Bob at The Bakery
Hey Everybody,
Well guess what? Buddy of mine and TFL member Bob (TFL screen name bobkay1022) made a guest appearance at The Back Home Bakery this week. Just in case you aren't familiar with Bob, both he and his wife of 41 years primarily reside in Arizona, but spend much of the year traveling the U.S. in their motorhome. Although he bakes at home in Arizona, he has also baked during his travels using a convection microwave in his motorhome. Bob and I have corresponded quite a bit in the last few years having first become aquainted with each other here on TFL. As I knew he would be in the northwest part of this country sometime this summer, I extended an open invitation for him to visit should he make it to the Flathead Valley.
Anyway, they rolled in to the area on Friday morning and were invited to join us at 1:00 AM for a Saturday morning session getting ready for the Kalispell Farmers' Market. Bob heartily accepted the invitation while his wife thought better and instead decided to decline. Bob will also be joining me on Tuesday morning to get his hands in some dough and help prepare for the Whitefish Farmers' Market.
Here's a couple of photos of us on Saturday.
Bob packages up some pizza dough for the market. 'Take-and-Bake' pizza dough is now one of our biggest sellers!
Here we are striking a pose while we should probably be working.
Comments
Mark,
As you selling the pizza dough refrigerated or frozen? What is the weight of the package? I am curious for my own application here at our market.
Jeff
When it comes time to scale the dough into loaves, we scale some of into portions for pizza dough. They are made into 350g boules (medium pizza), placed in oiled bags (with a little bit of room to grow), then placed in the freezer to slow down their growing. A couple of hours later when it is time to go to the market, they are placed in an iced cooler to hold them at that temperature. They are sold 'partially frozen' and handling instructions are stapled to the top of the bag. About 2/3 of the pizza dough we sell are a slightly sour white dough, 1/3 of the pizza dough is a 50% whole wheat multigrain.
-Mark
Thanks Mark.
Jeff
Mark,
I am beginning to think that when you extend an open invitation to people to visit you that what you are really doing is railroading innocent bread lovers into your kitchen so you can put them to work in the wee hours of the morning though none ever seem to appear upset about the arrangement :-)
All kidding aside I think it is great that you let people come into your bakery and work with you. In my opinion when traveling it is much more meaningful to fit into the community one is visiting rather than simply being a tourist. By opening your doors to travelers you allow them to be a part of your community if just for a little while. I am sure they take away wonderful memories.
If I were still a traveler I would head on up. I am a night owl so the hours would work into my rhythm just fine but I would have a hard time staying awake for the Farmer's Market....perhaps I could sleep under the table ?
I always enjoy reading about what you are up to and this latest post is no exception. Thanks for sharing it here for us to read :-)
Take Care,
Janet
Bob was a bit wiped out after working the morning shift so he skipped the Saturday market. Of course people that intern here attend the market as they have time to become acclimatized to the work schedule. Plus it's quite an experience to work your hardest all week, produce hundreds of baked goods on Saturday, then watch as many, many people stand in line to purchase them all the while complimenting the quality and taste of everything.
Glad you enjoy the posts. Take care.
-Mark
Hi there!
That scaled dough on the table is just waiting to be shaped. I envy Bob. :)
Good to see your taking a break, even if it is just for a few seconds, for taking a photo.
And is great to know you had help last saturday and next tuesday... for Whitefish market is one of the last weeks, no?, so I imagine you're reducing the quantities accordingly. Hope you and Bob will have lot of fun.
Codruta
We scaled back a bunch this past Saturday and sold everything but a few pizza doughs. As for Whitefish, tonight is the second-to-last market, then after next week we'll be done with the Tuesday markets for the year. Imagine that.
Bob and I are having fun and when he starts to answer me back a bit too much I send him into the sink room to do some dishes.
-Mark
Hope all is well. Lost my rye starter you gave me. I think I have a good one going.
est to you for the winter. Thanks for the up date also and Hello to Sharon.
This a the Rye. Nice crust and moist crumb.