News!

I have not posted here for a while, largely because there has been little to report.
Oats is now an established weekly order of Spelt and Rye Sourdough, and Soda Bread, and the first Millie and Me order went down well, I have two upcoming orders for them in the next couple of months. In fact they phoned me last week to see if I could do 60 rolls at short notice. Unfortunately, it was the weekend of Yvonne's birthday and Naomi and Eamon were coming down, so I had to pass. It's a shame, because I hate turning work away, but Yvonne would have been upset if I had not been able to celebrate her special day properly because of baking. (And that's putting it mildly!!!)


However today I took delivery of my new cooker, the old one was on it's last legs, the door needed wedging shut to make it work, and the thermostat was in a world of it's own. Now I have a shiny new one, I don't want to use it, in case it gets dirty.

Oats got in touch today, they want Ciabatta on a regular basis for their cafe, so I will do a sample batch when I do the Sourdough order on Sunday, check out their page here;

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Oats/575559045803659?fref=ts

and the post.

Oats

creating panini ideas at the moment as a near-future addition in our cafe. We will be using locally made artisan ciabatta by Richard Dockett of Wellbread as the base.

What's your favourite filling???

 That's all the news for now, I will tell you how we get on with the Ciabatta next time. 

A bit of positive feedback from Oats on facebook,

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oats/575559045803659#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=650783911614505&id=575559045803659

nice to get a mention, and a satisfied customer as well.

The next big job is the FIRST order for Millie and Me, I'm very excited about this one, so it's got to be right. Cheese and Onion rolls, Various Focaccia and some Flaky Biscuits (American Style)

As it happens, the first part went without a hitch, but just to be sure, I tried a focaccia in Wessex mills "Mediterranean" flour, to measure up the portions, I found last time the hardest job was getting all the rolls roughly the same size.
 

Anyway that went reasonably well, and had the benefit of producing rolls for lunch, and the next few days.

 

So I moved on to the main event, and produced around 5 kilos of dough.

Part of the Dough

The other Part

 

This I turned into the rolls and focaccia, I will do the biscuits last.

And the results? Well have a look and see what you think.

 

 

I've never made that many biscuits in one go before, lots of frozen butter to grate and sticky dough to persuade into manageable shapes, but I think the results are worth it.

 

Unfortunately there were a few mis-shapes, that would be the bakers perk! Theres got to be a reward for getting up so early. All in the name of quality control of course.

Now I have to deliver them and wait for the verdict.

New Style

I'm making sourdough for Oats today, using my new Banneton from Bread Matters

Hopefully, they will be an improvement on my previous utensils, the dough had a tendancy to stick to them, no matter how well floured, and removing it always resulted in a loss of shape. We will have to see at about four this afternoon, when I bake them.

Well they have now been rising for 8 hours, and have filled the banneton,

 

 

even the one I am making for myself has expanded nicely

 

In the oven they went,

 

and 25 mins later, they were looking good,

 

Then it was the turn of the Rye, I gave it 30 minutes

Now theres just the Soda Bread to do.

 

and that came out looking good.  I'm off for a medical today, but will be gearing up for my first order for Millie and Me, that's cooking on Thursday.   

Update

I can now reveal the name of my second customer, (drumroll) its Millie and Me in Brixham.

http://millieandme.co.uk/

And to start things off, they will be taking delivery of a selection of goodies on May 3^rd, ready for the Brixham Pirate Festival over that weekend. These include Cheese and Onion rolls, various Focaccia and the American style flaky biscuits.

http://www.brixhampiratefestival.co.uk/

And there is more Good news on the bread front, the Sourdough and Soda bread that I make for Oats in Brixham.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oats/575559045803659?v=wall

is selling well, and they are increasing their order from next week. So thanks to everyone who is buying, if we go on like this I will need a bigger oven. I also plan to start taking orders for delivery, in the Torbay area. I’m still working out the logistics of that one, stay tuned for more information.

There don’t seem to be any mail order bread websites, so I will have to think about that, Sourdough is the most likely candidate as it would keep long enough to make courier delivery a possibility. There will be things to sort out, but it may be possible to share “Brixham” (not San Francisco) sourdough with a wider audience.

Here we Go.

Here we Go.

 

So, I made all my samples, the biscuits and Ciabatta this morning, and we were ready to go.

I even arranged them nicely in boxes, and remembered my gloves for handling, but I can’t decide where to go as well as my first choice place. I have been given a tip by a friend about this place, so I’m hopeful that the word has gone out and I will be well received.

Biscuits

Up Close and Flakey

Ciabatta

Good enough to Eat!



Chocolate Heaven

Well I'm back, and the good news is that I have made a sale, 20 Focaccia rolls, 10 Cheese and Onion rolls and some biscuits.

 Also there were some left over for my taste panel. Time to get baking.

Samples and More.

Today is the day when the big sales drive starts. I delivered a load of Sourdough and Soda Bread to Oats this morning, and then decided to make some samples to take around the café’s in town.

Next job of course was deciding what to do, after consultations with the taste panel; I thought that I would do a mixed Herb Focaccia, Ciabatta, Chocolate Rolls, Cheese and Onion Rolls and American style biscuits. That should give an idea of my range, and I can wing the rest.

 So this afternoon, as it’s raining (again) I got my apron on and did somet baking.

I passed my Level 2 Food Hygiene course at the weekend, and sent off a self-assessment to the council, so now we have to wait and see if they want to inspect the kitchen.

So I needed to make 3 types of bread today and a sponge for the Ciabatta. The biscuits will be done in the morning, as will the finishing of the Ciabatta. I have the yogurt for the biscuits left over from the Soda Bread.

Then I can fill my box and trudge round, hopefully getting some orders.

So here are the pictures of the first batches, I will continue the story tomorrow, wish me luck!

Chocolate Dough!

Ready to Bake

Done

Close up.

Focaccia ready

Done

Close up

My Favourite

Nice Crumb!

 

Second Delivery

It's getting easier, I guess its because there is less pressure this time, after all I've done it once.

This time the order was for two each of Spelt, Rye and Soda Bread.

I practiced again on the Soda Bread, and have got it about spot on.

The cold weather is playing havoc with my sourdough, its having trouble rising, although the taste is still good.

Thats it now till after the wedding, then it will be a race to make up some samples and take them round to prospective customers.