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Bakery Days 105 & 106: catching up!

Somehow I forgot to post yesterday.  So today we hat about both days..

i was in the bakery at 5am and trying to do everything on my list. One small problem, I forgot to look at the list so I forgot a couple of things - it is life. By 10:30 AM yesterday we only had two brief customers and I was very stressed and nervous that we might not make 10€ for the day. Then, I went home and did some paperwork things while Sandy stayed at the bakery. She kept saying when I would ask that it was not too busy, but in the end we had a pretty good day. Not a record breaking day but a good day for sure. I am so happy that even on the bad days we are starting to have good days. I believe days like this will continue to remind me that we are getting better and building a customer base. It is key that we also have the cafe as that really sustains is. Someone comes in to buy croissants and a coffee and maybe buys two instead of one. It is the little things that mean the most.

I am not sure when or if I spoke about this (pretty sure I did)... I love the relationships we are building with customers. Someone’s some come in just to say hello and that is really special for me. It means a lot to be more specific. I never look at a customer as money. I know that they are the source of money in most cases, but I see them as people we are getting to know, and really enjoy the company. For me, it is the essential element of my life. Yes, the money is very important too, but I love the relationships.

Today I did preparation work in the bakery. I made ensaimadas, croissants, white masa, and integral masa. The last two are in slow bulk fermentation for tomorrow morning. That I also like as it eases the start of my day, and more importantly, gives a much greater tastes to the breads. The integral is a new recipe as I have been having many problems with that flour for some odd reason. I am hoping this change works and the breads tomorow turn out much better. If so I will increase the production for Wednesday and onward.

Lastly, I am still having problems getting my oven right. Eugeni told me it took him six months for his replacement oven which was the same make and model to get right. My breads get a weird crust sometimes and I do not know why. I have tried a higher hydration and a lower hydration and I cannot get it working. I think starting tomorrow I will go back to what I did in my testing days and write every detail down. What shelf was the bread on, the exact temperature, the exact amount of water, etc. and every day I will change one thing at a time to see if it helps.

Ok, time to sleep, I have a lot to do this week. At some point I will start making panettone and once I have the last couple of ingredients I will get that going. I am very excited or this.

Thank you as always for reading my blog, YOU are the reason I do it! ❤️

#doeverythingwithlove

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