----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 8:47
AM
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Rosemary
and oange oil
Orange oil is better than dried
orange peel though fresh has its advantages. I'm a pretty good baker and
I'm picky about bread. I never use bakers yeast and use various methods
of extended fermentations. I've been making some mashed breads with 100%
whole grains, makes a pretty good loaf but you need to have some active
enzymes from malted grains to get an efficient starch conversion. I
learned about manipulating yeast and bacteria using various methods brewing
beer an such. I used to have quite a collection of yeast and bacteria,
including wild ones, which I kept in agar slants. I don't do that at the
moment but it taught me a lot and came in handy when I started manipulating
fermentations in bread and other things. I don't know, I finds the
little critters fascinating. Keeping them was kind of like having a
garden in a jar or test tube.
I've thought about Mud ovens but
they don't hold up as well as a masonry one long term, they don't held the
heat as well either. They are a lot cheaper though and we have some
pretty good clay around here, I guess it depends on how much you use the
oven. I've also seem people build portable brick ovens but there is the
sacrifice of mass and heat retention in favor of portability that is an
issue. I like the orange slice cores the best but they are
expensive. I've never been that impressed with steam injection ovens
myself but they have their place. I"ve seen Flemish ovens that pretty
much heat the house, one of the walls of the house IS the oven and it had
various compartments used for proofing, ovens etc.. Right now my oven is
a limiting factor and not having a bigger oven is costing me sleep as I have
to bake all night to get enough for market.
I do get rather tired of people
trying to talk me down all the time when I'm not making very much on the bread
anyway, I should be raising my prices actually and a lot of people have told
me that. I've been baking smaller 1 lb loaves to make them more
affordable but that makes my baking time much longer and I end up losing more
sleep and not having time to get it all baked so I think I'll but all but the
expensive ones up to 1.5 Lbs to save some work so I can get it all to market
on time, I lose customers because of that at the moment, luckily the market
I've been selling at is a lot looser than some on the rules and that along
with the fact that less vendors are showing up these days has averted a fuss
over my tardiness. I still sell out but I think the higher price would
still be ok if I got there early and exposed myself to more customers.
How much do the people out there charge for bread? I guess I
should be more specific, say for example a 1 or 1.5 lb loaf of French
bread? A 1.5 lb sandwich loaf? I'm presently charging $3.00 for a
1 lb loaf of something that doesn't have a lot of expensive ingredients and
$3.50 for one that is costlier to produce like potato Rosemary of my Blue
cheese and walnut. I had to raise my prices on some and had some people
throw a hissy fit. One lady keeps trying me to sell her English muffins
for $2 a dozen because that's what she pays for those cheap ones at
Kroger. That's about 1/3 of what the ingredients cost me because mine
are bigger, have real milk, butter, pink salt etc in them. I tell those
people a flat no but they insist on standing there talking my head off and
blocking other customers. I've also had problems with the friends of
another baker coming over and harassing me with threats because people want my
bread instead of hers, pretty unbelievable how far and fanatical people get
over something like bread. I find people are more likely to buy my bread
if I put some in a basket to show, then I use those for samples but these
people threaten to call the health dept when I do that. I have the rest
in paper bags with the proper labels that are open so the crust stays good and
they threaten me about that but from my take on the regulations that is
perfectly legal. I've thought about calling the health department myself
as I'm sure I'm up to code and this other woman isn't but I've noticed there
are quite a few people not up to code and I would create a lot of enemies if I
did that. This persons friends NRVER say a word to these other vendors
and in fact never even go to their booths but instead target me
relentlessly. I have a lot of loyal customers who I really like but I'm
fed up with this treatment. I like this market, its only 10 miles away
in Yellow Springs, Ohio, it doesn't have fees, I can sell there all winter,
don't have to make commitments etc and most of the people there are very nice
but these tight knit cliques are a real drag and ruin things like the bad
apple in the barrel. If the vendor herself was directly involved and I
could prove it I could get her thrown out but she stays out of it and I don't
even know if she is directly involved, though I know she is aware of the
situation, everybody at the market knows what is going on, how could these
miss it with the stink these people make?. I doubt that would stop her
friends anyway, probably make things worse. My customers beg me not to
leave but I think I will if this doesn't stop. Its not a good feeling
getting this treatment after working 40 hours in two days making the best
product I can for $2 an hour! I need the money but it would be more fun
hanging out in the woods splitting firewood by myself with the way
things are
Sorry for the rant, I guess I have a lot of frustrations
lately. I really like baking good bread believe it or not, I love the
independence I get from farming and bread baking and I don't mind working
hard at all but I really hate all this ugliness.
Breads like the one mentioned in this posting citing the recipe
at mother earth news may be simpler but using bakers yeast and a quick
fermentation doesn't get that great complex bread flavor you can only get
from an extended, multistage fermentation with wild yeast and bacteria
the way European breads are made, that's part of what sets my bread apart from
the others around and why I get the customers at the market and probably why
I've created such a stir at market. It takes knowledge and skill but its
worth the extra effort if you really like bread. It takes a lot of big
bowls, refrigeration and more time but the flavor is worlds apart from those
done quickly with bakers yeast. I NEVER use Bakers yeast, it only
ferments sugar, after all it is a Sachromices strain, basically a souped up
beer yeast, and it causes gastric problems in many people. The Wild
yeast and bacteria act in a similar manner to Yogurt in that it replenishes
the good bacteria inthe gut whereas Bakers yeast try's to out compete the
natural ones. I used to bake bread for several friends that were on a
lot of antibiotics as their doctors recommended it. Yogurt works too but
it doesn't stay in the gut as long and some people have problems with
lactose.
Anyway I've been
baking these for market, many I rotate in for variety and I throw in a
new one once in a while to see how it is received,
French Bread, Various shapes and
sizes
Sourdough
Potato Rosemary
Walnuts and Scallions
Walnuts and Blue
Cheese
Cheddar Cheese and Chive
torpedoes
Bagels
English Muffin
100% Whole wheat Potato
Rosemary
Various multigrains, both pan and
hearth bread using soakers and Mashes.
New York Deli Rye with Fermented
Caramelized onions
Swedish Rye, with fennel, anise
Cardamom and orange peel
Pane Siciliano (Semolina breads
formed in an "S" shape)
Raisin Walnut
Whole Wheat Raisin.
Chocolate Cherry
Cranberry Walnut
Norman Rye (Dark rye usually made
with hard apply cider but I put apple juice in the biga and let it go a
bit longer so it gets ferments longer and develops more
flavor)
Ciabata
Pugliese
Pantone
Anadama
Focaccia
Pain de Champagne
Vienna Bread
Tuscan Bread (no salt)
Wyatt Jones
Jamestown Ohio
I changed my farm name to "Wyatt's
Way". I guess the "Inner Moon" was a little too esoteric for most people
and I view the name as a marketing vehicle. Most people it would
be better suited to a bath shop with all those smelly soaps LOL. It will
always be the inner moon to me I guess, at least in spirit.
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