Bakery Normand

The Final Day

2012-09-02T16:04:00.001-07:00

On September 1, 2012 our baking day started extra early, at 1:30AM. I wanted to be sure that be had an abundance of product, that it would be out early and that our final kitchen work was done before the party started. We had told customers that we would not take any advance orders for this final day. We wanted to be sure that everyone had a fair shot at getting the last of whatever they wanted and whatever was available, as long as they got to the bakery early enough. The day before, Friday, had been an incredibly busy day, a lot of special orders, but also just a tsunami of walk-ins, wave after wave of people and a line out the door all day. So, as the hour approached to open the door on our last morning, I began to worry that no one would show up, that it had been a mistake to decline advanced orders, and that everyone who had intended to shop had done so the day before.

Boy, was I wrong!

At exactly 7:30AM the crush of customer started where it had left off the day previous. By noon we were close to being sold out. At 11:00AM the band, a bluegrass group called THE RAMBLING KIND had set up on the sidewalk in front of the shop and kicked off a four hour set of uplifting, fun music. Our second floor tenant, Sonja Sweeney, had set up her massage chair next to the band to offer de-stressing massages to our much-stressed customers. A buffet of wine and beer and cider and cheeses were set up in our now-quiet kitchen as a small treat for our customers and friends. Patty and I mingled with the crowds, accepting their kind words of thanks and praise and best wishes. It was a happy and a sad time. Sometimes it felt like a party, sometimes it felt like a funeral. But if the bakery had indeed died, we intended to give it an Irish wake. It was a great morning and a great afternoon. We couldn't have asked for a better way to go out.

What struck us most was how emotional our customers were that this enterprise was coming to an end. Everyone had a story, all having to do with how the bakery had woven itself into the fabric of their lives, whether for some special occasion or, more often, for their daily or weekly needs. We knew we had customers, but we didn't realize we had so many devoted and passionate fans. Many people spoke about bigger issues; the bakery, to them was also about community and values. One customers said that what she would miss the most was the 'humanity.' Another customer said that Northampton was losing a 'piece of local culture.' We weren't just a store, we were a touchstone, a gathering place, a comfort, a friendly smile, a little extra attention, an extension of credit when the customer didn't have enough money for their purchase, a nicely ribboned gift box of cookies for a sick relative, a moment of gossip with Patty over their coffee and muffin purchase. Reflecting our current malaise in America, I think most people felt that yet another stable constant in this uncertain world was pulling up anchor, setting us all just a little bit more adrift.

So now Patty and I want to thank you all for being such loyal customers, fans and friends. We will miss you all as much as you will miss our breads and pastries. Were it possible, we would bake for you forever. After gaging the response over the past three weeks we regret that we had to break your hearts, because, after the hugs and tears and warmth of your response yesterday, we know we did.

We plan to keep blogging, maybe even write a baking cookbook/memoir. Who knows? But I'm sure that your past support and kindness will inspire whatever path we take.

Late last night, after the party was over, after our small family dinner was finished, and our son Peter and Polly headed back home to Northampton, they stopped one last time at the bakery and peered into the darkened front door of Bakery Normand; this is what Pete posted on his Facebook page:

Goodnight mixer.
Goodnight flour.
Goodnight oven.
Goodnight yeast.
Goodnight bakery.

It breaks our heart...

A Tribute to Roger L. Normand

2012-08-31T15:03:00.001-07:00

President Obama's much maligned speech in July, 2012 that 'if you've got a business, you didn't built that,' has resonated with me on the eve of our last business day. My wife and I started and ran a successful bakery for 33 years; we had the skills, we had the vision, we had the stamina to make it work. But we most certainly didn't build it alone. My Dad, Roger L. Normand (1929-2010) was a force of nature, and every step along our way at Bakery Normand, except for the past two and one-half years, he was our plant superintendent, our handyman, our trouble-shooter, problem solver, crisis manager, baby-sitter and generally our behind-the-scenes 'rock of support.' I think of him a lot now, at the end, because he did so much for us and asked so little from us.

He was a 'self-made man' of French Canadian immigrant parents. Born in Chicopee, MA, but raised and resident all his adult life in Holyoke, MA, he learned cabinet making from his father, and followed him into the mills of Holyoke as a millwright, or machine repairman. He hadn't finished High School when he took a job at American Pad & Paper Co., but by the time he retired from Ampad after 44 years of service, he had earned his High School Equivalency Diploma and had managed to become Ampad's plant engineer (not only for their Holyoke Mill, but for all of their paper converting factories in Utah, Texas and Illinois). He understood the way things worked, how things were put together, how they could be taken apart, how broken things could be fixed. He had an intuitive sense for mechanical assembles, for all things electrical, for plumbing, for woodworking, for rigging and moving heavy objects, for looking deeply into man-made things in order to understand how they worked, or why, in very many cases, they weren't working well.

So you can see, without stating the obvious, he was a good man to know if you had a problem with the real things that make our world run smoothly. He was especially a good man to have your back if you were his son and owned a business full of mechanical equipment that seemed to always need repair. And he always had our backs. In 1985, when we were in fear of losing our lease at 44 Main Street, we decided to open a café-outlet on the second floor of Thornes Marketplace-Café Normand. We figured that, if we lost our lease, we would still have a location in Downtown Northampton, and that we could always find a production facility somewhere outside of town if we needed. My Dad planned and supervised the entire project. He built a dry pastry case to exactly match the wood, glass and stainless steel vintage pastry case in our 44 Main St. store. Both cases still sit side-by-side in our current location-his case is the one that holds our tea cookies and larger cookies. He also built matching wooden bread racks to our 44 Main St. racks (both are long gone).

He designed and built one of the most important pieces of equipment in our kitchen- a dough sheeter. That's the machine that allowed us to make uniform croissant, danish, puff pastry, and our thin and uniform tea cookies. That machine was his baby and he came by every few weeks, for sure, in order to grease the gears on it and make sure it was in tip-top condition.

In 1993 on Good Friday morning of Easter Week we had an elecrical fire in our four-deck baking oven. One of my bakers, John Knybel, had arrived early to start the sourdough breads and to warm up the ovens. When he noticed black smoke coming out of the control side of the oven, where all the high-tech wiring was, he immediately threw the main circuit breaker and called 911. I arrived shortly after the firemen had put out the fire, containing it to the oven only, and not to the building. With all the side panels off the oven, it was pretty clear that there had been a lot of damage to the electrical components. One fireman said to me, "Well, looks like you'll be out of business for a couple of months!" In the meantime I had called my Dad in Holyoke, much as I had often called him in the past with one problem or other to be dealt with. And, as always, he was there as quickly as his car could carry him. Always calm and focused, he took a long look at the oven and then got right to work. Within two hours he had salvaged the good parts from several oven decks and used them to replace the fried and charred parts. Within two hours he was able to get three of the original four decks working. Good Friday production, though delayed, was saved. And so was Easter Saturday production. We had to work multiple shifts and longer hours to produce the same volume in three ovens as we would normally produce in four ovens, but the point is that we were able to produce anything at all. Even if we had found an electrician, unlikely on Easter Weekend, he probably would have told us that the repair would be long and costly. As it was, the repair was quick, with the urgency only a father would gift his son, and the cost was an amazing ZERO DOLLARS.

That was my Dad. That's what he could do, and that's what he did to make our bakery run for 30 years of our 33 year run. Without him Bakery Normand would not have survived and we would not have prospered.

So, I would be the first to attest that we did not build this business alone. Not by a long shot. And I haven't even begun to mention all the employees who worked so hard and gave more than expected to make our bakery a place of friendly service and consistant quality.

But above all, and on this last night and early morning of baking for me, my Dad will still have my back. I love him for his lessons in selflessness and giving. He was proud of what we had done, but I am prouder to have been his son.

The End

2012-08-30T15:41:00.000-07:00

Saturday, September 1, 2012 will be our last day of business. We warned you that this would happen, and you have responded like the calm, rational people that we always thought our customers were. You're killing me with love, people! I've never worked this hard in all of the past 33 years. Clearly, you won't let me go quietly- you're making me earn this one.
I promise you, some day, some how you'll see me again, or should I say, you'll see your favorite baked goods again.

In the meantime, let's party! We will be open on Saturday from 7:30AM 'til 4:30PM, usual, and we plan to have tons, literally tons, of product for your last minute cache. We will also have live bluegrass music on the street in front of the bakery from 11:00AM 'til 3:00PM. Also, Sonja Sweeney, the massage therapist who has her practice on the second floor above the bakery, will be giving free relaxation massages in her chair on the sidewalk in front of the bakery. She hopes to help as many people as she can accommodate de-stress from the trauma of losing the bakery. If I finish my baking responsibilities early enough, I'll set up a little consultation booth on the sidewalk to talk this through with our customers and help them get over the terrible loss of Bakery Normand. I'm not saying I quality as a trained psychotherapist, but I feel I understand what you're going through. Maybe a couple of tears, a couple of hugs and a few laughs will help us all say 'good-bye.'

Come celebrate with us.

Going Out With a Bang!

2012-08-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

Today our oldest son, Peter Normand, turns 33 years old. We literally started our business the day he was born. This March, 1980 photo accompanied a Daily Hampshire Gazette article entitled- THEY SHARE LIFE - AND A BAKERY. Patty and I are standing in our West Street bakery kitchen with little Peter overseeing the activities. He and Patty joined me at work for the first early morning hours until his patience ran out and he needed to be home for his nap.

Today, Pete's 5 month old son, Samuel Baker Normand, will be there to oversee the end of Bakery Normand. Sadly, he will have no real memory of the excitement and energy of these heady days. Through Blog posts, photos and print articles he will be reminded of what once was and the family business that gave him his middle name. His future will be his to make, with our love and support.

We're quickly approaching our final week of business. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has come by the bakery since we announced our retirement. We honestly were not prepared for the love and support that you all have showered so kindly upon us. We actually thought that our final three weeks would be a long, and quiet, good-bye. Instead, we have had to ramp up our production to meet the unprecedented demand for breads and pastries in this otherwise hot and quiet month of August. I would characterize the response from customers as, first, happiness for us and our retirement plans, and, second, panic, bordering on hysteria. It's kind of like what happens when the local weather man reports an approaching hurricane or Nor'easter blizzard; people start stocking up on essentials to manage some unknown or uncertain future. Yes, the end is near, but the memories will forever feed our souls.

Please come in before we close and sign our guest book. We're asking folks to sign their names and contact information, along with comments about what baked goods they will most miss. In the event that a reincarnated bakery should appear, in whatever limited form that may be, we hope to use this contact information to reconnect with our supportive fans. One idea I have is to construct a wood-fired brick oven behind our house in Holyoke overlooking the Connecticut River and the Holyoke Range; then, when I bake a batch of a favorite bread or pastry, I'll call up those folks who would most appreciate that bread or pasty and invite them over for a drink while we nurse the oven. After a relaxing visit, everyone goes home with some hearth-baked goodies and a memory for old time's sake.

Who knows what the future holds. Stay curious. Stay engaged.

A New Dawn, A New Day

2012-08-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

"We have been born once and cannot be born a second time; for all eternity we shall no longer exist. But you, although you are not in control of tomorrow, are postponing your happiness. Life is wasted by delaying, and each one of us dies without enjoying leisure."
Epicurus- Vatican Sayings

In the beginning of every life, of every venture, are the seeds of its end. In baking, that idea was enacted every day in every season for the past 33 years at Bakery Normand. Every day the yeast was brought to vigorous life, the sourdough refreshed, the daily dough mixed and developed, kneaded and shaped, baked and consumed. Every day it begins and ends again.

We have been diligent stewards of this process for many years, starting in 1976 when Patty and I first set out to live and work among good, even great, bakers in family bakeries in Germany. In 1979 we set up our first kitchen and started out on our own on West Street in Northampton. In the Spring of 1980 we re-located our bakery to 44 Main Street, also in Northampton. When that space became too small and we sought the security of ownership, we bought the building at 192 Main Street, Northampton in 1989. There we have continued our trade unbroken to this day.

Baking, as with any food related industry, is for the young, and we have grown old in this profession. We have enjoyed remarkable good health for all these years. In hindsight it is clear that we walked a razor's edge in our small, family-run business, and that any significant physical or financial setback could have knocked us off that edge and undone our entire endeavor. But despite our naiveté, or maybe because of it, we endured, we prospered, and our customers, we hope, benefited.

But our creation, our baking enterprise, is mere stone and stainless steel, mere butter and eggs, without Patty at the register and me at the oven. It was not built for the ages. We were the dreamers and it was our wonderful dream alone. So now, while we are in the youth of old age, we choose to shake ourselves awake, rub our eyes clear, and imagine what other goals, what other challenges, might await us. We have lost any driving ambition long ago, and we have certainly acheived more than we could ever have hoped to acheive after all these years. So now we are ready and feel wonderfully free to ride any future tides of possibility.

On Saturday, September 1, 2012, we will begin the day as we have for all these years. But on that day, when the last dough is mixed, when the last bread is baked and the ovens go cold, that will be the day that Bakery Normand will end.

It has not been lost on our attention that there is much we will miss about our bakery. We will miss the casual, almost self-evident, access to good bread and pastries. Suddenly we will be consumers rather than producers. We will miss all of our loyal and, dare I say, devoted customers; most of them transcend mere transactional relationships. We will miss a long list of energetic, thoughtful and honestly good employees, especially the superb staff who work with us now and who will see us through to the finish line.

We want to thank everyone who has been a part of this modest enterprise for their support and commitment. You have made our work a vocation, and we consider ourselves fullfilled and happy people.

"As long as we are on the road (of life), we must make the later journey better than the beginning, but be happy and content when we have reached the end."
Epicurus- Vatican Sayings

Breaking Stereotypes

2012-05-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

For almost ever, customers, even friends, have mispronounced my last name and the name that appears after "Bakery" in "Bakery Normand." The error has been to put the accent and emphasis on the last syllable, as in nor-MAND. This would have been the proper pronunciation for my early ancestors, who were among the first settlers of the frontier town of Quebec. Established in 1608, Quebec became home to the Normand clan at an early date. One Jean Normand (born 1638) appears in a 1656 census of Quebec, and the name seems to have had a continuous presence there going forward. In 1908 my grandfather Ulric Osias Normand emigrated from Canada to the US through Vermont, eventually settling in Holyoke, Massachusetts. In his Declaration of Intention to become a US citizen, Ulric swore that "I am not an anarchist; I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy; and it is my intention in good faith to become a citizen of the United States of America and to permanently reside therein; SO HELP ME GOD." He should have added that he intended for his heirs henceforth to pronounce his surname in a thoroughly American fashion, that being, with the accent on the first syllable, as in NOR-mand. And so it was-until his grandson decided to open a bakery.

The reasons for the change in emphasis have nothing to do with any intentions of mine. Rather, the use of my surname after the type of business I established, namely a bakery, instead of before it (as in Normand's Bakery or Norm's Bakery) created a need among people to overplay the exotic locution and express something foreign sounding. This made sense to folks because our bakery was foreign; and the choice to name it in this way followed the model of all the family bakeries where I trained in Germany-Bäckerei Gassen, Bäckerei Kaiser, and Bäckerei-Konditorei Stock, named after, respectively, the Gassen family, the Kaiser family, and the Stock family. Although I learned to bake in Germany, many of our products have their names and origins in many Western European lands, so, yes, our establishment did strike people as different. Also, placing the accent on the second syllable gave customers the sense that they too were part of a more unique and exclusive club, that they were in on a special secret, that their shopping experience had more caché. You might think that this would be good for business, but, in fact, I have always felt that it put a lot of people off. I think that vast segments of our town and surrounding communities have always felt that our product was strange and that our prices must be high; and who wouldn't if you heard us referred to as Bakery nor-MAND?

Now, segue back to my introductory photo. Folks, meet Jeff. Jeff is one of our morning regulars and he often arrived at the bakery in any number of interesting vehicles, depending on what project he's working on that day. Today he was driving a bucket-loader, and I can think of one 2-year-old named Jacob (also a devoted bakery fan) who would have been in heaven if he had come by an hour earlier today to see Jeff pull up to the Bakery in this rig.

I don't know about you, but I'm guessing that Jeff is not put off by the name of our bakery; in fact, he probably pronounces my last name correctly. But even if he didn't, he has not pigeon-holed us as "not his kind of bakery." Instead he's discovered some great morning pastries, especially his favorite-the Carrot Muffin, at a price that beats Dunkin' Doughnuts and MacDonald's. At $3.50 for the muffin and a large coffee, he probably wouldn't get much for that money at Starbucks. And on top of all that he gets a scratch -baked product made on premises by real people, and he gets friendly, personal service by my wife Patty that puts a smile on his face every time he leaves the store. Today he even offered to let Patty drive his rig, because, as he told her, it had an automatic transmission; Patty replied, "Thanks, but no thanks, I only drive stick!"

Mother's Day is Coming

2012-04-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

Slowly, life at home and at the bakery is getting back to normal- the new normal. Between settling my mom's affairs and re-organizing my kitchen staff after the departure of my three-year veteran Josh Estep, I just haven't had the time or desire to post. That will change as Spring advances and we look forward to some cheery and sweet holidays, like Mother's Day (bittersweet, this year) and the Commencement Season at the local colleges. The weather has turned cooler, as it should be in Spring, so working in the kitchen has become more pleasant again, a lot less hot and humid. We can save those conditions for the Summer, thank you very much.

We were voted third place in the Valley Advocate Readers' Poll. After being in first place for so many years in the '90's and early 2000's I suppose it should be something of a let-down. But, quite frankly, the Poll is just a gimmick for the weekly paper to sell advertising space, and even when we polled number one it never much mattered to me. My focus has always been about making an authentic product and selling it with dignity. I was never such for the seduction of advertising. There is no doubt that our business has entered it's 'mature' phase, which it to say we're not cute and cuddly like a newborn, nor brimming with the vitality and sass of youth. Old age is certainly less appealing to folks and we may just be out-of-sync with what the market wants. America is obsessed with all things new and young; and since we refuse to re-invent ourselves by slapping on a label that says "New and Improved-Now With 50% More Raisins in Every Box," I guess we'll just keep doing what we do and hope that enough people like it to make it worth getting up at 4:00AM every morning. To those of you who still support us, I would like to vote you "Best Customers In the Valley."

In the meantime, stay tuned for a summary of our specials for Mother's Day in the coming weeks.

In memoriam

2012-04-06T12:42:00.003-07:00

While this is a business blog, it is a blog about a family business, with all the joys and sorrows that come with living and working in the real world. And so I do not hesitate to use this forum to share the joys, like the birth of our grandson Sam, and the sorrows, which in this case is the death yesterday of the matriarch of my family Helen M. Normand, my mom, and the great grandmother of Sam. While she came from a large family, the eleventh child of twelve children, and was referred to as the 'sickly one,' she was actually a strong and stoic woman. She married her childhood sweetheart, Roger, when she was 18, and loved him until his death 62 years later. At eighty year of age she started a new life at the Loomis Retirement Community and was able, for the first time in her life really, to become her own person. She became active in the Knitting Club, was on the Food Committee of the community dining room, and was just beginning her involvement on the Scholarship Committee, which raised funds for the college kids who worked part-time in various capacities at Loomis. But beyond these activities, she was best known at Loomis as a person who cared about people, without pretense and without compulsion. She made a point of knowing everyone by name, whether that was an administrator, a housekeeper, a repairman, a waiter or waitress in the dining room, the cooks, the nurses, and especially the residents. That didn't mean she liked everybody; she was very certain in her assessments of people. But she was always respectful.

After her release from Hartford Hospital she returned to the Loomis Nursing Center, which is one wing in the Loomis Commuity Campus where she had had an apartment in the Independent Living wing. As far as we were concerned, she was returning 'home' and that, with rehabilitation from her stroke, she might eventually return to her apartment, or, worst case, to the Assisted Living wing. But it wasn't in the cards, as she, a gambler at heart, would have said. As word got out on campus that she was on her death bed, wave upon wave of Loomis residents, staff and administrators came to say their goodbyes. It chokes me up just writing this because we as a family were unprepared for the depth of care, love and sadness that her passing had evoked. Even Nick, a college-age waiter in the dining room, one of her favorites and a fellow, we learned that night, she had often conned into going out to buy lottery tickets for her, even Nick came and stood speechless by her bedside to pay respects. I know that if I were in Nick's shoes, I probably couldn't have done it.

The triumph was that she really had created a new life for herself, at 82 years old. There is a lesson for us all here. The tragedy is that she was denied it further in mid-stride. There is no telling what the years ahead would have brought her; it's a shame that she couldn't have had a few more. But I think she would have been rather pleased that she at least went out at the top of her game.

With Sam's birth and Mom's death we have experienced within a short seven days the most exhilarating high and the saddest low of the human emotional scale We are reminded that we all ride the great wheel of life, but that in the end ,the greatest truths lie only in this exact moment, in the simple, precious space between breathing in and breathing out. Make the most of your moment. Peace.

Samuel Baker Normand

2012-04-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

Here he is folks: our first grandson, Samuel Baker Normand. Look at the hands on that kid!

And here he is with his Uncle Ben, who came in last weekend from Nantucket to meet his new nephew.

We can already imagine Sam asking his parents, a few years from now, if he can spend the whole summer with Uncle Ben and Aunt Jackie on the island. What a lucky fellow.

Our New Sprout

2012-04-02T15:36:00.001-07:00

The center panel of Grandma Patty's quilt for Sam

This will be a short post that is personal rather than directly Bakery Normand related.

On Thursday, March 29, 2012, our oldest son, Pete, and his wife Polly gave birth to their first son- Samuel Baker Normand. He is Patty and my first grandson. I only post this today because Sam's name was made official today, and for that all of the grandparents are extremely grateful. Mother and baby are doing fine, and dad is doing his bit providing support and love. Pete read Sam his first 'out of the womb' book, Dr. Seuss' OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!, and it moved him very much-Pete, that is, not so much Sam.

On their drive home from the hospital on Saturday, mom and dad took a little detour to drive down Main Street in Northampton in order to take the little sprout past grandma and grandpa's bakery. "That's where grandma and grandpa make all kinds of great breads and pastries, Sam, and it is oh, one of the very special places you'll go!" said Pete.

We're so happy for Pete and Polly, and we know for certain that little Sam will be grow up with love, laughter, and if his dad has his way, with a lot of skiing, biking, skateboarding and other assorted riskier sports activity.

Congrats Pete and Polly!

What is a Blarney Scone?

2012-03-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

New this year for St. Patrick's Day is a tasty soda bread about the size of a scone. We have, with some levity, named it the Blarney Scone. Unlike the famous Blarney Stone of Blarney Castle in Blarney, Ireland, kissing this scone, or in this case actually parting your lips and consuming it passionately, will not impart the gift of gap, the ability to flatter or "deceive without offending." In truth, and without bluster, we can assure anyone who tries this special treat that they will be filled with a great peace and a great oneness with everything Irish.

Also, they will be eating a nutritious and versatile snack. We start with a lean batter, meaning it is low in fat. The great thing about that is you can then freely bulk it up with your own toppings, whether that be butter, English clotted cream, jams, jellies or any combination thereof. The scone is surprisingly light and airy, given that it contains, in addition to unbleached all-purpose flour, 10% whole wheat flour, 10% oats and 10% organic barley flour. The liquid in the batter is provided by low-fat buttermilk. Sweetened with sugar, honey and the natural goodness of currants, we finish it off with a special blend of spices (including whole caraway seeds) which round out the flavors of the other ingredients without overpowering everything.

Available now through Saturday.
Try them out soon, because we're sure people won't be able to stop talking about them

St. Patrick's Day is a Hop, Skip and a Jump Away

2012-03-09T12:48:00.001-08:00

In these parts St. Patrick's Day, March 17th, is a big deal. In Holyoke, where I was born and where I currently live, SPD is more than a big deal, it's almost a religious cult. The St. Patrick's Day Parade in Holyoke is on the Sunday closest to the actual saint's day, and this year that Sunday is March 18th. There will be floats and marching bands, dignitaries and politicians, colleens and clowns. Thousands will line the route to watch and more will watch on TV. There will be a lot of baby in strollers. A lot of beer and whiskey will be imbibed. The spirit of the fun-loving Irish will be infectious.

So at the bakery, we make a nod to this tradition and offer a few pastries and breads, some traditional, others more inventive. All are offered in the spirit of the first hints of Spring. Even our pastries where the green.

Linzer O'Hearts- Dark Chocolate cookies with a mint jelly filling

Guinness Brownies

Irish Soda Bread- A buttermilk biscuit bread with currants and caraway. Not too sweet.

Green French Macaroons- Almond flour shells with a dark ganache center and Irish Whiskey-flavored butter cream filling.

Blarney Scones- A new addition this year. A slightly sweeter buttermilk scone with oats, currants, caraway and lemon and nutmeg.

We will also be making our Black and Tan cupcakes- a Guinness Brownie-batter cupcake with a mountain of Irish Whiskey butter cream on top. Picture to follow tomorrow.

And don't forget our famous Hot Cross Buns- an eggy, buttery roll with golden raisins and spices, topped with a sugar icing cross. They break the boundary between Winter and Spring. We will have these treats weekends through Easter.

All of our St. Patrick's Day treats will be available now 'til the parade.

Hot Cross Buns

2012-02-20T14:55:00.000-08:00

The Lenten season begins on Wednesday, February 22nd and so begins our traditional production of Hot Cross Buns. These rolls are made from a rich egg bread dough, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom, and laced with golden raisins. A cross of sweet fondant tops each bun. After Wednesday we will be offering these treats every Friday and Saturday until Easter. Stop by for yours while they last.

Some New January Treats

2012-01-12T12:42:00.000-08:00

We may have turned the corner on the shortest day of the year, and we may have had a pretty mild Winter to date (today's little dusting excepted), but January is still the darkest month for me. I think I'm suffering from the post-Holiday Season blues.

You'd think that after all the hard work, long hours and hectic rushing around at the bakery last month, I'd actually relish a little quiet time. But it's just too quiet for me and I'm having a hard time focusing and getting motivated; it's the baker's January existential question, "What is the meaning of being a baker in January?" Well, really, the answer is, "There isn't much!"

Christmas and New Year's tend to sate customers of any desire to shop more and eat more. And Valentine's Day, the next best holiday for bakers, is still too far down the road. Right now it's j u s t t o o b o r i n g h e r e ....

So, aside from doing a lot of cleaning in our kitchen, something we always do more of in January because a) we have the time and b) it really needs some TLC after the holiday rush, I thought it would be fun to try out some chocolate inspired treats in preparation for Valentines Day. Now, there's no guarantee that either of these products will make it to February, but for now, there's something about these short days and long dark nights that makes me want to bake something equally dark and 'short' (which refers to the crumb, of course).

Our first item came to me in a dream (literally) or in that first, semi-lucid moment when one emerges from a dream. Either way, it was inspired rather than invented. It's a Pear/Chocolate Sour Cream Coffeecake, and it's sensational.

Dark and deep, like our cold New England woods this time of year, it's a tea time dessert that, quite frankly, you just want to get lost in. The 'short' chocolate sour cream cake, studded with pecan crumble, is contrasted perfectly with the soft and moist pear slices sunken into the top. Like all our desserts, it is full-bodied, satisfying, but not overly sweet.

Gratuitously, I've added one more picture of this dessert, because I, personally, find it irresistible. Maybe you will too.

Our second new treat is a lot less seductive than the first and far more straight forward. It is our Chocolate Shortbread with Cocoa Nibs.

These shortbread squares are dark and buttery with the added moistness of honey. They are less cake-like than a brownie because, like all shortbread, they do not contain eggs. The addition of cocoa nibs adds a pleasant crunch to the texture. Cocoa nibs are the crushed bits of the roasted cocoa beans. To quote the website www.nuts.com , cocoa nibs are packed with "powerful nutrients and natural mood lifters" and are a "crunchy antioxidant pick me up." Now, who couldn't use all this to fight the post holiday blues.

Galette des Rois

2012-01-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

This weekend, in honor of the Feast of the Epiphany, we will be baking a Galette des Rois. This is a splendid all-butter puff pastry dessert, light and flaky, with a sweet frangipan (almond cream) filling. The galette is approximately 8" in diameter and will serve 8-10 people nicely. The Epiphany is the Twelfth Day of Christmas when the three Wise Men from the East arrived with gifts for the Christ child. In the Eastern Orthodox Church it is day on which its followers actually celebrate Christmas. Our version of the King's Cake is made in the Northern French tradition. A variation using brioche dough and fruit, called a Gâteau des Rois, is more common in Provence. Our Swiss Christmas Knot would certainly fall into that category.

Traditionally, a bean or small trinket is hidden in the galette. This custom goes back to the Roman Saturnalia festival, and the person lucky enough to be served the piece of cake with the bean was crowned king of the feast and awarded special privileges. In today's litigious America we have decided to eschew the placement of any small choking hazard in our dessert.

Our galette is crowned with an intricate scored design, which, in itself, should be a prize worthy of all your guests lucky enough to sample a slice of this special dessert.

Swiss Christmas Knot

2011-12-20T12:44:00.000-08:00

As I said in yesterday's blog, there have been a number of requests for a holiday breakfast bread that would be less sweet and rich than a Danish Ring, but more complex than a standard loaf of bread.

Well, here she is, the SWISS CHRISTMAS KNOT. It is a diminutive egg bread (not challah) that is twisted into a knot. Yeasty, light and airy, not too sweet, not too rich. The dough is laced with toasted pecans and dried cranberries and flavored with lemon, vanilla and nutmeg. After baking, the bread is brushed with butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar for that extra sparkle. I made a trial batch of the Knot today, mainly to test the concept and, if successful, to photograph it for today's post. By the time my workday was done and I started to set up for the photo shoot, however, there was only one knot left and a scrap of the knot we had cut into to sample with our staff. Apparently, customers were drawn to it like bees to honey.

Thanks to all those customers who challenged me to add this product to our Christmas production. I think we have a winner here. Available while they last, now through Christmas Eve. $5.95 per loaf.

Countdown to Christmas

2011-12-19T11:41:00.000-08:00

This is the final week of the Christmas Bakery and we can't wait to get going. Our durable wares are nearly complete, with a few additions and exceptions. We have quite a number of Bûche de Noël to complete and package, and there will be some last minute cakes and desserts to finish, but mostly we will be busy organizing our fresh bread and breakfast pastry production for Christmas weekend.

There have been a few requests for a "holiday" bread, something less sweet than a danish ring and more interesting than a plain loaf of bread. Now for me, the Stollen is the classic Christmas holiday bread. But I can see that it may be too sweet and rich for some people. So I'm giving this request a little thought and plan to make a diminutive, eggy, nutty and slightly fruity Swiss-style weekend bread for this Friday and Saturday. It will either be a braid or a knot; not sure yet. Order it if you like to take a chance at the unknown. In any event, it will be delicious. It should price out at $5.00 per loaf.

And a final word about posting to this blog over the past five months. Besides actually making and baking our product, it's been a lot of work taking the photos, editing them, uploading them, sizing them, positioning them, and writing some more or less 'intelligent' words to accompany them. Mostly it's been a labor of love, except when the damn internet kept going down (which it does a lot with our Verizon DSL connection) and having to re-do two hours worth of posting. Sharing the visual beauty of some of our rather special baked goods, and informing the world-wide world about us and our bakery, has been gratifying in a virtual way. But, of course, to really know a bakery you have to encounter it in the material world, and to that end our blog is just a tool to get you out of your door and into ours.

As much of an effort as doing both of these jobs has been, first the material work and then this virtual work, I have a hunch that January is going to seem empty and dull. Is it possible that I might actually miss these crazy, busy days?

Christmas Hours

2011-12-16T13:04:00.000-08:00

To help you plan your Holiday shopping at Bakery Normand, we want to give you our Christmas Week hours. The Bakery will be closed, as usual, on Sunday and Monday, December 18th and 19th. We will be open at 7:30AM and closed at 5:30PM on Tuesday through Friday, December 20th through the 23rd. On Saturday, Christmas Eve, we will open at 7:30AM and we will close at 4:00PM. If you haven't placed your Christmas orders, please don't delay. Inventories at really good right now, but supplies of seasonal items are sure to dwindle fast. We will be glad to reserve holiday cookies and Stollen for pick up later in the week. All these items are durable and have an excellent shelf life. Breads and breakfast pastries are made daily, but it helps to know in advance if you need specific varieties or quantities. We can only serve you best when we know in advance exactly what you need. Traditionally we stop taking orders at Noon on the day before Christmas Eve; this year that would be Friday, December 23rd.

On Christmas Eve morning, we typically do not answer the phone to take orders because our staff is busy trying to put up all the orders that were placed in advance, and also because the rest of the staff is busy with walk-ins. It is a very complicated process and we have found that adding another variable like a ringing telephone makes the process unmanageable. We are sorry for any inconvenience, but if you haven't placed an order already, you just need to come on down to the Bakery and see what is available. Usually our selection, if you come in early, is very good. Once all the orders are put up (usually this is completed by 8:00-8:30AM), we put the phone back on the hook and are ready to take new orders for items that are still available.

Sometimes this whole process makes me feel like the Soup Nazi, saying, "No bread for you!" But seriously folks, the last two days before Christmas are insane at the Bakery, they always have been. So it is imperative that you order early to help us make it go smoothly.

The Home Stretch

2011-12-15T13:25:00.000-08:00

Today the final batch of Dresdner Stollen was baked for this Holiday Season. That's it. That's all she wrote. Now, to some this may seem a bit early to be wrapping up any part of our Christmas production. But the reality is that there are only 9 more days until Christmas, and if you take into account that two of those days, Sunday and Monday, December 18 and 19, the bakery is closed, then there are really only 7 more production days left. And as we get closer and closer to the final days before Christmas, the pace quickens, especially in the retail store, to the point where there aren't enough hours in the day to keep up with customer demands. Factor in as well that most of the products we make, whether for the holidays or, really, for any day, involve very complicated recipes and methods, then it becomes clear that without long-range planning and strategy, the magic of the Christmas Bakery just couldn't happen.

So, with all that in mind, the final Stollen is baked and in the books. We still have inventory of all four of our Stollen varieties, but if you wait too long, your choices will become limited.

The same applies to all of our Holiday specialties. Going forward, once the inventories are exhausted, that's it until next year. So, once again, place your orders soon so that we can reserve any specialty item that you really want to have for Christmas. All of our cookies, whether the standard tea cookies or the special Christmas cookies will keep very well through the New Year. Our Stollen will keep into January without exception. Our focus for the remaining seven days will be on cakes, tortes, desserts and all of our yeasted breads and breakfast pastries. Indeed, our focus going forward will be on meeting our customer orders, whether for Christmas parties or for Christmas Eve. The camel is about to pass through the needle's eye. It is a busy and exciting time at the bakery, seasoned for me, as it is every year, with a large dose of tread. This is why, since before Thanksgiving really, I am fond of asking "Is it January yet?"

Today we introduced of first Bûche de Noël of the season. The main cake is a yellow roulade brushed with rum and filled with chocolate butter cream. The exterior of the 'log' is banded with chocolate butter cream and decorated with a kitchen sink worth of accessories: a marzipan elf, gingerbread men, Spekulatius leaves, butter cookie stars and moons, chocolate pine cones and walnuts, and meringue mushrooms. All of it is attacked with a blizzard of powder sugar. It is another example of what I like to call a 'pull-apart-dessert." Eating the Bûche is a deconstructive process more akin to demolition. A lot of fun for young and old.

There will be some Bûche available for walk-in customers, but to be sure there will be one for you at Christmas, please order ahead.

Some other items which make an appearance this weekend and complete our bite-sized Holiday Specialties are:

Meringue Mushrooms, light,airy and crunch meringue sandwiched together with dark chocolate

Black & White Cookies: our classic vanilla and chocolate tea cookie dough, painstakingly combined into checkered squares. Buttery and not too sweet.

Some New Additions to the Christmas Bakery

2011-12-07T12:38:00.000-08:00

Once again Patty has brought in a perennial favorite for the Advent Season- Sugar Plums. And just in time for this year's production of The Nutcracker at The Academy of Music in downtown Northampton. These sweet and tangy jellies are a popular item, so get them while the supply lasts.

And from the kitchen we have a few baked additions to present.

The first is a sweet and simple addition to our Butter Tea Cookie selection-the Gingerbread Man on the Moon. A dark chocolate moon crescent cookie is dipped in white chocolate and accented with gingerbread men sprinkles. Fun and tasty!

The second addition is our Large Spekulatius Cookies. Made with our spicy almond dutch cookie dough, the knave and damsel figures are molded from hand-carved wooden molds.

Baked on a bed of sliced almonds, these cookies are a full 8 inches tall. Enough for one, enough to share.

Stop in this Holiday Season- always something tasty, always something unique.

Saint Nicholas Day

2011-12-05T11:27:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, December 6th, is Saint Nicholas Day. In much of Northern Europe it is a very popular 'holiday' in the early Advent Season. Saint Nicholas was a 4th Century bishop in present day Turkey and has been venerated since as a patron saint of children, students, sailors, and others in need.

In Germany and the Netherlands it is customary for children to put their shoes outside their bedroom doors on December 5th in anticipation of Saint Nicholas filling them overnight with treats such as fruit, nuts and sweets. Naughty children could expect to receive straw switches or lumps of coal. This tradition anticipates our custom of hanging stocking by the fireplace on Christmas Eve, hoping that they will be filled with small treats and presents.

My own personal experience with the Saint Nicholas Day tradition came when Patty and I were living and baking in Germany. For us as Americans it was not a tradition we grew up with. We were living with the Biss family in Koblenz, Germany at that time, and I was working at a bakery, Konditorei Stock, during the Christmas season. The Biss are a wonderful family of open-minded and generous Germans who invited us to live in their home with their three young daughters between the Spring of 1977 and the early Summer of 1978. It was a household filled with laughter, love, some good mischievous fun, cooking, baking, music and singing. They were always supportive of our endeavors and helped us beyond anything we could have expected from strangers. (How we came to meet them is a story that deserves telling at another time.) We felt so bound to them that, when our first son, Peter, was born, we asked Hermann and Ursula Biss to be his godparents. Our connection was recently renewed when their grandson, Tim, was attending Amherst Regional High School in October as an exchange student for four weeks. Visiting with him and talking about his mom, who was 14 when we first met her, and his grandparents, who are now in their 80's, was a wonderful and sometimes strange occasion to connect the present with the past. After all, we knew people he has known all his life, but from a time frame long before his birth.

It was December 5th, 1977 and I came home from the bakery as usual in the early afternoon. As was my custom, I took off my flour and sugar encrusted work shoes as I entered the front hall and placed them on the top step just inside the door of the basement stairs. They definitely were not shoes for wearing inside the house. I never really thought about how dirty my shoes were becoming over time; I just routinely put them on in the early morning before work and took them off after work when I got home. What I didn't realize was that those shoes must have been a curiosity to the Biss family; they were a testament to the otherness of the work life that these American strangers had introduced into their home, and perhaps also a puzzlement about my indifference to how messy I had allowed my shoes to get.

How surprised I was, how grateful, and perhaps a little embarrassed too, when I went to the cellar stairs on the early morning of December 6th, Saint Nicholas Day, to find that my cruddy work shoes had been polished clean, every nook and cranny, from toe to heel, shiny and like new, and filled with oranges, chocolate and nuts.

They say that the best gifts to get are the ones you least expect. I will never forget that gift, and I'm sure there was a greater bounce to my step all that day at work. But from the other side of this story, I think that the best gifts to give humble the giver in order to tell the recipient how much you care. If it's true that you shouldn't judge another man until you've walked in his shoes, what must it say about a man (or a woman, or a family) who would stoop to clean them?

God Bless You, Familie Biss!

Happy Saint Nicholas Day!

The Christmas Bakery in Full Swing

2011-12-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

Without exaggeration this past week has been one of the most productive weeks for me and my team at Bakery Normand. We didn't just slide into the Holiday Season, we leaped with abandon and energy, casting aside all doubts and fears. For a brief time on Friday, I thought that there were only two more weeks until Christmas; that's when the doubts and fears really started to creep in. Then someone told me to relax (something I'm not inclined to do in any event) because there were, in fact, three weeks more until Christmas.

This week saw the introduction of some of our more popular Christmas cookies, included various Macaroons (Almond and Hazelnut), Hazelnut Crescents, Lebkuchen Ornaments, Anise Cookies, Gingerbread Boys and Girls, Spekulatius Cookie People, and Polar Bear Paws- a variation on our popular Bear Paws, but with the substitution of red currant jelly and white chocolate in place of apricot jam and dark chocolate, and with the addition of red, white and green sprinkles on the white chocolate tips.

But the highlight of the week was the introduction today of perhaps the two best baked goods we make at this time of year. Both are my personal favorites, and judging by the number of calls we've been getting asking when they will be available, I'm guessing that there are many fans out there. The first product is our proprietary Black Forest Stollen. It's the last of the four types of Stollen we make every year and it is by far the best tasting. Made with the same base dough as our other Stollen, we add sweetened tart sour cherries soaked in Kirschwasser liqueur and rich dark chocolate chunks. It is our interpretation of the classic Black Forest Torte, only in Stollen form. To our knowledge, when we started making this variety 20 years ago, no one else had gone in that direction before. Because Stollen tends to be rich and sweet, the addition of tart dried fruits and a more bitter chocolate creates a wonderful balance.

Now that all our Stollen varieties are in the store, I can relax. Of course, more batches of each are in the pipeline in the coming weeks, so my work is far from done. As long as the demand is there and my time allows, I'll try to keep up with the production. But I would urge everyone not the wait until the last minute to stock up on Stollen for yourself or for gifts. When time runs out, so will the supply.

I would also like to underscore that Stollen is not your proverbial holiday fruitcake, something to throw out with the tree. It is, rather, a rich and flavorful, sweet and delicate yeasted confection that marks the pinnacle of yeasted German breads. Its characteristic use of cardamom, nutmeg and lemon as spices and flavor notes evokes, at least for me, the essence of the holidays. It should be sliced thin and served with a strong coffee or tea, or even with a glass of schnapps. It should never be toasted, and if stored cool and dry, it will keep for several months.

The second product which completed our production this week is Spitzkuchen,

Spitzkuchen translates as 'pointed cakes.' The gingerbread dough used in their production is the lebkuchen dough I've mentioned in previous postings. The lebkuchen dough was made in early November and stored in our cool basement to rest and mellow. Once the proper flavor and acidity level is reached, the dough is ready to be leavened and baked.

Spitzkuchen is made from the same dough as our Lebkuchen Ornaments. The only difference is that the Spitzkuchen dough is enhances with currants. Like the Lebkuchen Ornaments, the Spitzkuchen dough, once baked, is hard and tough. It must be re-moisturized by wrapping it in damp towels and sealing it in plastic bags overnight.

The next day, once the dough has softened up, the individual pointed shapes are hand-cut and hand-dipped in dark chocolate.

Spitzkuchen are incredible. They are, perhaps, the most anticipated product we make at the bakery at any time of the year. And they are only available until New Year's. Words cannot describe the unbelievable flavor and texture of these spicy, addictive morsels, and I would encourage anyone reading this who knows and loves this product to email me your impressions. Perhaps by sharing your enthusiasm, you can persuade others to give them a try.

As the season progresses, please check our "Christmas Specials" page for a more comprehensive list with images and explanations of all the holiday goodies available during this party season. And remember to order early if you need large quantities or if you have specific and unusual requests.

Making a Sharp Turn After Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T13:52:00.000-08:00

One of the most difficult parts about running a very small retail bakery is figuring out how to quickly transition from one season or holiday to another. Most of the year this transition occurs gradually, mainly because seasons don't turn on a dime and the major holidays are pretty widely spaced out. Except for the Thanksgiving to Christmas turn-around. It just doesn't happen quickly or smoothly for us. It never has, and it probably never will. Once Thanksgiving production is under our belt, we're pretty much physically exhausted. And usually our product inventories are decimated as well. And since we don't enjoy that long Thanksgiving holiday weekend like normal folks, we're back at our bench and behind the counter on Black Friday morning. Somehow we're suppose to flip a switch and transform the bakery into a Christmas wonderland in a single day. Like I said, it has never happened and probably never will.

But over the coarse of the past week we have been working hard to put our elf hats on straight and fill our shop with some very wonderful and, for many customers, much anticipated holiday season specialties. In the coming days I'll post regularly, featuring the unique products that have made Bakery Normand the destination bakery for the best Old World Christmas treats in the Valley.

Back in November, I posted a piece about Lebkuchen called "Lebkuchen is Coming." The story begins there because the gingerbread dough, known in Germany as Lebkuchen, must be made a good month ahead of the final production in order for the dough to develop its unique flavor and character.

This week some of that dough was transformed into the charming Lebkuchen ornaments that our shop has featured for the past 31 years. Literally, Lebkuchen translates as the 'cake of life.' Since ancient times people have baked honey sweetened cakes in the shape of animals and people. At important holidays, these cakes were offered to the gods to assure prosperity, health and peace, and to dispel bad things. Perhaps these cakes replaced real human and animal sacrifices to the gods, in the sense that the spirit of the person or animal was transferred to the spice cake. Eventually, people exchanged these cakes with each other as gestures of good will. Our Lebkuchen is made with the kinds of ingredients our ancestors would have used: wheat and rye flours, honey, brown sugar and rare spices.

Our Lebkuchen Ornaments sparkle with a varnish-like glaze, which is, in fact, a natural and edible product. It's also a secret!

Our ornaments will keep for years if left out in the open air. We personally have kept some lebkuchen ornaments since the early 1980's. We store them in tins along with our other holiday ornaments; and as long as the mice don't get at them (because they are, after all, very nutritiuos treats) we are able to re-use them year after year. The key is to store them cool and dry, mostly dry. Lebkuchen ornaments are, however, completely edible. Simply wrap them in a damp towel, place them in a plastic bag, and let them sit overnight. The next day, your Lebkuchen will be tranformed into a soft cake that may then be eaten. You probably won't want to re-constitute old ornaments which have been saved from previous years, but this year's fresh Lebkuchen will be just fine.

Quantities of our ornaments are limited, so come in early while the selection is good.

We also make two types of Old World Saint Nicholas Lebkuchen Ornaments for Saint Nicholas Day, December 6th,

We also have a great selection of Advent Calendars, including Chocolate Advent Calendars. Shop early for these because they sell out early every year.

Saint Gallener Bread is Back

2011-11-15T11:25:00.000-08:00

Saint Gallener Bread, also known in Switzerland as Sankt Gallenerbrot, was a staple bread at Bakery Normand for many, many years. For some reason, over time, it went out of favor....except with a hardcore group of fans who had discovered that it was the best bread to use in their turkey stuffing. Now, I personally have not tried using this bread for that purpose. Mostly I like using it as an all-purpose sandwich bread. It is a hardier bread than our French Loaf because it is enhanced with 10% medium rye flour and 10% cornmeal. This addition lends to the crumb a bit of tooth and a more complex flavor.

In Switzerland it is the signature bread of the city and German-speaking region of St. Gallen. Characteristically, it is baked as a free-form bread with a complex form of pulled and tucked tails and a round head. Some Swiss bakery websites even say that this bread shape has a 'nose' (Nase). Yeah, well, whatever; we used to make this unique shape alongside the more conventional Pullman pan loaf pictured in this post. I think most people in our market thought the traditional shape was a bit odd, and so it was never as popular as the loaf pan shape. Below is an image of St. Galler Brot from a Swiss website:

See what I mean!

So for those of you who would have been asking us if we were going to be making St. Galler Bread for Thanksgiving...we beat you to it. We will be offering this wonderful bread through Thanksgiving. Order it for Wednesday, November 23rd, or pick up a loaf or two early so you can dry it out for your turkey stuffing. Either way, you will have the pleasure of an all-purpose, simple, flavorful, and honest loaf .

Ordering Ahead for Thanksgiving

2011-11-14T07:15:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, so we would encourage you to place your orders early. It is always difficult for a small bakery like ours to meet the increased demands from customers around any holiday. Our kitchen, our ovens, and our baking crew is only so big, so organization is critical if we are to produce three or four times the amount of goods using the limited tools available to us. You can help us by planning early and placing your orders in a timely manner. If you go to the 'Thanksgiving Specials" tab on our page bar just above the "BAKERY NORMAND" header you will find our specials page, with a complete listing of breads, pastries and desserts for Thanksgiving. Since we won't be using the website to accept orders, please call the bakery and place your order directly with a sales person. They should be able to answer any questions you may have and to suggest items you may not be aware of. If you have an unusual request, or feel that the sales staff was not able to help you on the phone, email me through our website and I will try to help you personally.

I have often thought of holiday production in biblical terms in the sense that it's like trying to pass a camel through a needle's eye. It is nearly impossible and always stressful. With the many and varied orders that we receive it is difficult to keep everything straight; but we are aware that nothing but 100% success will do. Unlike a test at school, a 95% grade means that we have failed and disappointed 5% of our customers. For those customers our grade is 0%.

We want to make sure that you get what you want, when you want it, and exactly as you ordered it. You can help us do that by placing your order early, and with clear and exact details about produce type, quantities, pick-up times, contact person name and correct phone number.