I was to pick up on sourdough so fast. It came naturally, which is funny, because I don't consider myself a good cook or baker.

"After about a month of making it for my family, I was trying to trade it for fresh garden veggies. Since it was summer time, I thought it’d be nice to be able to have fresh bread and fresh veggies. This led to people asking to just purchase the bread. So I looked into getting a cottage license and that's how it all started. I submitted that in August 2022 and have been making bread ever since."

Family has always been the most important thing to Archibald and it inspired her business name.

"My business is Nine Loaves after my nine kids at the time," she said. "We recently welcomed our 10th baby, but my name will remain the same."

Bok choy, several kinds of lettuce and green onions were offered at the market.

Archibald sources her flours and grains from Choteau's local wholesaler, Conservation Grains, after one of the company's workers introduced her to it.

"Taylor from Conservation Grains showed up on my step one day with a bag of freshly milled grains, and I have been hooked ever since," she said. "What is really neat about the grains from Judy [Cornell] at Conservation Grains is she uses a stoneground mill and mixes her blends. All of my loaves are named after her grains."

The breads Nine Loaves offers are: Warhorse, sourdough bread made from a flour mixture from hard red winter wheat; Wheatsome, sourdough bread made from a flour mixture of kamut, spelt, wheat and rye; Big Sky Rye, sourdough bread made from a rye sourdough starter (a leavening agent made from fermented flour and water); and classic sourdough, made from premium bread flour.

"I prefer to work with the whole grains, not only for nutritional value, but they just add so much flavor to the bread," Archibald said.

From her time using Conservation Grains flour and getting to work side-by-side with the owners, Archibald said she admires Cornell and her business.

"I admire Judy a lot and am so grateful for her business and her wonderful grains," she said. "She is extremely knowledgeable, and I enjoy learning from her."

Archibald and Cornell participate in a farmers market called Fresh Fridays every other week. Cornell started the market to allow the community to have access to healthy, locally made food.

"As of now, we have sourdough, farm fresh eggs and grains," Archibald said. "Everything is grown or made locally. Sometimes we have fresh wintergreens and samples of foods available."

The most recent Fresh Fridays market was hosted on May 26 at 21 Second St. NW., where Conservation Grains has a millhouse and store front for the markets. Cornell said the business moved into the building during Thanksgiving of 2022 after it had been remodeled in the summer of that year.

The event offered fresh sourdough loaves and packaged flour as well as fresh vegetables, eggs and other items from fellow vendors. These markets are the only time that some of these items, like bags of Conservation Grains flour, are available to buy in person.

Along with Nine Loaves, Judy Cornell's selection of flours from Conservation Grains is up for sale at Fresh Fridays. Bags of flour start at $8.50.

"This is pretty much the only pop-up market locally," Cornell said about her merchandise being sold outside of her website. "Conservation Grains does not have storefront hours, but we are always happy to meet a customer for pick ups. In Choteau, Curly Willow and Choteau Arts offer selections of our retail bags."

The next Fresh Fridays market is on June 9, and Cornell said she has many ideas to expand the market for more people to come in the summer months.

"Fresh Fridays might spill outdoors this summer as more food producers join in — dairy and cheese from Conrad, kombucha from Choteau and more garden vegetables from Choteau are some of the possibilities," Cornell said. "The emphasis for our pop-ups is to offer fresh, wholesome foods. So far, it's been a lot of fun. There's talk of having live music, too, in the future."

For Archibald, she also has future goals and ideas for her business.

"I dream of someday owning a storefront in Choteau, but for now it is nice to have the flexibility to be home with my children," she said.

Archibald can be contacted through her Facebook page, Nine Loaves, or at 406-750-0264

"I’m open all hours," she said. "I can deliver if in town or people can pick up from my kitchen."

Archibald also expressed her gratitude toward Choteau and her hopes for how her business will be remembered.

"I am extremely grateful for the donations, support and love this sweet community has shown me. I want Nine Loaves to be remembered for its kindness, compassion, friendly service, cleanliness and, of course, fresh bread," she said.