Bake (b)log

 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...