Artisan Baker Azikiwee Anderson of Rize Up Bakery

Artisan San Francisco baker Azikiwee Anderson, owner Rize Up Bakery

Photo credit: Rize Up Bakery

In 2020, New Orleans native Azikiwee Anderson turned to sourdough baking as both a creative outlet and a way to cope with the social unrest following the murder of George Floyd, unexpectedly starting his journey as an artisan baker and the founder of Rize Up Bakery.

Azikiwee, his mother and siblings, relocated to San Francisco following a traumatic family event when he was just 5 years old. The city was a vast contrast to the one he started his early years in and eventually his mother moved them to Chico where he says although a beautiful city, is not very diverse. Following high school, he moved to Santa Rosa where he attended junior college.

Years to follow included a stint in coaching gymnastics and a 20+ year career as a professional skateboarder that took him around the world. After getting married and starting a family, he says, “It’s a youth sport and I had gained a certain amount of notoriety and people knew who I was and respected me for what I had done in the sport, but you get to be a certain age when you’re like, ‘I don’t want to be one all the time and miss my kids.'”

So he left and that is when food reentered his story.

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Rising Up Through Tragedy. The Birth of Rize Up Bakery

After retiring from skateboarding, Azikiwee reassessed his life and what to do next and says, one thing came to mind that was rooted in his heart; being a chef.

“Food is love to me. We didn’t a whole lot but my mom was a good cook and she really wanted to make sure we felt cared about. My mom worked a lot so she taught me how to cook at a young age,” he shares in the episode. “I was the eldest and I was there a lot of times when she would be working and telling me how to make one of her dishes and I would cook for the family.”

He attended culinary school and began working as a private chef, hosting events for small parties of less than 30 people and was doing well. Then the COVID-19 pandemic shut down his business. Months later, another event would tear the country apart; the murder of George Floyd.

“The murder of George Floyd brought up a lot of trauma in my brain and I was both furious and sad. And then the only thing to really fix it [how he was feeling] was when I would go downstairs and work on trying to get better at this random thing of making bread which in the first part I really didn’t want to do, all of a sudden I realized that when I wad doing it, I was really happy.”

Azikiwee kept at it, failing several times before nailing a sourdough recipe that worked. In the beginning, he gave loaves aways to family, friends and neighbors until a friend in New York wanted to purchase some. Reluctantly, the self-taught baker sent him the bread and right after, he says he had an order for 60 loaves and soon Rize Up Bakery was born.

Listen to the full inspiring episode below as well as watch it on Youtube after enjoying the teaser below.

Rize Up Bakery sourdough is available for shipping nationwide. To order, visit their website and follow along on Instagram for upcoming sourdough collaborations, updates and more on Instagram.

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