About Us

How We Got Here

WildMoose Bakers was birthed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Artisan bread baker Phil Vincenty heard people’s call for an authentic San Francisco–style sourdough bread. He developed the recipe for what is now our signature Top Carolina Sourdough – SanFran Style.

Our bakers are scaling up to provide additional innovative breads and pastries, which we handcraft using Old World traditional techniques but with a New World Twist.

Stay tuned!

Mission

WildMoose Bakers strives each day to

actively participate in our community as your go-to, home bakery;
create innovative artisan bread and pastries — using healthy ingredients (organic and locally sourced whenever possible) — that excite you and give you a happiness boost; and
eventually transition to a training bakery that teaches people — especially the unemployed or underemployed — about the art of baking bread.

Our Team

The artisan bakers at WildMoose Bakers have devoted nearly 45 years to their craft.

Meet Philip

Bread baking is his passion, says Phil, because it involves all of his senses. “I experience great joy when I touch the dough, see the color of the crust, listen to bread fresh from the oven ‘speak’ as it cools, smell the aroma, and taste the chewy crumb.”

Although baking has long been a part of his life, Phil spent a good part of his career as a design engineer of high-end commercial restaurant ranges. During the Great Recession of 2008, he was laid off from a couple of engineering jobs in a row. Rather than viewing these events as a tragedy, Phil grabbed the opportunity to begin a new career as an artisan baker.

He started baking bread and pastries using organic, free range, and local ingredients. For one bakery in Maryland, he handcrafted 18 varieties of artisan breads, and his personal recipe for shortbread cookies became a best seller. Wanting to know more about the art of making bread, he relocated to North Carolina, where he gratefully learned from a European Master Baker.

“I put love into every loaf I make,” says Phil, “and I strive to bake bread that will exceed customers’ expectations each day.”

When he’s not baking or testing new recipes, Ohio native Phil hikes, enjoys sci-fi, and loves relaxing with a cup of coffee and playing games at Meeple’s Brew, a board game cafe.

Meet Jeff

Jeff’s love of baking began with a small French bakery in Beaverton, Oregon. It was love at first bake. In just a few short years, he was an award-winning, nationally recognized bread baker who has since worked in bakeries around the United States. Among the customers who have enjoyed his handcrafted goods are the U.S. Olympic Fencing Team, President Gerald R. Ford, and Luciano Pavarotti.

A California native, Jeff served in the United States Air Force and then went to college in his home state. Seeing an opportunity for adventure, he moved to Anchorage, Alaska, attended college there, and worked in the energy sector. After returning to California to continue his education, he was off to major in English at Portland State University. It was there, in Beaverton, where he discovered baking.

Jeff eventually apprenticed under two excellent French bakers and acquired the knowledge and hand skills of old-world baking methods. He has produced European artisan breads and pastries in both wood-burning brick ovens and large-scale production ovens.

Other than baking bread, which Jeff says “is, for me, the perfect blend of art and science,” he loves the outdoors and is an avid bicycler, backpacker, and mountaineer. Jeff’s hobbies include reading and collecting old first editions for his ever-expanding library. He is widowed and currently resides in Durham, North Carolina.