Spring/Summer/Fall 2010

WWater House Foods café and bake-house in Lake Mills is a dream cometrue for owners Rae and ShawnRediske.

“We craft our foods with care, loveand passion and we crave sharingthem,” Shawn said.

Artisan breads, croissants, scones,cookies, muffins, sandwiches andsoups are made healthier at the caféand bakehouse with local organicingredients.

Open since December 2008 indowntown Lake Mills, Water HouseFoods has quickly become a integralpart of the community where dreamscome alive.

More than just preparing and serv-ing scrumptious breads and yummyfood, Water House Foods also is agathering place for visitors and resi-dents of the Four Lakes Area to relax,play an instrument, sing a song, relatea story, share art, and even act a partall in a safe and accepting place.

The name of the café and bakehouseis derived from all the water in Shawnand Rae’s lives prior to opening.

“There is water everywhere in ourlives, except at the store,” Rae said,noting that ironically, Water HouseFoods is one of the only buildings intown that doesn’t have water in thebasement.

Moving to Lake Mills in 2006, thecouple found a home a block awayfrom Rock Lake. Due to the massiveamounts of rainfall in August 2007,water pooled in the basement. Muchto their amazement, the problemscontinued into the winter due to icedams which formed, causing a leakin the roof.

“Truly the house is either blessedor cursed with water spirits,” Raequipped.

At the time, Shawn was working at amanufacturing facility in Delavan thatmakes pumps that move water.

“Between our house and his job, we

figured Water House Foods was a goodname,” Rae said.

Opening the café and bakehousestarted with a simple gift of a loaf ofbread to a friend.

Coming out of college Shawn took ajob with Ford Motor Company whichtook him to Detroit.

“I didn’t know how to cook and Iknew I was going to have to,” he said.At the time, he and Rae were maintain-ing a long-distance relationship. Shewas a vegetarian.

Shawn purchased the book “Vegetar-

ian Cooking for Everyone” by DeborahMadison.

He started making the bread recipesbecause he was bored on Sundayswhen he was not returning to Wiscon-sin to see Rae. Shawn said he has noformal training.

Breads he was making consistentlydid not turn out well so he gave up.

Shawn’s mother got him “BreadAlone” by Daniel Leader for Christmasone year.

“All of a sudden the breads I wasmaking didn’t taste like Wonder Bread

Scrumptious breads, entertainmentserved up at Water House Foods

—————————————By Ryan Whisner

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L a k e M i l l s

Ryan Whisner and Water House Foods photos

SUCCESSFUL INGREDIENTS— Water House Foods in LakeMills does more than just offergreat breads and other delec-tables. It also serves as a gath-ering place for residents of andvisitors to the Four Lakes Area.Pictured here, clockwise fromtop: mouth-watering garlic bread;the original first order ever forWater House Foods saved in theshop’s copy of “Bread Alone”; apacked open mic performance atthe café; and co-owner ShawnRediske preparing bread dough.

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anymore, they were really good,”Shawn said, noting that the book rein-vigorated his interest in bread-making.

“Baking is very different, we found,than cooking,” Shawn said, noting thatcooking is very extemporaneous. Hesaid the good cooks do everything bytaste and intuition.

Shawn, a process engineer by train-ing, explained that baking is more pre-cise and process focused.

“If you forget to put the salt in a loafof bread, you’re done,” he said. “Onceit’s baked, it’s baked. There is still someintuition and still touch but it is a lotmore structured.”

Originally, bread making was only ahobby.

For more than a decade, Shawn hasbeen baking bread, giving it away torelatives and friends for holidays andother occasions.

A couple of years ago, he gave a loafto a friend from France, who told him it

was the best bread he had ever tastedin the United States. He encouragedShawn to sell it.

Samples of the bread were taken tothe Brick Street Market in Delavanwhere the owner, Laura Jacobs-Welchagreed to sell it.

Rae and Shawn went on vacationand upon returning, Jacobs-Welchhad an order for them. Written on asticky note, that original order re-mains in the front cover of Shawn’scopy of “Bread Alone” as a reminderof how they got started.

From there, the couple formed WaterHouse Foods and started participatingin the local Farmers Market.

Once established, they had to locate acertified kitchen to bake their bread.Eventually, they found the Rock LakeActivity Center in Lake Mills.

From the early stages, Shawn’s ef-forts have expanded from breads toscones, muffins, croissants, kringles,

sweet breads and cookies.“We built from breads the entire line

of products we have,” Rae said.Initially the product was all sold

wholesale.“It was getting big enough that we

needed a full-fledged location to sellfrom,” she said. A partnership withWindsor Breads led to the opening ofthe café and bakehouse in downtownLake Mills.

“This is just something we decided todo,” Shawn said.

In August 2009 he left his engineer-ing job and has been baking and cook-ing full-time.

“Every time we think, ‘what do wedo now?’ something drops out of thesky and we go, ‘oh, we’ll do that,’”Shawn said.

For example, when the partnershipwith Windsor Breads was dissolved,Water House Foods started makingmore of their own products other than

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Locally Owned & Operated Community Bank Since 1893

BAKEHOUSE AND CAFE´ — Baked goods are all the rage atWater House Foods. Above left are just a small selection ofcookies offered at the bakehouse. The café, located on East

Lake Street in downtown Lake Mills, has become a gatheringplace for patrons to dine, of course, but also to simply relax, lis-ten to live music or share artwork. The interior is shown above.

Water House Foods photos

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just breads.From that point, it advanced to sand-

wiches and soups. This summer, saladsare slated to be added to the growingmenu and the couple are talking aboutadding more breakfast items.

“Our customershave been great inguiding us towardwhat we want todo,” Shawn said.“One of our goalsis to be changingso frequently thateven our regularscome in have theexperience of ‘oh, Ididn’t know youwere doing that.’”

With Shawn pro-viding much of thevision and efforton the food side, itwas Rae’s dreamto have a café thatalso serves as amusic venue witha comfortable at-mosphere.

“The café is im-portant but I like todescribe it as just being a front,” Shawnsaid. “What we’re really interested indoing is helping people find thosethings that they really want to do andthen help them make their dreamscome true.”

The concept developed into open micnights at the café.

For Shawn, his proudest moment,involved two middle school girls whoparticipated at an open mic night. Thepair started playing Bob Dylan’s“Knockin on Heaven’s Door,” much tothe surprise and awe of the crowd.

The duo were asked to return toheadline an open mic night a couplemonths later. In between, the pairformed a band, developed a websiteand went from being two young stu-dents performing at a local café tobeing a band.

“Seeing that creative juice flowingwas just gratifying,” he said. “That isthe kind of stuff we want to do.”

To further engage with the communi-ty, Water House Foods also hosts“Fundraiser Tuesdays.” The eventsserve as fundraisers for organizationsor groups looking to raise money.

The café and bakehouse provides alocation for contributions and 20 per-cent off store sales that day are offeredto the charity.

Shawn said the first event of 2010was scheduled in January just before

the earthquake inHaiti. Upon hear-ing of the earth-quake, the pairwanted to raisemoney for Haitirelief. More than$750 was raised forthe American RedCross.

Water HouseFoods, located at110 East Lake St. inLake Mills, is open7 a.m. to 1 p.m.Mondays, 6 a.m. to6 p.m. Tuesdaysthrough Fridays;and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.Saturdays andSundays.

For food or fun,stop at the cafétoday. ❖

51 Spring/Summer/Fall 2010

Open mid April thru OctoberServing Quality Food & Fun for 16 years

Indoor & Outdoor Diningon Beautiful Rock Lake

Lunch & Dinner Specials DailyFriday Fish Fry

Saturday Prime RibSunday a.m. Breakfast Buffet

Memorial Day - Labor Day

Signature CocktailsKaraoke Every Saturday Night

345 Sandy Beach Road • Lake Mills920-648-3227

SAND BAR & GRILL

106 East Lake Street • Lake Mills920-648-3082

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Concept Salon

Water House Foods photo

STICKY FINGERS — Water HouseFoods offers baking classes for bothnovice and experienced bakers.

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