Bakery Day 72: Deconstruction

I just now got to lay down. This morning I was at the office at 5 am.. I baked like nobody’s business and then at 2pm a new friend came. She is a professional baker who teaches and she wanted to help me. I met her a few weeks ago when we came into the bakery and we got to talking and said if I ever need she is happy to help..

Sorry, she = Laura.

Today she taught me the correct technique and recipe for baking ensaimadas - wow is it hard and completely diffeeent than anything I expected. And did I mention they are very difficult too?

In between this she and I worked on my croissant recipe. Actually, we tore apart my recipe completely and now we are working on hers. Laura stayed with me today for six hours and she smiled the whole time and cleaned and was just amazing. I cannot express in words how thankful I am (though I think I just tried).

As a trade, I told her she can use my bakery to teach bread classes anytime she wants and she likes that idea. She did not want money just some English practice.

How lucky am I to have made such a nice new friend!?!?!?!

i do not have any photos from today. To be honest, I worked so hard for so lone (15,5 hours) that I did not even get much of a chance to look at my phone ...

that is all for today.. thank you so much for taking the time as alway to read what I write.

#doeverythingwithlove

Comments

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...

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...

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...

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