Taking the cake: Bigham Artisan Bread hits 10-year mark

James Bigham, baker and owner of Bigham Artisan Bread, is preparing to celebrate his business’ 10-year anniversary at the Oxford Farmers Market this September.

Bigham Artisan Bread utilizes locally grown foods to create its rotating array of baked goods throughout the year, including apples, peaches and pears from Downing Fruit Farm and rhubarb from a place in Wayne County, Indiana.

Bigham also grows his own organic vegetables, including spinach and tomatoes, for certain pastries during the year.

“We are really committed to supporting local businesses,” Bigham said. 

Since Bigham was 16, he helped his older brother sell organic vegetables at the Oxford Farmers Market. It was here that Bigham noticed the lack of baked goods at the market.

Bigham, who had time on his plate, tasked himself with baking himself into this gap.

“I always grew up baking with my mom,” Bigham said. “I started out doing the really easy things (like) cookies, cupcakes, sandwich bread and that kind of thing.”

These items were a piece of cake for Bigham, and locals shared their enjoyment of the foods.

In 2020, Bigham took a class in San Francisco that taught him how to bake artisan bread, sourdough bread, croissants, danishes and other viennoiseries.   

It was with this class that Bigham’s role at the Oxford Farmers Market became something more than a half-baked side business. 

“It took off,” Bigham said. “The response to all that (new) stuff has been really really positive. It took a couple years, but we’ve definitely become one of the main vendors at the farmers market.”

For Bigham, his love of the loaf was a mixture of studying baking books and experimenting in the kitchen with his mother.

“I just advanced slowly until now,” Bigham said. “I have always enjoyed it and it’s just been a slow growth process.” 

Bigham Artisan Bread not only participates in the Oxford Farmers Market, but the farmers market in Richmond, Indiana, which both run on the same schedule, from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday.

Bigham said that he is happy with where this business is right now in terms of employees, which consist of his sister, his mother, himself and some extra help during market days.

“Ten years on and we are still busy every Saturday,” Bigham said.

About 30% of his sales are from bread alone, with his homemade sourdough taking the cake in sales. On the sweeter side, Bigham bakes a variety of croissants throughout the year, with flavors changing now-and-then.

Danishes are another specialty for Bigham, which vary from all sorts of local fruits, including strawberries, raspberries, cherries, apples, lemons, oranges and more.

Adding icing to the cake, Bigham recently introduced to the menu a creation called a cruffin, which combines a muffin and a croissant with seasonal flavors. Bigham also sells the standard cupcakes, brownies, cinnamon rolls and more.

All of these delicious foods are crafted from scratch in an industrial kitchen that the business rents out.

While Bigham created his foods inside of his own kitchen when the business first started, he soon built his own industrial kitchen in his backyard to match the growth of the business.

Each day, Bigham and his family work to create these foods for the weekend market.

Monday usually consists of Bigham working on his weekly plan, which includes shopping for ingredients, deciding on flavors and individual counts of products.

Tuesday’s activities consist of mixing all of the week’s croissant dough, which is a time-consuming process, according to Bigham. After the dough is mixed, it takes a few hours to rise and another six hours to chill in the refrigerator. After this, the dough is laid out into portions in preparation for the addition of fillings and flavorings, which are created and prepared on Wednesday.

Thursday largely consists of the lamination process for the croissant dough, which includes folding butter into the croissant dough, leading to the creation of layers in bread.

Fridays are when the bread gets baked and prepped for the next day.

On Saturday, right before the farmers market opens, Bigham puts filling, whipped cream and other decorations on the foods before they are sold to locals and market goers.

“I really do enjoy it,” Bigham said. “I am definitely passionate about really good baked goods, and its’s a huge gap to fill right now.”

For Bigham, it’s more than just the flour and dough, but a way to put the “art” in Bigham Artisan Bread.

“I’m really happy to … help people see all the possibilities there are to do this kind of thing,” Bigham said.