Skip to main content

Bakery Day 10: “It’s the same recipe as before!”


Last night around 6pm I started making croissant dough. If you have ever made croissants you know the butter and dough must be kept below a certain temperature, otherwise you will not have croissants. So, for 2 1/2 hours I was rolling the dough and then returning it to the fridge. I needed it cold and that is how to get it cold. Close to 9pm I was exhausted and also realized they needed more time so I put the dough in the fridge and planned on continuing this morning.


I made roughly 21kg of dough. 10kg of white, 8kg of integral, and 3kg of a rye white blend (the recipe for pan payes). I also focused more on the temperature of the dough than I have in the past. I even used ice to help cook the water to keep the temperature lower. This worked well, but I could have used a bit more ice. The dough worked much better than the past too, which made me happy.

I should also mention that we sold a lot of bread today. More than usual, but I expected this because today is a holiday in Spain and the markers are closed so they need someone to sell them bread: 😇😇

With the failure of the croissants (did I mention that the dough became a problem? I’ll get to that later) .. I took a melon and diced it up and reduced it on a hotplate to be a chunky sauce. I then took the pastry dough and rolled it out some until about 1 cm. I then took a circular cutter and cut out the dough, depressed the center and pressed it down with my thumbs. See the attached photo for the result. In one hour I think we sold five of them. One of the customers named them “sweet Dave” which I think is cute and it works for me ❤️

...

Remember the woman who complained about everything? Have I mentioned she has been in the bakery every day since? And loves everything, not a single complaint. She stopped me to say hello and tell me how much she loves coming and said even the cookies are really great, to which I replied, “they are the same recipe as before.” That ended that..

The woman, I know her name but will not say, is now doing that I cannot explain. She goes swimming in the morning and then comes to the bakery for a coffee and some desserts. Then, shortly before she leaves, she uses the ladies room. To be clear, when she uses the bathroom, I mean to say, she more than gets her money’s worth. I do not think any more detail is necessary but sandy did buy a protege suit and googles to go in with hopes of returning alive. This just makes me laugh, especially since she does it daily now. Poor sandy is in charge of the bathrooms...

... I digress

My day will end after the cake I need to make and cookies ... when sandy comes I will go home and shower and sleep... sweet Dave is tired ❤️
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Closing in on ten months

And what a journey it has become!!! I don’t know what to say or where to direct my energy in this blog entry. Some of the content is a repeat of what I’ve said many times and some maybe different. The bakery continues to struggle to meet the ends and while there are more customers it does not seem to change many of the outcomes. I spend time looking at the costs versus the income and I see little in terms of gaps that can be tightened. Really... I want to give up! I want to close the doors and never look back. We were closed last week for multiple reasons, including the installation of an air conditioner. I felt it was absolutely necessary to have colder air when it starts getting hot outside. We were also supposed to do a festival on Sunday, but when I found out it was more about marketing than making money I decided against it. Yes, marketing would help, but I would have had to buy a table and then invest in the foods with my fingers crossed that I would sell everything. So, such is...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bakery Day 19: Working smarter, not easier

Today I have been feeling extra sick. As I am writing this I am wet from perspiration, and weak. I knew this morning when I got up that I had to think smartly about the work I did today. I also knew, that I needed to focus my energy in a perfect way so that I do not weaken myself more. As with each morning, I start out with making white bread, 5kg of flour, 3500 of water, 100g salt, 120+g fresh starter, and 750g of masa madre (starter, sour dough starter)... while this is mixing I already have the croissants out of the refrigerator getting to room temperature and starting to rise and the oven is on. Funny thing about the croissants... two days in a row I forgot to glaze them before I started baking them. This is making me crazy that I keep forgetting this. I also had a small problem with the dough last night, the butter came through the dough two times. I really must find a way to focus more. Eugeni told me to get my dough to 5mm... wow.. i need a perfect temperature for this to happen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bakery Day 69: lots of baking

I was up early this morning so I went to the bakery just after five. Let me premise this by saying, when I get to the bakery I wash my hands and immediately start the first bread in the mixer. When I opened the refrigerator to gather the needed things (masa madre, fresh yeast, and cold water) I was treated to a surprise of a pitcher of soya milk and a few other things falling out. The milk went all over me and made a mess of the floor. Not my favorite start to the day! Once I got the mess in order, I moved on to baking: i made white breads, raisin breads, integral breads, a double order of brioche cinnamon rolls with icing. I made croissants, and the focaccia. By this time the cinnamon rolls sold out so I needed to make another bath of them.  After some cleaning I then started on the tapas for this evening. First I baked crostini’s and then I made a puff pastry. After this I did some cooking to prepare. I made a garlic and spinach, a walnut pate to be served on the crostini with olives...
Post a Comment
Read more