Rural Uprising Bakery – Baking with a Mission for the Common Good

Rural Uprising Bakery is a local bakery specializing in sourdough breads and torillas made from locally milled organic grains. Cole Madden is the founder and baker. I’ve been a fan of Cole’s bakery ever since we discover him at the Stevens Point Farm Market.

I was curious to know more about Cole and Rural Uprising Bakery. Cole did me the honor of giving me an in-depth interview.

If you would love to know more about Rural Uprising Bakery we’ve got a great interview to share with you.

Where did you grow up?

Hudson, Wisconsin

How did bakery and baking influence your early life?

Baking wasn’t a thing I thought about much before I moved to Stevens Point. I remember that my Mom had a bread machine and would occasionally make bread to accompany a summer steak dinner, and there was one summer during my adolescence that I ate cream cheese sandwiches every day for lunch. But as far as I was concerned, bread was something to get from the store and ovens just heated food.

How did you get interested in baking?

While I was living in a communal college house on Center Street in Stevens Point I started getting turned onto the local food community. This one summer I worked construction for our landlord and needed to bring a cold lunch. After the second week of getting lame grocery store bread I decided that a person should know how to make their own bread. So in my spare time I did a little research, talked to friends, got good flour from the Co-op, and experimented. These were all pan loaves leavened with dry-active yeast.

Where did you learn the art of baking? 

Around a year later I had been getting pretty consistent results with pan breads and found out that The Main Grain Bakery was hiring. Sourdough bread was totally new to me.
Sarah Jo Moore, Danni Werachowski, and Fanni Bartnik were the ones who initially taught me to work with dough and bake on a larger scale.

Working at the Main Grain Bakery was super fun and I learned a lot in a very short time. I worked there through the summer and into the fall until the demands of my semester of student teaching in Amherst became too much and I put in my two weeks notice. Concurrent with this, Joel Kuenhold at Lonely Oak Farm invited me to live and work on his property.

As we discussed what I could bring to the farm the idea of starting an onsite bakery came up. Within a short time I had developed my own sourdough culture and was experimenting baking sourdough at my house. By winter I was baking on the farm and selling my breads through Lonely Oak’s stand at the Stevens Point Area Winter Farmers Market. We included a bread-share option in that season’s CSA and I baked a different kind of sourdough bread every week for 22 weeks.

It was a period of intense experimentation, with many different fresh ingredients at my disposal. At Lonely Oak I could bake 16 loaves of bread and make 150 tortillas in a day. I would feed my sourdough starter around 10pm, wake up at 5am to mix my dough, make tortillas while the dough fermented, divide the dough and put it in the fridge to proof around noon and then get to the farm work. The next day I would wake at 5am again and bake four loaves at a time in cast iron dutch ovens in the two ovens in the farm kitchen while mixing the next day’s batch of dough, repeating the process. Every day brought its own peculiarities, with seasonal variations in temperature, humidity, and available ingredients.

During that time I built connections with two organic flour mills in Wisconsin, as well as various farmers, producers, and others involved in the local food community. I also began making flour tortillas, and after a trip to Oaxaca Mexico with Liberation Farmers, began making corn tortillas. Eventually, I moved the bakery off the farm and into the Village Hive in Amherst and Adelante in Almond where I have continued to learn to bake on a larger scale, still utilizing locally sourced organic ingredients.

How did you come up with the name Rural Uprising bakery? Can you share more about that story?

I was walking my old housemate’s dog down by the railroad tracks one night, thinking about my vision for the bakery. I was in the thick of my student teaching experience where I taught social studies for 8th graders in Amherst. During my time at UWSP I had been inspired by The Wisconsin Idea, where those educated and empowered in the state universities go out to educate and empower those outside of the university system, thereby improving the lives of all Wisconsinites.

I was also inspired by past social movements I had researched for my history courses, most significantly, Jesus Salas’ march to Madison to bring to light the working and living conditions of migrant farmworkers in Central Wisconsin. I envisioned a guerilla bakery that made basic staple foods from responsibly produced ingredients from the community. I literally saw the words “Rural Uprising” in my mind and everything I had been thinking about then seemed to have a direction. There’s really a lot you unpack from that name.

This idea of rural uprising… for a bakery business with a social mission it seems to have multiple meanings and purpose.  What does Rural Uprising bakery stand for?

The idea of Rural Uprising is multifold. Rural Uprising draws from history and seeks to have an impact that is sociological, economic, political, and psychological.

Rural Uprising is about bringing together independent producers who share a common ethic to create something vital and fulfilling. It is about building wealth within our local food community.

Rural Uprising is about questioning the status quo, and challenging the reigning hierarchy. In a broader sense, Rural Uprising is communal transformation. It is analogous to the way a community of yeast can leaven dough, and how the intense heat of the oven then turns that live dough into food that keeps us moving forward.

Your logo is a powerful statement.  What does your logo mean to you?

My logo, designed by my friend Kelly Krill, a member of the communal college house previously mentioned, is a symbol of both empowerment and the spirit of bringing something to the table. It stands in solidarity with social movements for empowerment and equality. It also symbolizes the right of the people to control the fruits of their labor.

A statement that I found about Rural Uprising Bakery in the Farm Fresh Atlas says:

We support our local economy and environment when we make food with responsibly produced local ingredients.  

How are you putting this statement into action at Rural Uprising Bakery?

Since the beginning of the Rural Uprising Bakery I have been committed to utilizing only organic ingredients, the bulk of which are locally produced. I source all of my whole wheat, sifted wheat, whole grain rye, and corn from Lonesome Stone Milling in Lone Rock, Wisconsin.

Lonesome Stone partners with local farmers who grow organic grains. Every bag of flour can be traced directly back to the farmer who grew the grains only a few miles away. We are so lucky to have this resource!

The white flour I use is from organic wheat that is grown in Canada and milled in a vibrant community nested in the hills and valleys near Arcadia, Wisconsin. Through MREA’s Energy Fair I met a couple who produce organic sunflower oil in Pulaski, Wisconsin, under the name Century Sun Oil. I also use honey from Oasis Bee Company in Plainfield, Wisconsin, who partner with local farmers to keep their bees on the farmer’s properties.

As a vendor at the Stevens Point Farmers Markets I have built relationships with local farmers and frequently source ingredients like nettles, dill, and squash for the bakery. Everything else I get through the Stevens Point Area Co-op, primarily salt, but also organic ingredients that aren’t readily available locally.

I frequently ask myself, “who am I working for?” The bakery’s revenue is a product of my labor. Where that revenue goes is representative of what my labor goes toward. I care about our local economy, the people that comprise it, and the land that it occupies. My business decisions  reflect that.

I remember a Facebook post from last year from a local ingredients sourcing trip you took to Great River Mill.  Tell us more about why you took that trip to support Great River Mill.

I go to Great River Milling every couple of months or so. Usually dependent on how long it takes me to work through 400 pounds of their Lily White Bread Flour. A local farmer, Sarah River of Primitive Pastures, had given me some of their flour to try making tortillas out of. This was back in the earliest days of the bakery. At that time I didn’t have any direct relationships with local flour mills. I was getting flour from the bulk department at the Stevens Point Area Co-op and from the Market on Strongs, but the quantities I was beginning to need were becoming larger than was manageable with a bicycle trailer full of ice-cream pails.

Having gotten Lonesome Stone Products from the Co-op, I reached out to them first and set up a wholesale account. I then managed to get in contact with Great River and did the same. In both cases I couldn’t justify the shipping costs for the amount of flour I intended to get so I just bypassed it by asking if I could pick it up at the mill myself.

It’s great to get out of town and onto the open road for a day, take in some different scenes, and get glimpses of a place’s seasonal charms. No two experiences are completely the same and the time between the trips is long enough that the scenery stays interesting. The Great River mill in particular is nestled into such a beautiful spot. I’ve taken the trip from a couple of different directions now. On one side you follow the St. Croix River down to the Mississippi where you ride nearly the entire western river edge. You then pull yourself up out of the river valley. Just as you are coming down the other side of the hill, you’re at the mill. It’s one of those magical things knowing what is just over the hill, and it works from both sides.

There’s a small farm that has a wood-fired oven for pizza nights next door to the mill. I’m going to try and time a trip this summer to pick up flour, get pizza, and meet those people.

Do you have any other great local ingredient sourcing stories?

Both communities I visit on my flour runs have well established Hispanic populations. I always swing into one of the Mexican groceries to stock up on things for home that are harder to find around Point. And of course, no trip would feel complete without a spicy meal and a cooling horchata for the drive back, especially during those summer runs.

The people at Lonesome Stone Milling all are genuinely interested in what you’ve got going on, and they have a lot of knowledge to share themselves. It’s nice after a long drive to be able to stretch out and talk and not feel like you are taking up anyone’s time. 

It’s also just fun to have people that you see at a slower tempo, as in regularly but at shorter intervals with long lapses in between. You get a good balance of the major and minor happenings in a person’s life. Occasionally, I’ll get a friend who is interested in coming along, but otherwise the trips are a good time to get some space and perspective.

What does local food mean to you?

Local food is our opportunity to reclaim our independence from corporate control, ensure our right to nutritious food, build resilient communities, and thrive.

How can we support the growth of local food in Central Wisconsin?

We need to put our money where our mouths are and demand it. We need to take advantage of the resources we have available to us. It is not difficult to come into contact with local food three times a day, everyday. In fact, it’s fulfilling.

Make it a ritual right now to come to the winter farmers market every Saturday. It’s a great way to get out of the house and commune with members of your community, and I bet you can find enough food to get you through the coming week. That is unless you don’t eat greens, squash, potatoes, onions, pork, beef, chicken, trout, bread, tortillas, apple cider, ketchup, mustard, noodles, maple products, canned foods, coffee, salsa, soup, or chocolate.

I am continually amazed by what a couple of dozen people are able to produce here in Central Wisconsin, and we could be feeding so many more.

Tell us about your bakery products.  Why have you chosen to make the products you make? 

I focus on making what I consider to be basic staple foods: breads and tortillas.

My dissatisfaction in the quality of the breads and tortillas I thought were available to me, and the lack of an alternative that was fully organic and local was what inspired me to start the bakery in the first place.

All of my breads are a cultured sourdough that rise slowly, making them easy to digest and flavorful. My flour tortillas are not cultured, but they only contain four simple ingredients.

My corn tortillas are also made the traditional way, showing off the depth of character that whole grain masa brings. I initially made these products because I wanted them. I soon found out that others wanted them too. These are foods that can be consumed everyday, and may accompany multiple meals. On a typical day I have two slices of bread as toast with breakfast, a flour tortilla at lunch for a quesadilla, and a few corn tortilla tacos for dinner. Combined with a rotating calendar of seasonal produce and responsibly and lovingly raised meats, this diet never gets old. It has kept me from having to rely on major corporations for my daily bread, and has saved others from that too. I think that reclaiming these basic foods is the best place for local food movements to plant their roots.

What are your most interesting and unique breads?

I think my most unique breads are Blue Corn Cranberry, Rye Nettle, and Chocolate Whole Grain.

The Blue Corn Cranberry was my first “experimental” bread. It used Hopi Blue cornmeal from Lonesome Stone Milling which gave the dough and resulting bread this beautiful blue/blush/violet color that visually matched the flavor of the complex sour created with the cultured sourdough and cranberries sweetened with apple juice. Unfortunately, the volatility of our weather patterns these last couple years have forced the farmer who grew the Hopi Blue to plant less risky varieties. I’ve made the bread with both his yellow and red corn (which I also use for tortillas) and it’s still a great bread, but a little bit of the initial magic is gone.

Rye Nettle is probably my favorite bread that I make and it is developing a strong cult following. It’s a medium rye with dried nettle leaf. People are always surprised by the use of nettles, which are considered a nuisance weed by many, and often, only half-jokingly ask if the bread stings when you eat it. Nettles it turns out are actually highly nutritious and have medicinal properties. I haven’t heard from anyone who has tried the bread and not liked it.

The Chocolate Whole Grain is a bread that I bake once a year for the last CSA week, which signifies the end of the growing season and coincides with the switch from the summer to winter farmers market. It is a dark whole grain wheat and rye bread with fair-trade organic cocoa powder, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and local raw honey. It’s dense and decadent. A perfect treat to savor, celebrate, and look back on the season with.

I am a fan of your tortillas.  What goes into making your delicious tortillas?

The tortillas are definitely the most labor intensive food I make. The flour tortillas start by mixing flour, water, salt, and sunflower oil to form a fairly stiff dough. From that mass of dough I divide out small chunks by weight, roll into a ball between my hands, and toss that ball into a little flour.

Each ball is then lined up side by side on the table and covered with a sheet of plastic to stay moist. Meanwhile I heat up a cast-iron griddle that sits over four burners on a commercial range. Once all the dough is divided I start rolling the tortillas out by hand one-by-one. If all of the conditions are in my favor, I can roll a tortilla out in eleven movements. After four tortillas are rolled, I get them on the hot griddle. I then roll two new tortillas, give the ones on the griddle a flip, roll two more new ones, take the initial tortillas off the griddle to stack onto a towel lined rack, then get the four new tortillas onto the griddle and repeat. All told, I can usually average 150 tortillas in just as many minutes. 

The corn tortillas are a pretty different process. I first take whole kernel dried corn (I have made tortillas out of the following varieties: Niles Yellow Flint Corn, Niles Red Flint Corn, Hopi Blue, and Bloody Butcher. Each has its own unique texture, flavor, and nutritional characteristics. At the moment, the Niles Red Flint Corn is my favorite because of its smooth texture, bold flavor, and antioxidants) and boil it in a covered pot with one tablespoon of Calcium hydroxide (pickling lime) per pound of dried corn dissolved in the water. After the water comes to a boil turn off the heat and let the corn soak overnight.

This process is called nixtamalization and it is ancient. It was what allowed early Americans to build civilizations. The nixtamalization process softens the hard seed coat of the corn kernel, unlocks nutrients within the corn by making them accessible to the human body, and makes it possible to form a dough, called masa, once the corn is milled.

The following day, I rinse out the lime water from the corn and run it through a hand-crank grain mill. After all of the corn is milled, I add water by feel and mix by hand until the masa reaches the desired consistency. It’s then a matter of weighing out pieces of masa and shaping them into balls.

I now use an electric tortilla press to press and par-bake four corn tortillas at a time. Before I used a single traditional tortilla press. Once all the tortillas have been pressed I finish cooking them on the hot griddle on the commercial range.

Where can people find Rural Uprising Bakery products?

Rural Uprising Bakery products are available at the Stevens Point Area Summer and Winter Farmers Markets, The Village Hive: Bakery and Local Foods Collective, The Stevens Point Area Cooperative, Family Natural Foods, and Liberation Farmers’ Adelante in Almond.

I understand we can support Rural Uprising Bakery and Community Supported Agriculture at the same time.  What is this CSA opportunity and how can people support it? 

Even though the bakery has been off the farm for a couple of years now, Lonely Oak Farm continues to provide a bread-share add on with their weekly CSA during the growing season. For an additional $125 members will receive a fresh loaf of my sourdough bread delivered with their produce share over the 20 week season. It is an incredible value for members, and provides me with additional capitol at the beginning of the season to invest in ingredients and equipment.

Participating in Community Supported Agriculture is a great way to begin integrating local food into your diet and lifestyle. It provides a direct connection to the land and people who create our food, as well as provides you with food at its peak nutritional vitality.

What can we look forward to from Rural Uprising Bakery in 2021? 

My goals for 2021 are to continue to grow my customer base, work to maintain my production level between the summer and winter market seasons, collaborate with other local producers and businesses to build up our local food community, and find new local ingredients to incorporate into my breads. 

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

I’ve got a few closing thoughts:

I am very open about how I conduct my business. I readily share how/where I source my ingredients, as well as how I make my products. I have no secrets and nothing to hide. The more we do to get people involved in their food and food production, the better our local food community will be. Anyone should feel welcome to get in contact with me. I am also always willing to share sourdough starter with those interested in experimenting with sourdough bread.

The COVID-19 pandemic seemed to inspire more people to seek out local foods. We saw record numbers of people purchasing a higher proportion of their food at the Stevens Point Summer Farmers Market this last year. I’d like to see that momentum continue to grow. I know myself along with other local producers are poised to produce more. Our goal is to feed as many people in our community as we can.

I’ve also witnessed more people seeking out whole grains this past year. I’m happy to see the darker breads getting their due. I’d like to see that momentum carry though too.

Finally, there is a lot going on in our local food community right now. It is exciting and empowering to be a part of it. From Liberation Farmers’ pizza nights at Adelante, the Cook-Altenburg Cooperative, Stevens Point Area Co-op working memberships, various farms providing CSAs (Lonely Oak Farm, Rising Sand Organics, White Feather, etc.), and The Village Hive expanding to now include The Swarm restaurant, there are ample opportunities to be a part of your local food movement. Get to know your local farmers and producers. You’ll make great friends and share delicious food along the way. There are countless opportunities to learn and to do something satisfying. I heartily encourage people to participate in this any way they can.

Thank you Cole for sharing the Rural Uprising story!

You can Follow Rural Uprising Bakery on Facebook

And, check out Cole’s other skill – making music

For the soundtrack to his life: https://colevmadden.bandcamp.com/

Thanks for supporting local stories and local foods in Central Wisconsin. If you know about more great local foods producers, growers and makers that would make a good story for our blog please get in touch with us.