Bake (b)log

 5 Day Sourdough Recipe Extended Edition Hello my fellow bakers. This post is made to provide more detail to a basic recipe we provide to customers who purchase Bannetons (also known as Proofing Baskets) from our bakery. With that purchase we include Carl Jr, our active sourdough starter, so that you can save yourself the time and effort of bringing a starter to life from scratch. This recipe Makes 2 Loaves, so try different proofing, shaping and baking methods if you like, you can also bake one off and save the rest of the dough for the next day to see the difference. However you use, have fun and happy baking! Day One :   Feed Starter: 76g  This Sourdough Stater should be fed at a ratio of 1:1 Water : Flour The Quantity of this ratio is based on the recipe you are using. This the recipe calls for 76g of Starter so you will mix 38g of flour with 38g of cold water in a bowl, then add your starter (Carl jr.) and mix again. Place in a container large enough for the newly ...

 It's hard to believe that Basic Kneads has been here on Gore st for over a year. Time flies when you are slinging loaves and taking names. Here we are back into the busy season of cottagers returning to the many lakes surrounding Perth and tourists looking for a weekend or even an afternoon away from the busy cities. Locals are filling their social calendars with music festivals, camping trips and get togethers with friends who are out of their winter hibernation or back from their winters spent in warmer climates. There are so many occasions to share a meal and break bread with the people you love.  The bakery rolls on! We have added to our roster and extended our hours, welcoming Beau to the team three days a week, the return of Mix Master Michael to full time and opening up 7 days a week to bake wheat while the sun is shining. The current summer schedule actually works out better for Yoshi and I as we each get (theoretically) two more days off a month. In reality July was ...

 Rusty's log stardate: -299960.81 Perth Ontario: Temp 5 C  humidity: 76% Basic Kneads: Temp: 24 C Humidity: 30% There are three questions I am asked several times everyday. They are: Do you have any Sourdough? Do you do anything gluten-free? and What time do you wake up in the morning?  So I thought I would tackle the first two quickly and digress with the third. Sourdough? Yes Please! Everyday we are making baguettes, country loaves and Euro loaves that use a sourdough starter. These loaves are NOT 100% sourdough as the starter makes up only 25% of the leavening agents. The taste is improved but the yeast does not break down the sugars in the same way that is necessary for diabetics and people with gluten intolerances to eat it. But fear not! Wednesdays we make a traditional 100% white sourdough, and Friday is Rye-Day, with a 100% sourdough rye. We bake them in 2 sizes and they sell out fast so its best to put your orders in in advance.  Gluten-free? Never hear...

 Rusty's Log Stardate 78355.7 Perth Ontario : Temp: 5 C Humidity: 84% Basic Kneads: Temp: 25.6 Humidity: 34% Finally some time to sit down and get some words out. Basic Kneads is running near non-stop as we ready for the colder weather. The snows have so far been kept at bay and here at 98 Gore street we are staying nice and warm by the ovens (often a little too warm for Yoshi) and Micheal is steeling himself for his first Canadian winter and looking to the sky for his first sight of snow. We have settled into a weekly routine of  rolling and baking mixing and sleeping and getting up before the sun to do it all again. We have finally decided on a weekly rotation of daily specials to add to the Basics Menu. These specials are generally more complicated types of bread and a welcome challenge to keep us on our toes. Cheese twists, Everything you Knead Loaf, Pumpernickel, Cinnamon sugar Fritters, Oat Stout and of Course Friday's : Sourdough Rye. What is it about sourdough that att...

 Rusty’s log  Stardate -299749.51 Perth Ontario: Temp 13.9 C Humidity 89% Basic Kneads: Temp 25.2 C Humidity 46% Another Monday morning. The sun is slowly rising outside our bakery window. Cars are rolling by and the display shelves are empty, waiting for another week to start. This coming week marks a milestone for Yoshi and I. July, August and September were dedicated to getting the bakery running and baking bread for the people of Perth. October is the beginning of baking for local businesses. This started last Saturday with our first delivery to Gather, a local lunch restaurant who ran a sandwich special with our bread. There were also baguettes delivered to Maximilian’s who we hope to supply with sliced pumpernickel and rye for sandwiches. 1827 Wine and Cheese Lounge will also be receiving baguettes daily for their charcuterie and cheese boards and croutons.  The summer tourists season is winding down, kids back at school and the expected slump in bread sales with le...

 Rusty’s log: Stardate: -299633.37 Perth Ontario : temp 14 C humidity 89% Basic Kneads:  temp 28 C humidity 58% A cold and rainy day is August, no better day to invest in the future. But first, a big Basic Kneads welcome to Michael, our very first employee! Michael comes to us from Ghana, where bread is baked fresh using white flour with very little crunch to its crust. It is called Tea Bread and Yoshi and I look forward to learning to bake it for him and his family. Michael is learning the ropes of the bakery and picking up the rhythm of our days quite quickly. He is providing much needed help in our long evening mixing process and seems to have an endless supply of energy and enthusiasm. We are very glad to have him on the team.  Another team member has joined us today (that’s the investment I referred to). Today, Michael, Yoshi and I , along with help from a our new friend Brett and his truck and trailer, hit the road and headed to Westport to meet up with Hans and Ann...

 Rusty’s Log Stardate -299594.78 Perth Ontario: temp 22.6 C humidity 94% Basic Kneads: temp 25.7 C humidity 63% What a month it has been. Four straight weeks of bread, sold out everyday and a constant increase in production has resulted in two very happy bakers. Yoshi and I are thrilled with the response from the town, the repeat customers we are getting to know by name and loaf preference, the rhythm of our days and nights and getting used to the early mornings and long hot days in front of the ovens. Today is a Monday and we bake no bread. That doesn’t mean we have the day off. To prepare for the coming week there is lots to do. Raisins are soaking in our chai blend, olives are being chopped and herbs portioned for olive loaf, our seed mix is being blended for the topping of our country loaf.  Carl jr and Yuri are being carefully fed, as well as our newest creation and Carl’s cohort in crime: Rye-an, our rye sourdough starter. This past week we began testing out recipes for ...

 Yoshi's Log Stardate -299559.33 or July 23rd 2024 Inside 27'C and 59% Humidity Outside 24'C and 65% Humidity     Todays bake went flawlessly. We still haven't figured out a good name for the ovens and they continue to burn me when i drop my guard.      We got our new to us 20qt Hobart mixer (unnamed) that we will be able to increase the speed and/or volume of our production. We also placed our new display refrigeration unit in the entrance. The fridge will be used for dips and spreads that we will make in house and compound butters and tapenades and other things to go with bread. We are looking into some possible cold drinks and we have an electrician coming in this week to possibly install another plug so we can have coffee at the front entrance.      Next month we hope to have a Rye bread offering, but that wont start until we have our new routine down with the second mixer. We have an opportunity to offer a bread made with red fife f...

 Rusty Log Stardate -299546.26 Perth Ontario: temperature 24.5 humidity 54% Basic kneads : temperature 29.4 humidity 71% Another sold out day. It has only been 9 days since the official launch and we are exceeding expectations. The people of Perth have welcomed us with such enthusiasm and positivity that all the doubts I harboured over the past few months in preparation and planning seem to have faded away. We knew the town needed a bread bakery, but I didn’t know how bad it really was. We are close to producing twice my original forcast, what we called a Full Run during testing. Each day we have increased the amount of loaves baked and the quality of those loaves and batches are improving as well with fewer burnt bottoms and better proofs and springs prior to and during the bake. Our rolling is also getting faster and we have started to settle into a rhythm of Yoshi concentrating on the ovens as I hammer through the rolling and proofing. That is not to say we have reached my ideal...

 Yoshi's Log Stardate -299515.97 or July 17th 2024 23'C 95% humidity outside 27'C 65% humidity inside      Week 2 is a great success so far. The bakes have been amazing from start to finish. We have better communications with the oven entity. They seem to enjoy the sacrifice of corn meal we add to the bottom of all of our loves. It stops the random burns we were getting from the hot spots. Today a new piece of refrigeration equipment arrived and we hope it will soon find a place amongst our band of misfit toys.      I read yesterdays (B)log and Rusty got technical with temperatures and humidity levels and how they react to the bread process. I will only add that changing the temperature of the ingredients is another way that we can encourage the bread to do what we want it to do. If we need a longer Knead time but the room is very hot I recommend putting some, if not all of your ingredients in the fridge as to not encourage the fermentation proces...

 Stardate: -299540.7 Perth Ontario: temp 25.5 C humidity 87% Basic Kneads Bakery: temp 29.3 humidity 72% Hot and humid. It’s summer in the Ottawa valley. What does this mean for kneads bakery? And why do our posts start with a weather report? Well I’m glad you asked fellow bread enthusiast. It’s important to remember that bread is alive, or was alive before it became bread to be more exact. In dough form, prior to baking, it was a living organism, eating, breathing, growing and getting hungry as all living things do in one form or another. Bread is an amazing example of the cycle of life. The flour was once wheat, growing in a field, hungry for sunlight and thirsty for water and nutrients from the soil. Then it was harvested and died(1d6 slashing damage). Ground into flour it then sat, lifeless until it became food for another life form: Yeast.  For Yoshi and I yeast is an extremely important component of our business. It is a living thing, but it needs to be controlled, nurtu...

 Rusty’s Log Stardate -299526.8 Perth, Ontario: temperature 23 C humidity 95% Basic Kneads: temperature 29 C humidity 65% Cheese and bread, two of my very favourite things. Today we took dough that was designated for baguettes and instead made cheese sticks, cheese buns and a knotted something or other that I will not repeat in the future. It was delicious and the last thing we baked, and it sold out in minutes after a timely social media post by Yoshi.  The black spots taunt us still, and we are working on some solutions to having a more even bake and avoiding the hotspots in our metal beasts. I am hopeful that rearranging of the pizza stones and a health healthy dose of cornmeal under the loaves will make tomorrow’s bake burn free. We are arranging a weekly pick up of spent grains from Corden and Cathy at Perth Brewery that we have been adding to our country loaf the last few days with great success.  Our evening mix is still the longest task of our day and by the time ...

 Yoshi's log stardate -299524.16 July 10th 2024 4:50 am 25'c inside 18'c outside 95% humidity.  Communications between us and the ovens have broken down. They took 2 of our recipes today seemingly without remorse. It turns out getting in close can be dangerous as they are quick to sting the forearms. We were gifted 2 new pairs of long ove-gloves hopefully reducing the attacks from the metal monstrosities.  Sold out streak is still going. And the response from the town really is overwhelming. I don't really have the words to express how grateful we are. Rusty is right i'm not sleeping well. This log is going to be a short one as i am out of lame jokes. I will leave you with this though. Today we tried a new recipe that i am very excited about so you will see that soon, also some new equipment so we can be more efficient and allow us to make different things. We are nearly there getting our basics down pat. Very soon i promise we will have new and exciting offerings. ...

 Rusty’s log Stardate: -300520.5 Perth Ontario: temperature 23 C Humidity 93% Basic Kneads: temperature 30 C humidity 46% Pressure: 100.9 kPa  Day 2 of the new venture and the bake has already increased. Over 100 loaves baked and sold out before 1pm. Today and tomorrow we are lucky enough to have Kieran stageing with us. She recently finished the pastry program at Algonquin College and is filling her hours with us. Today she gained experience in shaping dough, forming loaves, baking and preparing tomorrow’s mix of doughs. It was a long hot day and she pulled through like a trooper, I have no doubt she will go far in the industry. Last night I babysat Carl jr, who Yoshi introduced you to yesterday. He had been lazy all day so I took him home with me for an extra feeding and closer attention. About 10 pm he woke up in a fever of excitement so I chilled him out in the fridge until morning. Due to our increased production volume we are using 1600g of him a day so we need him to gr...

 Yoshi's Log Stardate -299515.94 Or July 8th our Grand opening. Gluetentag everyone.     So I forgot to take the temperature and humidity readings for the day. Honestly the excitement and anxiety of the day made it a bit of a blur. As for the Bake it went nearly flawlessly with over 100 loaves of our recipes made. Except for burnt a few we sold everything so that's a win. Don't worry they weren't that bad and we gave those away anyway. Although it will take a while to let go of the entire double batch of Cobbler loaf we (I) burnt while test baking. Anywho...       What can i say to start my part of the (B)log. Well Thank you reader. You probably stumbled upon this while checking out our website after trying our bread. I hope you liked it. Thank you Rusty for your patience and guidance. You are right beside me living my dream every day. Man we did it. Thank you Rose and Kassy our unwavering partners that can deal with the long nights and carb comas...

 Rusty's Log: Stardate: -299515.94  Perth Ontario: Temp 24.9 C Humidity 86% Basic Kneads: Temp 29.8 C Humidity 58% Barometric Pressure: 29.50 inHg It is our final day of preparations. Yoshie has gotten ahead on prep for olives bread, a last minute addition of our mixed herb blend to the olive loaf has us excited and relieved to have found the little touch that had been missing during our test bakes.  Our sultana raisins have been saturated in our chai spices and dumped ceremoniously in the cinnamon loaves before being rolled to proof overnight.  The rest of the batches have jumped ahead in their fermentation process, rising faster than any of our test days. As if the dough is as eager as us to begin this journey. Fortunately this was caught in time for me to be able to punch the air out of them and put them to rest for the evening. The morning will tell if my efforts were in vain and if I will arrive back to Kneads to a mess of over fermented dough. My experience tel...

 Rusty and Yoshi's Log Stardate: -299512.68   Perth, Ontario: Temp: 22.3 C  Humidity: 95% Basic Kneads: Temp: 28.3 C Humidity: 64% Barometric Pressure: 29.32 inHg   Flour, salt, yeast and water have been acquired. Lease signed, equipment bought, serviced and all systems are functioning. Two months of planning, searching, driving, renting trucks and testing our luck. Sweat and grind towards our mutual goal.  We venture forth with courage to fulfil our dreams of feeding the people of Perth Ontario and surrounding areas with quality and affordable bread. Our recipes have have been verified and practiced. Routines established. The smell of our test bakes have been wafting onto the corner of Gore and Mill for the past week, turning heads that pop in to ask:  when we will be open, what will we be making, will it be sourdough? gluten free? rye? pumpernickel? why cant we find a decent loaf of bread in this town? Finally! Thank you! Can't wait. Monday quic...