Bakery recovers after fire

Katie Zukof was awake with her baby at about 3 a.m. two weeks ago when she found the bakery she and her husband owned and operated completely engulfed in flames.

“We had smoke detectors in the bakery, and they were going off, but we were at the house so we couldn’t hear them,” Zukof said.

The couple lives in a house less than a half mile from the bakery.

The fire completely destroyed the building. For four years, Muddy Fork bakery had been Eric Schedler and Katie’s livelihood.

In one night, it was gone.

Zukof said they used a wood-burning oven they heated in 12-hour shifts every day. By Thursday of every week, she said, it was at its hottest temperature.

“The oven is more than 1,000 degrees while being fired,” Zukof said. “It’s almost definite that the oven caused the fire.”

Zukof and her husband have been running the bakery almost single-handedly for years. On Fridays, they have two employees to help them bake bread, and on Saturdays two other workers help bake granola.

Zukof said the bakery grew out of her husband’s hobby of bread-making.

“We knew we wanted a family business,” Zukof said. “I do feel like it was sort of random. It was an experiment that surprised us with the demand.”

Laura Wanner works on Saturdays as a granola baker.
“I started last year in January, and it’s been growing every since,” Wanner said. “Granola, strange as it is, is booming.”

Wanner said when she began working, Katie and Eric were still living in the bakery.
“Literally, they built the place as a boot-straps operation,” she said.

Wanner said after the couple finished building their house, they moved most of their belongings there but left many personal items in the loft. When the fire burned the bakery, it took away some of their history — as well as their livelihood.

“Her wedding dress was up there, and all of the clothes her daughter had outgrown — a ton of important history stuff,” Wanner said.

Katie and Eric moved to Bloomington in 2006 so Eric could pursue a master’s degree in math at IU.

Zukof said Eric planned to teach at a community college, but when the hearth-baked bread Eric sold at the January 2010 Farmer’s Market did well, they reconsidered.

The bakery, which is the subject of a gofundme.com fundraising page, has gathered such a following that Zukof said they would have been lost without the community support they are receiving. Zucof’s cousin started the fundraising page online and donations came from people who said they had never been to Bloomington.

Additionally, Zukof said loyal customers were sending cards as well as money.

“We feel very lucky to live in Bloomington,” Zukof said. “We were in tears last week. People are unbelievably generous. We aren’t going to have to dip into our personal savings for this. This has made us sure we want to make this our livelihood.”

To prevent future accidents, Zukof said they were going to redesign the bakery when they rebuild it.

Originally, there was a wood loft, which the stove pipe of the oven passed through.

It was not confirmed as the cause of the fire, but Zukof said she thinks it was.

Monroe County Building Commissioner Jim Gerstbauer said that accidents can happen even if a building has been inspected prior to operating.

“If they had followed the manufacturer’s instructions for their equipment, there’s no guarantee that it would have been safe, only that it met the minimum safety standards,” Gerstbauer said.

Because Muddy Fork is committed to sustainability, the wood-burning oven will continue to be used.

“There’s not a place that has an oven like ours,” Zucov said. “It’s incredibly efficient.”

Zukof said she and her husband use scrap wood to fuel the oven. It’s what makes their bread special, she said, and is part of the reason for their customer’s loyalty.

She said they hope to be at full production by July.

“You’d think they’d want to relax, but they’re so antsy to get back to work,” Wanner said. “They definitely put a lot of heart into that.”