After 40 years in tech, he channeled his love of baking into Oconomowoc's Bayview Bread

When thinking about retirement, Mike Riggs knew he would still have to keep busy.

Riggs, who spent four decades in the tech industry, dove into bread baking during the pandemic. He found it to be the perfect combination of technical skills and creative release.

He learned everything he could about flours, grains, grinds, local growers and the science of sourdough. He baked so much bread his freezer was full and his wife told him to stop.

Instead, Riggs went all in and converted his Oconomowoc garage into a workspace, got the bakery licensed, and began a business.

Today Bayview Bread produces hundreds of bread loaves and croissants every week. Country Blonde is his bestseller, but he has nearly a dozen varieties available regularly.

While the recipes are all his creations, Riggs has shaped Bayview Bread to be a family business. His mom is his sounding board, while his niece is learning the business to take the reins in the future. Riggs and his wife, Jodee, work together at a number of the markets, while his brother and wife work the ones he can’t.

Bayview Breads are available for order online and at these retail and cafe locations: Eagle Public Market, 111 E. Main St., Eagle; Stone Bank Farm Market, N68-W33208 County Trunk Highway K, Oconomowoc; Green Door Cafe, 810 Genesee St., Delafield; Violet Table, 127 E. Wisconsin Ave., Oconomowoc; Kelly’s Pot Pies, 3785 S. 108th St., Greenfield, and 3268 Main St., East Troy; and Mill Street Cafe, which will be opening soon in North Lake.

Additionally, Bayview Bread will be at these seasonal markets on select dates: Waukesha spring and summer markets, 125 W. St. Paul Ave., Waukesha; Greenfield Farmers Market, 5151 W. Layton Ave., Greenfield; Wauwatosa Farmers Market, 7720 W. Harwood Ave., Wauwatosa; Holy Hill Art Farm events in June, September and October at 4958 Holy Hill Road, Hubertus; and the winter markets at Milaeger's in Racine and Chef Pam’s Kitchen in Waukesha.

Riggs recently talked about his business and how he got started and why he loves baking.

Bayview Bread is in Oconomowoc, not Bay View

There is one thing I have to let people know. I needed a name that I could get a website, not too long. Let’s try the name of our street, Bayview Road. To my surprise, Bayview Bread was available as a domain and on Facebook. That's great. What I hear over the last three years, “Where in Bay View are you?” We’re in Oconomowoc, on Bayview Road. You can always see the thoughts when people see Oconomowoc on my sign. It is a good conservation-starter, though, and my mom went to Bay View High School.

How his mom helped him start this business

When we were figuring this all out I had great conversations with my mom. I always like to bounce things off my mom. She has a reasoning mind. We had great conversations. She’d say, “I don’t know what you’re talking about anymore, but I like listening.” I’d go on about the different strains of wheat, the flour, the grinds. It was beneficial.

How feedback feeds him

I work seven days a week. This is a labor of love. I went from a high-paying tech job to maybe making $5 an hour some days. I go to markets and I’m so exhausted I don’t know if I can do it, and then someone tells you how much they love the bread. It makes it all worth it.

How tech transitioned to taste

I had over four decades of computer technology services experience. I ran large corporate projects, corporate governance, security for companies, lots of stress ... I had a great run in that industry, but I was getting near the end of my career. I knew I was going to have to retire, but I’m not a sit on the deck, have a lemonade, and watch the world go by kind of person. For the last eight years I was consulting. ... When the pandemic started it was, let’s find some books to read. I got a book on bread baking, sourdough baking. I’d been baking and cooking since I was a kid. My mom showed me how to cook. I’d ask her questions, "Why are you doing that?" My mom, she’s still alive. I taught her how to do computers. She’s probably the most capable 89-year-old technician I know. She was like the pioneer woman of our family — sewing, canning, cooking, and six kids. My dad was a teacher. ...

I always cooked, and I always looked to those great European breads. It seemed like it was a bridge too far for me. Then I got a book from Ken Forkish, “Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast” (Ten Speed Press, 2012). He was in the tech industry and decided to get out and do bread because he loved bread baking. The way he wrote spoke to me. (Note: Ken Forkish’s newest book, a comic book cookbook titled “Let’s Make Bread!,” will be published by Ten Speed Graphic, $22, in stores May 14.)

Getting started at farmers markets

We started at the first farmers market at Okauchee Lions Club in Okauchee. We appreciate that start. ...

Now we produce about 600 to 800 loaves a week. Last year we were doing about 300 a week. We make another 300 croissants per week for markets.

What he’s learned about sourdough bread

Sourdough itself, you don’t have to have dough conditioners or enhancers. This bread lasts forever. I started researching it, the starter dough enzymes do fend off mold growth. We get seven days or more (per loaf). It all depends on environment.

Why making sourdough appeals to him

It is not just making the bread itself, but shaping the dough with your hands. It is a different process, almost like watching a glacier. Yeasted bread, it proofs up and you put it in a bin and you bake it, not a lot of interaction with the product. When you make a loaf of sourdough, there is a lot of time and energy — the mixing, the long fermentation, sometimes 24 hours or more before I put it in the oven. When I first started I was enamored with all the different flours, and the different grind methods. There were so many different varieties of flour I could buy, seasonal and local brands. That spoke to me. I enjoy the challenges. Sourdough was a technical challenge with a creative aspect, and the taste was phenomenal.

Also, in 2012 I went on a gluten-free diet. I was on it for about four years, dealing with health issues. I found out if I eat too much bread I get indigestion, but when I was making sourdough, I realized I could eat this and it didn’t bother me. I didn’t feel terrible afterwards. I didn’t see a downside.

One tool that was worth his investment

When I started, I noticed not having sliced bread was a barrier for some people. I made the investment to buy a used bread slicer. Like everything else, I fixed it and made it look brand new. That made a world of difference.

A lot of people who do sourdough don’t like to slice it, they keep it whole. The school of thought being it stays fresher, but bread is made to be eaten. It is not a piece of art that sits on the counter.

The bread he can’t live without

My Country Blonde is my favorite. I call it my Swiss Army knife bread. Good for a sandwiches or a BLT, it is good grilled or fresh.

What sets his recipes apart

Other than the Country Blonde, which is a modification of one of the recipes in Ken Forkish’s book, everything else I came up with the recipe on my own. I wasn’t influenced by the sourdough baking community, I just made it the way I like it. A slight variation from what other people do, I put a little bit of cinnamon in my cranberry walnut dough, which makes a different fragrance. ... But even if a recipe is good, I’m always trying to improve it until we get to a point where we say it is good and we leave it alone. That can take up to a year.

What he does with leftover bread

The reality is I don’t have a lot of leftover bread.

Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email clewis@journalsentinel.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Oconomowoc's Bayview Bread was started by a retired tech worker