The Quiet Mornings

With the weekly posts of the oven construction slowing down considerably, the rhythm of the BakeHouse has started to take shape. It's hard to describe, it's not just one activity, but several. And it's not just the "doing" part. It's the more subtle things, like sound. In fact, I think the sound part is what I enjoy the most. There is the still sound of the early morning, usually 2:45 am. No birds, maybe a gentle breeze and right now, crickets ( I call them Jimminies ). The cleaning out of the oven before baking. The scraping out of the ashes. Metal to brick, with a rhythmic steady motion. Then the sweeping out of the chamber, that gentle whisking sound as the bristles run along the hearth bed. The sizzle of the damp mop running along the hot hearth bed catching all the left over ash. The shuffle of bakers racks as I check the loaves that have been in the cooler since the previous afternoon. And then back in to the house to make my first cup of strong tea and check on my builds. I open each container, I use three different builds, and first listen. There is a gentle bubbling sound of the build as it reaches it's final stage of development. Then the smell, it has a tender sweet smell, not sour, but almost floral. Especially the Rye culture - which lately has a beautiful undertone of Lavender.

BakeHouse Sourdoughs ready to go in to the oven.

I am grateful to be back with my bread, creating loaves each week to share with the community. There is something to be said about having something your passionate about put on hold. I grieved. Although I didn't understand it at first, but now I realize that the BakeHouse wasn't just what I did, it was my creative expression. Like oil paint and canvas to a fine artist. All this to say that the baker is . . . gratefully content to be back in her element!

BRINGING IN THE BIG BOY

Las Cruces, New Mexico is crazy about bread! I keep adding bread to our bake each Saturday thinking that we've reached our limit but we keep selling out. This "problem" challenges me and my response it to create more bread. For the last three weeks I've been playing with a 5 lb Miche. This bread has captivated me. It's huge, dark and it bakes bold (dark). What I love about it most is that it uses up the left over heat that I have from previous bakes and it likes to ripen for a day or so before you actually cut in to it or release it for sale. This ripening fascinates me. When you do cut open the loaf, the first thing that is presented is the color of the crumb. Here this basically light bread has developed a crumb that is a rich Sepia color. The flavor is complex. First there is the subtle wheat, then it changes and there is an earthiness to it, then you start to taste Rye and then it all comes together and you find yourself cutting another slice! The bread just cries out for a good Hard Salami, Havarti Cheese and grainy mustard along with a Stout beer ( We miss Long Trail  & Magic Hat Breweries in Vermont ). The test baking of this bread has been a blast. Here's the process - enjoy!

First I created a Stiff Levain from my liquid culture

First two ingredients, flour and water are mixed only until they pull
together and then mixture rests for one hour.

This bread is a very soft, loose dough. This is 20 lbs of dough.

Pre shape and rest for a few minutes while I line the baskets.

Went to the local .99 Cent store and snagged four of these
giant colanders. They are perfect for the job! 

I lined the baskets with Flour Sack towels and dusted them
quite heavily so the soft dough wouldn't stick.

Each basket went in to a bag to protect the dough from drying out in our desert climate.

Tom created a makeshift peel for me using
one of my proofing boards. He's so clever!

The peel is the perfect size for this mass of dough.

Oven Hogs. They need a full 1 1/2 hours in the oven.

The finished loaves. 

The size just makes you smile. It's huge!
We'll be bringing them to the market on Saturday whole and cutting them
into quarters. I'm curious to see if we have anyone who wants to
buy the whole loaf. If anything, I think it will make people stop and take a look.

And the reason I do have left over heat that sticks around long enough to bake like this is the insulation that Tom decided to use. The Ceramic Fiber Blanket is amazing. I'm using less wood to fire the oven and the heat retention is incredible. Something so simple that adds a whole new dimension to the design of our oven. Thanks Tom!

Here you get a view of the blanket over the baking chamber.
Vermiculite was used to fill in all the gaps between the
wall and the chamber.

Here you can see where Tom set the Thermocouples in such a way
so that they can be replaced if needed. It's so nice that they are not
buried in the vermiculite like our last oven, we'll actually be able to find them.

I hope you've enjoyed this little peek into our world of bread making. I look forward to sharing the next post with you. Thoughtfully, Kath

Las Cruces has welcomed us with open arms!

Our first official press release has appeared in an offshoot publication of our local paper. Every weekend has been filled with meeting new customers and learning the names of all our repeat customers. We are so grateful for the enthusiasm of Las Cruces for the BakeHouse!

http://www.lcsun-news.com/mylascruces/ci_20921294/downtown-bread-art-mdash-baker-brings-unique-loaves

Blogging and Baking!

As I started to create this update today I realized how quickly time has gone by! It's was much easier blogging about Tom's work on the oven compared to me baking and getting to the market. Today is one of my official days off, so I thought I'd share with you all that's been going on.

The oven if firing like a charm. All the construction tweaks that Tom had made are proving to be good choices. We finally installed all 6 thermocouples and I'm now able to track just how much heat is being stored. Tom also decided to order a Ceramic Fiber Blanket to cover the cladding over the baking chamber. This will arrive tomorrow. Once this is placed over the cladding, we'll fill up the rest of the space with masonry vermiculite, and then the oven will be considered completely done!

We're still working out how much bread to bring to the market. We've sold out at every market within 3 hours. It's safe to say that Las Cruces has embraced us. It's been very, very encouraging. We're up to 120 loaves a week and growing. Our ultimate goal is 300/400 loaves a week. I really appreciate the moderate speed at which we're growing since we basically hit the ground running. I found that my body remembered the physical workout of putting out the bread, BUT, it's taken a bit to get back in shape from the 2 1/2 years that I was not baking.

Meet the biggest challenge of my bread making day:

You got it. The high temperatures and the very, very low humidity. Fortunately my Commercial Kitchen has a Swamp Cooler and the BakeHouse also has a Swamp Cooler. This actually helps to keep the temperature pretty consistent throughout the process. Both of these areas I'm able to keep at 75° and the Swamp Coolers add moisture into the air.

The market has been a wonderful experience. It is a year round market and there are several hundred vendors that attend each Saturday. Wednesday's market is much quieter, but we're finding that folks are starting to take advantage of being able to buy bread twice a week.

What has really been a blessing to us is our Block Captain. He's really tried to keep us in the same basic location each Saturday and this has been a real benefit for us and our new customers.

Our Block Captain, Dodds.

Here are some other views of the market:

Mom getting the table set up.

Our bread display. The vintage table cloth with the Cherries
comes from my Aunt Elsie!

The Special of the Day nestled in another vintage tablecloth.
Thanks Aunt Elsie!

One of the many entryways into the market.

We're ready for customers.

We are gearing up for another busy week. Kalamata Olive will be the Special for Saturday. We're not sure how Las Crucens will respond. This was one of our most popular breads in the East, so I'm curious to see how it sells here in New Mexico.

Thanks again for checking in and I'll look forward to sharing more with you as we get settled in baking bread in Las Cruces. Thoughtfully Kath

Walk In, Wires and Wind . . . Oh My!

As I was trying to put my thoughts together regarding our second week in business, I found that my days all ran together and it was hard to pinpoint what happened when!

After I posted last Monday, we prepared for our first Wednesday market. There were several decisions that had to be made. Wednesday's market is known to have light foot traffic, so we only went with what we thought would sell.

Mom getting baskets ready.

The weather forecast for Wednesday was warm and windy. The wind was to arrive at 11am. OK, it sounds odd that they predict the time of wind arrival, but let me tell you, when they say 11am they mean it, and just like a Swiss Watch . . . the wind arrived at the Market - packing 45mph gusts! We had secured our tent, and fortunately most of our bread was sold at that point - we ended up taking only 8 loaves home.

Wednesday's bread ready to go to the market!

Our booth before the wind hit. If you look closely, you'll see where we are anchored down to keep the tent from blowing away. We also anchored the tables together. A big thank you to all our friends old and new who came out on Wednesday to get their bread!

You can just see the Organ Mountains peeking over an Adobe church.
The flag tells the rest of the story!

Tom was frantically working on the walk in unit. The temperatures during the day are starting to push over 90° which is forcing me to work with cooler and cooler water temps to try and control the dough.
I'm also not retarding the loaves overnight since the walk in was not complete, which means I have to hone my skill at making sure the oven and the loaves are both ready at the same time. I've had a few loaves get away from me and over proof - but so far it's been manageable.  I have to admit, I was looking forward to the walk in being compete. Managing all that dough and then baking the same day is a bit frantic.

Fortunately we don't have the humidity that we had in New Jersey, so I'm finding it a little easier to keep the dough cool. But with that said, the new challenge I face is lack of humidity! Things dry out really, really fast in the desert's dry climate. We'll be putting what's called a Swamp Cooler in the BakeHouse. This simple unit actually puts humidity back in to the air and cools the room.

I was able to get the inside of the Walk In painted during
the week, early in the morning when it was cool.

When Tom was ready to install the compressor for the Walk In, what became the big frustration was an oversight by the contractor in regard to the wiring. So Tom had to do some reworking of the wiring to accommodate the unit. I'm sure grateful for all that Tom knows how to do, I think I would have gone nuts waiting for the contractor to return to fix the problem!

I think this photo was taken at around 10:30 PM!
Feeding Tom Oreos seemed to keep his spirits up as he fought
with the rewiring challenge. Big hands, small space . . . ouch!

Walk In is now ready!

Baker's racks fit like a glove.
Walk in will fit 5 racks at one time.

Wow, now that I've gotten all this in writing with photos in place I'm realizing just how crazy the week has been. Today we'll be preparing 75 loaves, which will keep me on my toes as I'll be firing the oven at the same time and baking later this evening. Starting next week, with all the pieces in place i.e. the walk in, the thermocouples, the air conditioner, I'll be able to start our prep and bake schedule based on what I did in New Jersey. Which is mix our dough, proof overnight and then bake the next morning. With each passing day it feels as though the kinks are getting worked out. So much feels familiar, but in a new location there is a lot which is new. As we work through each challenge, I'm finding that the wonderful rhythm that I so enjoy as a baker is starting to reveal itself little by little under the sunny skies of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Thanks to all of you who journey along with us, share your kind words and purchase your loaf of bread, we are truly blessed. Thoughtfully - Kath

Our first Las Cruces Farmer's & Crafter's Market

Wow, what a whirlwind! Now that I'm looking at the photos I'm realizing just how amazing this Saturday was. We were welcomed into the market with open arms. Within 2 1/2 hours we had sold out of the 60 loaves we brought. As much as we wanted to bring more, the oven is still not ready to bake off more. I had to be very, very respectful as the oven is still "scorchy", so it's easy to end up with charred bottoms and anemic crusts if I wasn't careful. With each firing and bake, the heat will penetrate the cladding deeper and deeper making each bake better and better. It's during this time that I really get to know the BakeHouse oven! It reveals it's personality slowly, which gives me time to learn.

The bake is done.

As I was putting the last loaves into the oven, I kept thinking of that line from the first Indiana Jones movie when Karen Allen's character is alone in a dark tomb with the torch yelling "Indie the flame is going ouuuttttttt"! Whew was I grateful when I finished.

My mom, Jolan and me ready to sell bread!

Last night Tom and I had to empty out the BakeHouse building so that it could be insulated today. We chose to go with spray foam insulation to get the best R value for the walk in unit. At first only the walk in unit was going to be done, but the Contractor hired for the job felt it would be more cost effective to do the whole building since it wasn't very large. I'm so glad that we won't have to deal with the Fiberglass Insulation! I've decided that the BakeHouse building that Tom has built is a better building than our actual house!

The pieces are a bit like styrofoam peanuts if the wind catches them!

No firing the oven today!

We're now planning for Wednesday's market. The foot traffic won't be nearly as heavy as Saturday, but we did received prepaid orders for Wednesday, which is what we were hoping would happen. So there you have it - it's so exciting to share it with all of you! Thank you for all the wonderful emails and Facebook posts we've received - they are awesome! I'll look forward to our next post and keeping you up to date with The Adventure of the BakeHouse! Thoughtfully, Kath

All Sold Out in 2 1/2 hours ! Wow!

Business Starts!

All the inspections have taken place, we attended our Farm Market Orientation and we're thrilled to announce that we will be at the Las Cruces Farmer's and Crafter's Market this Saturday, May 12th, 2012!

As I type this announcement, it all sounds so simple, but there is one final step to the construction of the oven that was holding me back . . . . Thermocouples!

We're still waiting for ours to arrive from Ovencrafters, and this was proving to be a true test of patience for me. With the end of each day, and no package arriving at our door, I was becoming, well . . . . cranky!
And then, it happened, again! Another home run hitter stepped up to the plate! A "brother in Christ", Paul, from our church calls me and shares that he read about our plight in the last blog post, then states, "I have Thermocouples, would you like to borrow them?" I have to admit, I was a bit dumfounded, I mean how many people call you and say "oh yeah, I have thermocouples, wanna use them?" It's like, oh yeah, I have a bicycle pump, wanna use it! Ha! So a big shout out to Paul! What a blessing his phone call was. And it's because of Paul that we are able to now commit to the Saturday market. Without knowing where the heat was in this new oven, I was very tentative about baking more than just a few loaves.

Such a simple looking wire!

Tom has inserted the Thermocouples in our new oven so that they
can be replaced if they fail. We had several fail after about 2 years in our
first oven but had no way to replace them. 

They work!

Tom replaced the outlet so that the unit could be
turned on and off. When kept on all the time, the
little transformer can get hot. We found out from our
Electrician that the little transformer was similar to those in
doorbells, and overheating is a problem with those also. 

This past weekend we enjoyed a wonderful break while celebrating Dad's birthday with the whole City of Las Cruces, it was Cinco de Mayo! We had fun with family as Tom's Aunt and Uncle from Nevada came through on their way to Denver, CO. I think we basically ate our way through the weekend!

Aunt Helen trying out the peel! 

We're all having fun at the Farmer's Market! 

We've all heard of Brad and Jolie right? Well here is Bradley and Lilly. Mom and Dad's little girl is Bradley's most favorite Canine in the world. When we visit mom and dad, Bradley comes to have his play time with Lilly. They really have a blast. 

Two little "Angels" 

I fired the oven yesterday, and again this morning. I'm seeing an immediate difference in our new oven in regard to the insulating aspects. Our new oven is holding heat longer. I can only imagine that a big part of this is the foamglas. The cladding over the oven chamber hasn't been covered with insulation yet and it's still holding heat. I've gone over all my journals from our first oven and it's amazing to compare the two. I'm really excited about the immediate changes I'm already seeing.

I'm only going to bake 60 loaves for Saturday since our proofing unit isn't completed yet. So the loaves will proof on the floor and I'll bake them late Friday night for Saturday's market. We'll bake in this manner until the proofer is complete which at that point I can bump up to 100+ loaves. My two years of being a home baker have taught me well. I learned how to read the dough and determine it's readiness for baking without the overnight proofing I had grown accustom to.

Firing the oven early this morning. If you look closely,
through the window, you can see the fire:)

This morning's Sunrise. We had heavy rain last night so the morning is crisp and
fresh with the smell of the desert's Creosote Bushes permeating the air along with the
fragrance of Juniper burning in the BakeHouse oven!

We're looking forward to having all of you with us as the BakeHouse is introduced to Las Cruces, NM! For those of you who will want to find us at the Market, we'll be sure to post our location/status on FaceBook and Twitter so you can find us among the many vendors! 

Thoughtfully ~ Kath