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The baking skills behind Wind Chime Foods’ granolas and sourdough flatbreads trace back to one of owner Ann Fata’s earliest memories: cooking up a box cake with a classmate for her pregnant third-grade teacher. But the breakthrough came through a little advice from her grandmother.
“She was into baking, canning, all that stuff,” Fata said. “She told me, ‘You can make a cake with ingredients; you don’t need a box. Just follow the recipe on the back of the Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa.’ That’s still the best chocolate cake, and mine is based on that recipe.”
Fata also describes her mother as devoted to cooking, teaching her how to make biscuits and tortillas.
“She had always cooked growing up,” she said, “and it was her comfort for her family. We always made traditional foods during holidays. I wouldn’t say we were foodies, but making things from scratch somehow just always attracted me. I guess it was practice and imitation.”
Wind chimes are enshrined in her business name and logo, a memory of sitting at her mother’s kitchen table and listening to the music of the chimes hung from her patio.
Fata is not a baker by trade. Before moving to Hollister in 1989 with her husband, Vince, she graduated with a marketing degree and worked in business.
Once here, she became a substitute teacher, worked in management at Ridgemark Golf Club, and helped launch the Latino Generations Endowment for the San Benito County Community Foundation.
In 2005, Fata’s older sister Catherine was diagnosed with cancer, which proved fatal three years later. A hummingbird on the Wind Chime label honors her sister’s memory.
Her illness, as well as Fata’s own third pregnancy, proved to be a turning point in Fata’s approach to food and nutrition.
“These things really opened my eyes to changing what we’re putting in our bodies,” she said. “I was reading everything that I could get my hands on about using food as medicine and knowing where your food comes from and the preservatives in it, trying to learn everything.”
Her interest in nutrition led her to co-found a local chapter of the Slow Food Movement, begun by activist Carlo Petrini as a protest against a fast food restaurant opening near the Spanish Steps in Rome. In 2014, she traveled to Turin, Italy, to attend the Terra Madre event, known as the “Slow Food Olympics.”
“It was amazing,” Fata said. “It opened my eyes even more to people growing their own food, knowing where it comes from, and to the artisans who are making these foods, especially with traditional cooking methods. It had a huge impact on what I do now.”
In 2017, Fata completed a week-long intensive training in nutrient-dense cooking methods at Oakland’s Three Stone Hearth.
“They really focus on traditional cooking methods,” she said. “They use butter and fresh lard, and very long methods: how you soak the beans, the way you do the granola. I always made granola, but I learned their method of making it, and that’s the one that I use in my business.”
Fata currently makes three granolas: Original, Toasted Coconut, Cacao Dark Chocolate. She uses only organic, gluten-free oats and quinoa flakes with no refined sugars, using only dates and maple syrup as sweeteners.
“I use a long process,” Fata said. “Most granolas probably take 20 to 30 minutes in the oven. I soak it overnight in apple cider vinegar and lemon juice to soften the oats, which helps with the digestibility. Then I dehydrate it for 36 hours. I feel like it’s a different product than most granola.”
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fata created a sourdough starter she named “Dona Perfecta” in honor of her mother. It became the basis for the 24-hour cold-fermented dough used in Wind Chime’s signature flats.
“My dad would always call my mother ‘Dona Perfecta’ in a loving way,” she said. “My mom didn’t get to see the start of my business, unfortunately, but I know she had a hand in it.”
Fata offers six sourdough cracker varieties: Sea Salt, Rosemary, Cheesy Italian, Chili Lime, Cheesy Bites and Salt & Pepper.
“People like sourdough,” she said, “ but they don’t want it to be too sour. What I like about my crackers is I feel like you taste the flavor of the sourdough in the crackers, but it’s not really the same taste as sourdough bread.”
Fata calls her approach to baking “mindful cooking,” which is displayed as a tagline on her labels as “mindful in every bite.”
“It’s knowing what kind of ingredients are being used,” she said, “where they come from and how they are prepared. You can buy very inexpensive crackers, but they usually have things like sugar in them. I want to sell things where customers are comfortable with the ingredients.”
The oats and flour Fata uses in her baking come from Central Milling in Petaluma, which sources from organic farms in Utah and California. She also uses organic olive oil and locally sourced ingredients whenever possible.
“Everything I use is top-notch,” she said. “I choose organic and I choose gluten-free, because those are the things that make me feel good. It makes me feel that I’m putting out a clean product.”
Much of what is ordered online from Feta is baked to order, with pickup available at her Ridgemark home. Her crackers and granola are also available in Hollister at Bertuccio Market and B&R Farms, as well as at Vertigo Coffee in San Juan Bautista
“I hope to get people to focus on good eating habits,” Feta said, “because there are a lot of processed foods that are way easier. It’s important to be thoughtful about what’s going into our bodies. I’m taking the time to make things right, to nourish people and make them feel good.”
Recommendations for future Eat, Drink, Savor articles can be emailed to roberteliason@benitolink.com.
BenitoLink thanks our underwriters, Hollister Super and Windmill Market, for helping expand the Eat, Drink, Savor series and for giving our readers the stories that interest them. Hollister Super (two stores in Hollister) and Windmill Market (in San Juan Bautista) support reporting on the inspired and creative people behind the many delicious food and drink products made in San Benito County. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.
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