This Ohio Farm Bakery Makes Beautiful Breads and Pastries

At 16 years old, James Bigham was working for his older brother, selling produce to local farmers markets and restaurants when one day, three baker vendors quit. It was 2016, and Bigham was a teenager eager to gain more work experience, so he decided to help fill in.

“I thought, ‘They’re not doing anything that I already haven’t done growing up with my mom, cooking and baking all the time,’” Bigham says.

That same year, he started Bigham Artisan Bread & Pastry, a family-run bakery that can be found at farmers markets around the Preble County village of New Paris, where Bigham and his family live on a farm with a large garden. His mom, who now works for the bakery full-time, inspired his love of baking and cooking growing up.

Bigham runs the business alongside his mom, sister and aunt, producing goods that are as beautiful as they are delicious. For the past nine years, selling at farmers markets rather than an actual storefront has worked well for Bigham, and he finds that it provides him more flexibility to switch up the goods he’s selling and gives him more time to work on the farm and in the garden.

From left to right: Sandy Bigham, Jessy Bigham and James Bigham (photo by Jessy Bigham)

“So far, we've had great support from our customers, so I haven't had the need to branch out any farther yet,” Bigham says.

Bigham credits his success largely to his friend and mentor, Sally Henson, who owns an Oxford-based farm-to-table food truck called Loaded Goat Cafe. Bigham met Henson at the Oxford Farmers Market in 2015 while he was still selling produce with his brother, and she helped him understand different recipes and formulas.

After years of being a sounding board for Bigham to bounce new recipe ideas off of, Henson encouraged him to move in a more artisanal direction. Henson always wanted to take classes at the San Francisco Baking Institute but had never been able to make it. When she nudged Bigham in that direction, he decided to take the school’s sourdough bread and Viennoiserie courses in 2020.

“Without her encouragement to go to that school, I may not have stayed in the business,” Bigham says.

Though the menu is always changing, on many weekends at the Oxford Farmers Market, customers can look forward to chocolate and almond croissants, which are the bakery’s bestseller, along with raspberry cheese Danishes.

“It's just a lot of fun. We might do something this week, and we might never do it again, or not until next year,” Bigham says. “Or if it’s really popular, and if we can manage to keep the ingredients around, we might do it for a month.”

When he’s not selling at farmers markets, Bigham works on his family’s property in a large garden that grows produce used in the pastries and bread he sells. If the bakery needs additional produce, they source it locally from businesses like Downing Fruit Farms, Whistler Farms and Weslers Orchard.

Approaching 10 years of baking and selling fresh breads, pastries and desserts, Bigham reflects on nearly a decade spent working alongside family and the pride of continuing the brand. 

“When I found out that I could make a living [running the bakery], and that it’s something that I enjoy, I thought, ‘Why not?’” Bigham says. “You know, if you get to do what you love, then that’s the best thing you can ask for.”

For more information about Bigham Artisan Bread & Pastry, visit facebook.com/BighamArtisanBreadPastry.

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