Baker Daddy

out of market for the season...

2009-10-28T19:10:00.000-07:00

Bronchitis knocked me out of market for much of October, then tendon trouble in my right arm made me realize that I'm out for the season. I don't know if I'll be working Farmer's Market again next year. Thank you to everyone who patronized the booth for the past two seasons.

the sickness continues...

2009-10-02T08:15:00.001-07:00

Apologies for anyone that read this post before the edit that thought I'd be at market. I'm ill, and staying in bed this weekend. Wish me well.

no market for me this weekend...again

2009-09-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

I was back at Market for a week, now I'm off again this weekend due to my wife being out of town and me being responsible for the kids.

In flavor news, the Italian Delight has been well received, and the experimental oatmeal molasses appears promising.

No market for me this weekend.

2009-09-10T16:46:00.001-07:00

Due to illness and not wanting to spread it by handling food I'm selling, I'm skipping Market this weekend.

new flavor-Italian Delight

2009-09-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

I have introduced a new flavor called Italian Delight, because it is shorter than Oregano Onion With Garlic Flakes and Salt.

another bagel picture...

2009-07-10T00:20:00.001-07:00

Here's another picture sent to me by Aly, one of my regular customers and a darned good photographer.

I'm working on a new flavor combination involving garlic, onion, and basil with an egg wash holding salt and garlic flakes on the top. The taste testers liked it, so I'll probably work it into the rotation in the upcoming weeks. It's not anything really new since I use all the ingredients in other bagel combinations, so this is more like mashing a couple of different bagel flavors together.

I'm also thinking about chocolate chip bagels. I know that with the warm weather it wouldn't be possible to have them out right now, but I can always do up a batch and keep it in the cooler for my taste testers. I'll do up a batch tomorrow, time permitting.

no bagels for this weekend's market...

2009-07-03T07:25:00.001-07:00

Obligations at home are preventing me from making it to the Lawrence Farmer's Market this weekend, apologies to anyone hunting for me on Saturday. I should be there the following weekend as usual.

Wow, those went fast.

2009-06-28T15:07:00.000-07:00

All of my bagels were sold out at 9:40am yesterday morning. I think that is a record for the 15 dozen I brought, but I'd have to check last year's records to be sure. Thanks to everyone who helped me sell out so early, it gave me a chance to shop at the Farmer's Market and bring home some tomatoes and cucumbers.

Bagel Pictures

2009-06-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

One of my customers has sent me some wonderful pics of my bagels prepped for eating. So here is one of them, big thanks to Aly for her photographic endeavors!

The weather is forecast for scattered thunderstorms this Saturday, let's hope it stays clear in the morning.

new mixer cranking out the bagels..

2009-06-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post this, but last week I purchased a 10 qt Anvil commercial mixer. It is a fine machine, and cranks out the bagel dough beautifully. Unlike the KitchenAid 600 (which is a fine machine, but not made for the amount of baking I do) it is made to handle a big 3.5 lb lump of dough, 12-16 times in a single day every Friday during Farmer's Market season.

Today I'm doing experiments with Lime Basil bagels (tried once before, trying again for better results) at the request of a friend, and I'm also trying challah bagels. The first batch of challah bagels has shown me that they need a lower bake temp because they are much higher in sugar content than the other bagels, and the outside browns quickly. I'll play around with them in the future, but doubt that they will become a high demand item.

no market for me this weekend...

2009-06-05T19:09:00.000-07:00

I have a commercial mixer on order but it didn't make it to me yet, so no baking today and no market for me tomorrow. My apologies to the regular customers who usually stop by, I'll be bringing you bagels unless something else delays the arrival of my new mixer this coming week.

How to Kill a KitchenAid Mixer...

2009-05-30T18:40:00.001-07:00

I knew that I was putting quite a strain on my KitchenAid 600 mixer by doing so much bagel dough every week, but I finally killed mine. With no time to get it fixed, I got a backup mixer. Which, straight out of the box, couldn't handle the dough like the other mixer did for months. So back it went to the store (it really couldn't handle dough at all, not good) and now I'm looking at a true commercial mixer, which will probably set me back a grand.

In the near future I'll be trying a new flavor suggested by a friend, Lime Basil. More on that after the experiment, which will be after I get that mixer upgrade (hopefully before Thursday so I can bake this Friday).

Weekend update...

2009-05-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

This weekend I introduced the new apricot bagels, which sold well. A dreary morning and KU graduation made for a slower morning than usual, but it picked up later.

I'm always astounded when people tell me that they got to market earlier so they could get to my booth while there was a greater selection of flavors. I sure wouldn't get up early on the weekend if I wasn't working, so I appreciate it when people actually make that effort.

Just so anyone who actually visits this blog knows, I won't be at market on Memorial Day weekend due to out of town travel, but I will be there the week after.

Weekend report...

2009-05-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

This was a very good weekend. Since I sold out so fast last weekend, this time I upped production to 16 dozen, which is where I maxed out last year at peak season. I sold out at 10:30am, half an hour before market close. I think I need to up the baking by another dozen or so.

On Thursday I received delivery of my oven upgrade, a GE 3 rack convection oven and a single rack regular oven above it. After a little tweaking, I was able to get the cook time the same in both ovens so I am able to cook 2 dozen bagels at once. This is a vast improvement over my 1 dozen at a time baking in the old oven, and I don't have to rotate pans because of the convection. This also means that I can get my vast amounts of baking done earlier in the day rather than being up all evening trying to get all the bagels baked.

On a side note, I baked my first batch of madeleines tonight. They are a lemon cookie baked in pans that give them a shell shape, they have a spongy inside with a delightful taste. I highly recommend trying them out.

First Day of Market for me...

2009-04-25T17:48:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day that I worked the Farmer's Market this year. I determined how many bagels to bring by looking at last year's records, but between regular customers and beautiful weather I sold out in 2 hours. Next week I'll bring many more.

I'm looking at upgrading my home oven to speed up my baking. I've heard many things about convection ovens, on Monday I'll be looking at all the local appliance stores to see what they have available.

Market begins...

2009-04-11T18:48:00.001-07:00

Today was the first of 3 "pre-season" markets, before the May 2nd official opening day. I'm unfortunately booked for the first couple pre-markets, but will be there in 2 weeks.

New flavors, upcoming Market...

2009-03-20T07:16:00.001-07:00

Some more tinkering has lead to the creation of two flavors that will occasionally get rotated in, walnut spice and basil onion. The rosemary onion also got approval from the taste testers, so it will be appearing in April.

The wonderful success from last year's Lawrence Farmers Market has lead me to hope for some improvements for the baking process for this year. This includes both replacing my home oven with a convection oven so I can bake more bagels faster, and the eventual purchase of a larger mixer (which although large at 8 quarts, is still tiny by industrial standards). Not only are these shiny objects that make the kitchen look more impressive, but they would hopefully cut down on the time I spend in the kitchen on Friday to bring you the bagel goodness on Saturday.

New flavor in the works...

2009-02-13T13:34:00.001-08:00

I'm working on a new flavor, rosemary onion. So far the taste tests have received good reviews, now it's a matter of seeing if it's better with garlic or should remain as is.

Only about a month and a half until the opening of the Lawrence Farmer's Market.

Happy New Years

2009-01-03T19:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 2009! So far this year I've been waiting a couple of weeks for my KitchenAid mixer to get fixed, and started figuring out startup costs for the upcoming Farmer's Market season. The good news is that there will be much less startup cost since I purchased most physical booth supplies last year (canopy, table, etc), the irritating news is that I now know that I will need to set aside an equipment budget for 2009. It should be no surprise that making several hundred pounds of dough in 6 months will put a strain on a KitchenAid mixer, but and industrial mixer is not in my foreseeable future both money and space wise.

Opening day of the Market is I believe May 2nd, see you then.

The price of success...

2008-12-20T10:09:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, I was doing up a test batch of Belizean Creole Bread when my mixer broke. Considering how many hundreds of pounds of dough it's done this year (over 250 easily), it's no surprise that something broke. The bolt that holds up the head assembly that rotates around snapped, lucky for me the bread was done kneading when it gave.

I'll start off with the most important part, the bread. The Belizean Creole Bread is made with coconut milk, and came out tasting sweet and delicious. It reminded me a little bit of challah with the sweetness and slightly chewy texture. Tomorrow some slices are destined to become French Toast for breakfast.

On the part of the mixer, there is a repair place only about half an hour from me, and I'm able to pick the wife up from work so she doesn't have to take the commuter bus back. In about 7-10 days it should be fixed, and the cost is under a third of what a new mixer costs. I do now realize that about 10% of the sales should go into a fund to pay for future equipment upgrade and repairs, so starting after I get the mixer back the fund will start.

One other thing I learned is that there are at least 3 patron saints of bakers. I chose Saint Elizabeth of Hungary as mine, in case I ever need one.

Holiday Market Success!

2008-12-15T22:57:00.000-08:00

I sold the most bagels ever at the Holiday Market this past Saturday, taking 16 dozen and bringing home only 5 plain (which maybe I could have sold, but feel silly sitting at a nearly empty table with just 5 plain bagels that may or may not sell in the last 2 hours). I got to see many of my regular customers, and several friends that wandered in from out of town.

I'll be doing special orders during the off season, and the Lawrence Farmer's Market opens up again on I believe May 2nd of 2009.

year end report

2008-12-04T22:09:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I didn't do a post for the end of the regular Farmer's Market season. It was cold, but sales were still decent. My wife purchased me a hat from another vendor because my ears were about to fall off my head.

Overall I sold over 2900 bagels this season, learned much about what sells and doesn't at the Market, and have gained regular customers and earned a good reputation.

I will be at the Winter Market on Saturday the 13th, at the Knights of Columbus building in Lawrence. I'll post more about this next week.

No market for me this Saturday...

2008-10-31T05:11:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling ill, and there is no way I'm going to handle over a hundred bagels destined for consumption by other people when I may have a stomach bug or food poisoning. Sorry to all my regulars, but I think you'll forgive me for not wanting to spread the ick around. See you next weekend, the final weekend until Winter/Christmas market.

Market Nearly Over

2008-10-27T05:30:00.001-07:00

Only 2 more weekends before the Lawrence Farmer's Market is closed for the season. I will be selling at the Winter Market in December, details to follow.

As the weather cools and traffic at the Market slows down, I've been downsizing the number of bagels I make for each weekend. I peaked at somewhere around 16 dozen, but have been scaling back to the 12 dozen range as people are reluctant to get up early on a cold Saturday morning (I'm sure reluctant to do it).

I am also considering doing some off-season bagel baking and local delivery, details and minimum order numbers to follow.

New and Improved Flavors!

2008-10-10T22:04:00.000-07:00

After taking a weekend off (I was in St. Louis at a convention), I have returned with a new but evolving bagel flavor and an improvement on an existing bagel.

The new one is currently Tomato Basil with Feta, but will probably become the Italian Bagel with Sun Dried Tomato, Basil and Parmesan. The bagels are good, but it just doesn't carry the feta well enough for top billing. So I'll play with the tasty elements and make it worthy of the regular lineup.

The improved flavor is the Cherry Almond. A better dried cherry appears to be all this one needed. I also added some imitation almond extract, but the flavor doesn't shine through and will probably be left out of future batches.

Only about a month left of the Lawrence Farmer's Market.