listen - if you're looking to pee your pants (by excessive chuckling), you might want to just check this out. actually, check it even if you don't like peeing your pants, cuz it is totally totally amazing. ...
and now that you're done with the whole pee thing (you sicko), i'd like to sit down for a little heart to heart.
ya see, the thing is, i've been thinking a lot about this bread business i've landed in, and how exactly i want to move forward with everything, and what it all means to me. heavy shit, yes ma'am.
but don't be scared, i promise everything will be just fine. i just wanna let you know some of the things i've been thinking about. no big changes or rugs-pulled-out-from-underneath-you. just some good old fashioned sharing, like they taught us to do in kindergarten.
i've got a nice thing going - i fell in love with baking bread, and somehow, rather magically, i've figured out a way to do it all the time. and i can honestly say that for the foreseeable future i can only see the bread getting better. this feels totally frikkin amazing, cuz one of the most important things to me right now is engaging in the act of bread baking, and continuing to refine my skills, and ultimately, making the best bread that i can. so opening my own bakery and hiring a select few fine bakers to help on this mission is right in line with this goal. i am clear in this.
but this is also taking a big step into the unknown, and i, like most people, have some trepidation about that. why is it a big step? a few reasons: right now i basically rent everything i need to bake bread, i don't have any employees, and i decide how much and what kinds of bread to bake. so if i wanted to up and become a mountain top monk, i could, with very little repercussions. (other than hopefully taking a few baby steps towards enlightenment.)
but that's all about to change. i am buying all of my own equipment, signing a lease, hiring employees (badass they will be, just you watch), and entering into some serious business relationships. basically, i'm gettin hitched to bread. and i am pumped to get hitched to bread, don't get me wrong, i loooooooove it. but it's also a little scary, ya know?
and so i'm wanting to do everything i can to keep the fire alive, and keep my shit straight. one of the things that made me swoon about bread right away was that it was playful, and dynamic, and always changing - it never got boring. and i can take some credit for this - every single time i make bread i am trying out some new thing - a little more water, a slightly hotter oven, a different way of folding the dough... all in an attempt to push the bread further towards this perfect loaf i have in my mind. and ya know what? it's never there. and the beautiful and sometimes sad thing is, it probably never will be. but i'll tell you what, i'm grateful for this. because if there's one thing i hate more than being disappointed, it's being bored.
but while i'm at it, here's another thing i've absolutely adored about bread - the people. i have an unbelievably radical community of folks that has been built around bread, and i cannot even tell you how grateful i am for this. YOU, curious reader, YOU are part of this community. so please, accept my heartfelt thanks for being a part of this.
so what? what to make of all this? oh nothing, really, just lettin ya'll in to the softer side of josey baker bread.
love you the most pretty babies
<3 josey