Eden Prairie’s Bill Middeke has long entered breads in the Minnesota State Fair. “If I win, that’s great. If I don’t, well, at least I tried,” he said. Photo by Stuart Sudak
The Minnesota State Fair is a place where nearly everything can be judged – quilt stitches, pickles, even seed art. For Eden Prairie’s Bill Middeke, it’s bread.
This year, he lugged potato bread, challah, honey rye, bird seed loaves, whole wheat, cinnamon raisin, and rolls to the Creative Activities Building – and also entered challah in the honey category in the Agriculture Building, where the only sweetener allowed is bee honey. He came away with one ribbon: third place for his challah in the honey category.
“I’ve won a couple of blue ribbons over the years, but I really do it for kicks and grins,” said Middeke, a retired computer programmer. “If I win, that’s great. If I don’t, well, at least I tried.”
His love for breadmaking started the summer before his senior year of college. He was living two houses down from his grandmother in St. Louis.
“She was a good German housefrau, and you didn’t waste anything,” Middeke said. “She was going into the hospital and had a cake of the old-fashioned compressed yeast. She gave it to my mom and said, ‘Here, make something.’ And my mom turned to me and said, ‘Here, make something.’
“So I got out the Betty Crocker cookbook, followed the recipe, and made my first loaf of bread.”
He was 21. After moving to Minnesota in 1994, he saw the bread displays at the State Fair and thought, “Oh, I can give it a try.” He’s been entering ever since.
Middeke’s specialties include challah, sourdough, rye, and what his late wife, Pat, dubbed “bird seed bread,” a hearty loaf with nine kinds of seeds. Once, a woman at church said, “Oh, the birds just love that bread.”
“I was glad she didn’t tell me directly,” Middeke said with a smile. “I don’t know if I could have kept a straight face.”
Loaves baked by Bill Middeke fill tables at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie during his spring sale for World Bicycle Relief. The April fundraiser raised more than $4,300. Photo courtesy of Bill Middeke
The State Fair is only part of his story. At Immanuel Lutheran Church, where he’s been a member for 31 years, Middeke turns dough into donations. For 17 of the past 18 years, he’s held a spring bake sale for World Bicycle Relief, baking hundreds of loaves and cinnamon rolls. This past April, he raised more than $4,300.
“World Bicycle Relief was formed after the big tsunami in the Indian Ocean,” Middeke explained. “They build what’s called the buffalo bicycle – it’s designed for rural terrain in developing countries. Their main emphasis is providing bicycles to girls so they can get to school.
“If it takes an hour to walk to school, you probably won’t go. But if you can get there in 15 minutes on a bicycle, you will.”
His mission goes beyond bread. Known locally as “Bicycle Bill,” Middeke has ridden in 43 charity bike rides since 1999 and raised more than $160,000. “I was going to give it up, but I did a charity ride in July for multiple sclerosis (MS),” he said.
Each loaf takes two to three hours to make. In April alone, he filled six freezers with bread, relying on fellow parishioners to store the overflow. “It helps to have this community behind you,” he said.
Bill Middeke holds up sweet rolls during his spring bake sale at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie. The fundraiser supports World Bicycle Relief. Photo by Bill Middeke
Breadmaking, he admits, is therapy. “I do have a bread machine with a hook in it, but I rarely use it,” he said. “I enjoy the kneading process – and honestly, I make my best bread when I’m mad. I take all my aggressions out on the dough. Unfortunately, since I retired, I don’t get mad as much.”
His father-in-law once asked why he didn’t open a bakery. “I told him, ‘No – I don’t want the hours. Then it would be a job.’”
His wife, Pat, died in February.
“I’m doing OK,” Middeke said. “I have my moments. Dinnertime is especially difficult. We always made the point to eat dinner together.”
So this year’s State Fair is his first without her. Would that be tough?
“Yep, yep, yep,” he said quietly. “She was my main cheerleader. One day, after she helped me clean up, she told me, ‘I don’t recall in my wedding vows agreeing to be your scullery maid.’ And I said, ‘Well, I don’t recall in my wedding vows agreeing to be your laundress.’”
Does he cook anything else?
“Not really. I can fry an egg. That’s about it,” he said. “I’m a bread baker, not a chef.”
So what happens to all the loaves?
“I couldn’t possibly eat them all,” he said, laughing. “I give most of it away.”
Bill Middeke’s challah, entered in the honey competition at the Minnesota State Fair’s Agriculture Building, was tucked behind other loaves but earned a third-place ribbon. Photo courtesy of Bill Middeke
On opening day of the State Fair, Middeke walked through the Creative Activities Building to check his entries, then over to the Agriculture Building for the honey competition. His challah was tucked behind other loaves, but it carried a third-place ribbon.
But don’t ask him about pies. “Pie crust and I don’t get along,” Middeke said. “I have a tendency to knead it, which makes it tough.”