always wanted to be a baker? now's your chance sweetie pie

yo cats & dogs first of all, i need to share the deepest heartfelt gratitude that i am capable of: THANK YOU.

who am i thanking, you wonder?

i'm thanking everyone who has come out to support me over the last few days, since i fell off my bike and smashed up my face real good in Golden Gate Park. i've been totally floored by how many people have reached out to show me they care about me, and offer to support in whatever ways they can. i can't tell you how much it's meant to me dudes, so really, thank you thank you thank you.

for those of you who don't know what i am talking about -

i was rip roaring on my bike through Golden Gate Park on Monday, enjoying the last few hours of what had already been a tremendous couple of days, having spent the night at Fort Baker with my sweet lady, maxing and relaxing and riding around on golf carts. anyway, on Monday about 6pm i managed to snap the fork of my bike right in half as i was popping a totally sweet wheelie off the curb near the De Young Museum. now i've got a lot of stitches and some cracked teeth and it's difficult to eat and drink stuff, but i'm lookin on the bright side - it could have been a lot worse. in fact, the ER doctor told me that if i hadn't been wearing my bike helmet that i probably would have died. it's been quite the reminder dudes - appreciate everything you have while you have it, and treat that sweet body of yours with love and kindness. and for god's sake: wear your bike helmet.

which brings me to my next point - JBB IS LOOKING TO HIRE A BAKER for our work at The Mill! awwwwwww $hit. and you might be (or know) that special someone if:

• you love baking cookies, coffee cake, lemon bars, granola, farmer's market fruit preserves, that type of hippie $hit
• you ALSO love baking loaves of sourdough bread
• you can hang in an open kitchen, with curious customers always asking you things like, "what are you doing?" and then not listening to your answers
• you can take on a position that is 16-24 hrs / week to start
• you have your opinions about how to do things, but you're open to learning how to do stuff better, quicker, and in a variety of ways
• you like working in a tight little bakery where you're never more than 3 feet away from another person

please send your resume & cover letter to: jobs@joseybakerbread.com

don't worry if you don't have a ton of experience - i'm mostly looking for someone that we all enjoy spending time with who has a sufficient knowledge base and who can learn our ways quickly. so if you think that's you, then reach out any say so!

have a rad day my dogs, remember that helmet next time you're wheelie-poppin

<3 josey

definitely not bored; JBB vocab lesson

when i was a kid i used to always say, "moooooooom, i'm bored, what should i do??? i'm boooooooooooored." i'd fiddle with my teenage mutant ninja turtles, go throw some sticks around in the woods, then dig a hole, or something, and whine about being bored again. cuz being bored sucks, ya know? i'm definitely not bored these days.

these awesome little dudes came by the bakery the other week. i tried to give them a tour and teach them a little about bread, but they knew more about bread than i did, cuz they've been baking bread at school, and even milling their own frikkin flour. so badass.

everything has been going great at the bakery, but every once in a while we get some suuuper weird people who come in and do stuff like this:

watch out for this guy, he's a wild one.

the past 2 months have been one hell of a ride. aside from opening The Mill, i also managed to sneak in a rad photo shoot with one Ms. Erin Kunkel, the talented young lady whose photographs will be featured in my cookbook. i wish i could show some of them to you, but i think that's against the law, and you know i don't like breaking the law... but here's a totally legal shot that she snapped with her cell phone during the shoot. (don't be fooled, i just posed for this photo, she's the brains behind this one)

everyday the bread gets a little better, and its got me freaking out in front of the oven every morning, saying stuff like, "I literally cannot believe that I just made this!!" so pumped, check it out:

we made sesame bread this week as our super special weekly bread. we're doing more experimenting and special breads lately, and it's very exciting, and there's only going to be more of it. so if you feel like being surprised come in and see what's new on the bread rack, then take a loaf home and eat it and tell us what you think.

wanna know a secret??? check this out:

this is a loaf of country bread before it's baked. look at all those awesome patterns on it!! crazy right?!? wanna know how we do that??? okay, so first you get out your compass and your calipers and your calculater... ummm, actually it's suuuuper complicated, i don't really have the time to explain, sorry, maybe next time.

but ya know what, i think it might be nice for me to let you in to the bakery a little bit more, to give you a more intimate sense of what the day to day is like *INSIDE* the JBB machine. ya see, we don't know what we're doing, so we have to make it up, and that includes making up our own terms for the stuff we do every day. in light of that, here is a little vocab lesson, so you can maybe understand the gibberish you hear coming out of the bakery the next time you're in.

playing with the pillows: get your mind outta the gutter you little perv, this is our fun way of saying "shaping bread loaves." ya see, when the bread is mixed just right, like it is most days, cuz my bakers are little badasses, it is blissful to shape, because it's so nice and soft and stretchy, and full of delicious gas. so instead of being boring and saying, "well, i guess it's time to shape the bread loaves now," we say, "quit your lollygaggin moss-pony, it's time to play with the pillows!" all while the grateful dead are playing in the background. too good.

chop it up: this isn't really that creative, and i think i'm the only one that says it. instead of saying, "well looky here, it appears to be time for me to scale the bread dough into loaves and pre-shape them," i say, "get outta my face man, i don't have time for that, i gotta chop it up." then chop it up i do, like a god damn teenage mutant ninja turtle, michelangelo*  to be exact.

• *yes yes, i am well aware the michelangelo is not able to do any chopping, as his weapon of choice is the nunchucks, or Nunchaku, which do not chop so much as beat. but michelangelo is a party dude, and orange is my favorite color, and this is MY breadblog, so, as my father always said, if you don't like it, lump it. 

purple beauties: this was invented by Wendy, our resident viking baker, as a title for our whole wheat cranberry walnut bread. we were playing with the pillows (see above) one afternoon, and i was like, "yo we should name this bread something other than whole wheat cranberry walnut bread, that's so boring," to which she immediately replied, "well, we should probably call it cranberry walnut purple beauty." so we called them that from there on out, til the other week, when we stopped making that bread. RIP purple beauties.

all of your g*d d@mn seeds are on my f***in rack: this is what you hear if you knock over a tray of Cobi's breakfast bars which are on the cooling rack instead of the normal place they are, because you've filled up that normal place with trays of your toasted seeds, not totally where they're supposed to be.

we're just killing time on a rock that's floating around a ball of fire: take it easy man, it's just bread.

have a good day sweeties, i miss you, all of you.

<3 josey

come to City Hall tomorrow morning dudes - Wednesday, March 13, 9am, Room 400

we have our hearing at 9am this Wednesday, and we need folks to come and show their support! you have a few minutes to spare, i know you do, so please come and tell the planning department that you want us to build a parklet in front of The Mill. 

meet us out front of City Hall at 8:45 Wednesday morning, and we'll make this thing happen.

City Hall, Room 400, Wednesday March 13, 9am

kisses

j

small dog loves your bread

Hi Josey,

I was in late this morning and you helped me decide on loaves of bread for me and my neighbor. I got two loaves, your rye and the cranberry walnut. Anyhow... After I left The Mill, I had to go buy some toilet paper so I went to the grocery store and left the loaves I bought in the car with my little nine pound pooch, Louie.  He's not the type to get into stuff. He's not allowed to eat ANY human food and never begs. He's a good dog. Most of the time. Then today happened... Your warm loaves of bread were just too much for him and left alone with the yeasty aroma, he just couldn't resist himself.  He pulled the bag with the warm loaf of cranberry walnut bread, up onto the seat (I had placed it on the floor) and like the dog of good Hungarian mom, ate the end off.  End of story.

Sending on a picture of him in complete bliss after the fact.

Loving having you in the neighborhood!

hugs & licks

D & L

i cannot believe this is my life

we did it, dudes, we finally opened our doors. we're open everyday, i'm here everyday, and it is totally, totally awesome.

if you haven't come in to say hey just yet, don't worry, just come on by when you have some time to drink a coffee & eat a slice of toast & soak up some good vibes. (yes, good vibes, you bet your ass i said that, and i mean it too.)

i am having so much friggin fun, i really cannot even believe that this is my life. i feel like i won the god damn lottery. i get to do the work that i love so much, with people that i love so much, in a space that i love so much. couldn't really get much better if ya ask me.

i don't mean to boast, rather, just to share my excitement, and to say thanks to everyone who helped make this thing happen. next time i see you i am going to hug you and lift you right up off the ground and laugh, and maybe i will even kiss you right on your face.

y'all have been going bonkers for the dark mountain rye, which makes me so so so excited, because it's my favorite bread too. i had no idea that folks would dig on it so hard, but i'm way down. its very different from all the other bread we make... its 100% rye, and its jam packed with sesame, sunflower, flax seeds & corn meal. it's dense as hell and it will nourish you on your mightiest of adventures. check it out here, about to go into the oven:

so many of you have been coming in, it's crazy, i had no idea that it was going to be this busy. we are making almost 1,000 slices of toast on the weekends, we've already broken two commercial toasters, and this past Sunday i sold almost 200 loaves. 200 LOAVES IN ONE DAY??!?!? it wasn't even a holiday!! man oh man oh man oh man.

phew. anyway, thanks again, and i cannot wait to keep partying with you all.

oh crap - we need your help! we are having a public hearing down at City Hall for the parklet that we wanna build out front of The Mill. we need as many people as possible to come to the hearing and speak up in support of the project. here are the details:

WHEN: Wednesday, March 13 at 9am

WHERE: Room 400 at City Hall

WHY: cuz we wanna build a parklet in front of The Mill, and we can't do it without folks coming and showing the powers-that-be that we have support from the people.

if you can make it that would be A M A Z I N G. thanks in advance my dogs.

<3 josey

help us build a parklet

hey sweethearts

we need your help, especially those of you who live near Alamo Square Park. we want to build a parklet out front of The Mill, and we need to collect as many signatures on our petition as possible. could you, would you take a moment and help us make it happen? we will build you the best parklet ever, i promise.

take 1 minute to sign, please pretty please.

you're the best

<3 j

in case the link doesn't work for ya, go here:

https://www.change.org/petitions/san-francisco-planning-department-allow-us-to-build-a-parklet-at-736-divisadero-st

almost there

heya dudes we're going as fast as we can, but we're not quite there yet. hold tight, we'll be ready for you to come and visit soon, so soon. we're shooting for Feb 12.

til then, here's a sneak peak into some of our experiments as of late...

cornbread w crumble top

we made baguettes and they were awesome and then decided that we're not going to make baguettes. don't worry, we'll make something very similar to baguettes, they just won't be such a pain in the a$s (for us).

i've spent some time sticking my head into dark corners like this one. i'm happy i'm not doing that anymore.

apple pecan coffee cake that made me sick because i couldn't stop eating it.

stay tuned kiddos, i will let y'all know when the party has begun.

<3 josey

no more coffee & toast in a tent - we're closed til we're *O*P*E*N*

my my my

today was a special day - it was our last day serving coffee & toast out of our little tent inside of the construction site that is soon to be The Mill. we heard from many of our regular customers that they didn't want the tent to go, that they'd come to love the tent vibe, where they'd eat their toast & coffee while leaning next to a sack of concrete, all to the soundtrack of chainsaws in the backyard. but friends, all things must pass, and so today we said goodbye to the tent. hopefully this wonderful little lady will keep coming to visit us, even though we'll be tent-less.

but why why why, why is the tent going away?

because we've got a frikkin cafe bakery to open dudes, and we can't do it with a tent plopped right down in the middle of the space.

so here we go, for real this time - we're closed to finish the build out, and we're gonna open up that whole sucker at the end of the month. 

but since i have you here, i'd love to share a bit with you about what i've been doing for the last month or so. mostly i've been at The Mill, test baking up a storm, but also setting a loooooooot of tile on the walls and counters. mind you, i had no idea how to set tile a few weeks ago, but truth is, you can do anything if you put your mind to it. check it out! ain't it purty?

but make no mistake, i haven't completely given up adventuring outside of the bakery, oh no. just last weekend i had the pleasure of going on a moonlit trip to a secret lake, where me and my man love Rafi had ourselves an extremely brief night swim. i even did a front flip off a rock into the water, which made me very proud of myself. check out our cute little butts:

i hope Rafi doesn't mind that i'm showing you his bum.

i've had to stop delivering bread for the time being, as i am just too darn busy with the build out. regardless, i got a glimpse of what it's like to be one of those lucky bread loaves, as i did find time to give my good friend Ben Hardy a ride around the Mission in my bread trailer.

i've also really been exploring my hippie roots, making breads like this one, which was a 100% whole grain sourdough loaf, made with a blend of red wheat, white wheat, and spelt, then covered in wheat bran and oatmeal. i mean, come on, it doesn't get much more crunchy than that, but what can i say, i LOVE it.

expect a lot more of that stuff once we get rolling. and baguettes! i've fallen in love with making baguettes. and people tell me that they taste pretty fine. expect to see a lot of these once we've opened up, too.

and, well, a picture is worth a thousand words, so i will let you figure out what the heck is going on here:

soooo, i'll see you on January 30? i hope so. just a quick sneak peak about what we've got in store beyond the bread: toast out the wazoo, a few cookies for you to munch on with your afternoon cup of joe, perhaps a brownie or two spiked with some FourBarrel espresso, oven-baked oatmeal w/ maple syrup, house-made granola w/ yogurt, cornbread w/ crumble top, and maybe just maybe we'll have some afternoon *P*I*E* for ya. only time will tell now won't it.

really cannot wait y'all, so pumped to share this with all of you.

loves yas

<3 j

are you that special someone?

listen up kiddos - we are gonna open this frikkin bakery in a few weeks, and i am looking for that special someone to round out the JBB team. specifically, i'm looking for a part-time baker (20-25 hrs/week) to help out with the pastries for the cafe. are you that special someone???

only one way to find out... you just might be a good fit if:

• making freshly milled cornbread & oven-baked oatmeal makes you smile like a fool, and bonus if you're obsessed with cookies
• you're a "morning person" and can handle getting to work before most people have woken up - shift will start at 5am, 3 days/week
• you've got experience working in a bakery/went to school to learn the ropes of working in a bakery
• if this has got all you pumped up, prancing around your house saying, "holy crap, holy crap, that's me! i wanna be on team JBB!!!"

so quit prancing around and reach out - send an e-mail with resume to:

jobs@joseybakerbread.com

thanks dudes, talk soon

j

i guess i am an adult now (??)

holy crap, the last few weeks blew my mind:

• i handed in the manuscript for my friggin cookbook!!
• thanksgiving bread was nuts - 500 loaves in 3 days (the most everrr)
• i turned god damn 30

let's unpack each of these just a little bit... but first check out my homeboy Max, getting wayyy down on some toast w/ almond butter:

so rad.

cookbook. i've been working on this with every little bit of free time i've had over the past year. i am most definitely NOT one of those people that can procrastinate and then spend the week before something is due just staying up all night to get it done. no way. instead i have been steadily chipping away on this puppy since i first got the book deal last fall. and by golly, when November 8 rolled around i had 50 recipes, 50,000 words, and a big weight off my chest. we will be photographing the book in the Spring, and it should be out by next Fall. i still can't really believe it, but it is TRUE.

thanksgiving. 500 loaves in 3 days.

first of all - T H A N K   Y O U to all of you wonderful folks that chose to spend your Thanksgiving with me, i was beside myself with joy that so many people wanted my bread. makes me even more pumped for what's to come. but 500 loaves!!! now i know that this is child's play for most "bakeries," but dudes, i ain't most bakeries. silly (or stupid) enough, i had actually planned on doing it all by myself. i woulda been fully effed if i'd stayed the course, so thank the almighty bread gods that my main man Ryan (one of the handsome and talented bakers who will be on the starting JBB crew at The Mill) and main lady Wendy (our ridiculously hard-working and talented head baker) came to the rescue. you're probably all like, "what's the big deal, 500 loaves, stop whining baker boy." i'm not whining, i'm just sharing... we hand mixed it all. so ha! yeah, we hand mixed it all in little tubs and then shaped it into breads and then i baked those suckers. i heard people liked em, and that warms my heart.

i turned 30. these say it all...

oh yeah, The Mill will be open December 30. get ready to party.

<3 josey

2 weeks and counting... til my birthday (OH YEAH AND THANKSGIVING TOO)

yo dudes

it's crazy - two years ago i got a little article written about me in a food newsletter and 30 people showed up at my door on Thanksgiving morning to buy my bread.

i had no idea what i was doing...

well, i'm doing it again this year, but i'm going to be a bit more... professional about the whole thing.

i'm now accepting pre-orders for Thanksgiving bread. you can order to pick up the day before, or the morning of, it's up to you.

what am i baking? i picked the 3 most delicious and Thanksgiving-y breads I could think of:

• seed feast. i mean, what the heck, the frikkin pilgrims and native americans probably ate this bread at the original feast, right? (bread flour, whole wheat flour, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, sourdough culture, sea salt)
• black pepper parmesan. the mighty return of everybody's favorite!! i haven't made this bread for months, but there's no better time than now. what's better than cheese on bread? cheese IN bread. (bread flour, whole wheat flour, parmesan, black pepper, sourdough culture, sea salt)
• whole wheat cranberry walnut. i actually haven't made this bread since Thanksgiving 2010. i hope i can remember how it goes... jk sucka, this bread will blow your g-d mind. (whole wheat flour, bread flour, walnuts, cranberries, raisins, sourdough culture, sea salt) 

all breads are $6/loaf, available by pre-order only.

what do i think you should do? order for pick up on Thanksgiving morning, and then come hang out with me at The Mill, grab your bread, have a cup of coffee, and be eternally thankful for the miracle of life. then stuff yourself and take a nap.

(and YES, Thanksgiving is actually on my birthday this year - I am turning 30.)

if all this pre-order stuff is too much for you to handle, then worry not! i will also be selling bread at Bi-Rite Market on Tues & Wed the week of Thanksgiving. bread everywhere, so awesome.

smoochies.

<3 josey

from Oakland to Sac-town, the Bay Area and back down (not quite)

great news folks - you can now get your JBB fix all over the frikkin Bay Area!

yup, whether you wanna grab a loaf in SOMA, Oakland, Berkeley, Palo Alto, or Burlingame - IT'S ON. just order here. 

the righteous folks at Good Eggs are making it easier and easier for makers such as myself to get our goods all over the place, so that's just what i'm gonna do. here's what we got:

• Tuesdays – bread available by subscription around the Bay Area, or walk-in sales at FourBarrel Coffee @ 4pm
• Wednesday – bread available by subscription at The Mill (736 Divisadero) only, 7am-2pm
• Saturday – bread available at The Mill (736 Divisadero), by subscription or walk-in sales, 8am-3pm

for the time being i just make a different type of bread each day. you can suggest a type if you like, but i don’t take orders for specific types. soon my sweeties, you will have the pick of the litter, i promise.

so quit your lolly gaggin' and start your toastin.

<3 josey

some straight up middle of the night $hit

awww mannn, would you please just get a load of this: what the heck are those???

don't get all worked up now. if you want to eat these gorgeous little fellas, you're gonna have to talk with this guy:

lucky for you, he's about the nicest dude in the whole world.

who is he? his name is greg, and he is the one and only man behind Neighbor, a radical bakery here in this gorgeous little city by the bay.

greg does his thing in the dogpatch, and he does it while you are asleep. at least, he does it while *i* am usually asleep, til i said "enough of this whole greg-only-bakes-when-i'm-asleep-thing! i am going to visit that man!" so visit him i did. and i saw lots of stuff like this:

are you kidding me??? that's like a god damn snow kissed morning on a mountain top! (actually, it's more like a pistachio & blackberry jam croissant.)

greg does it all himself, 7 days a week. the dude is a horse. a very sweet, knowledgable, generous horse. get a load of his blueberry sunflower muffin, just staring at you, taunting you, begging you to take a bite:

so he bakes up all these scrumptious goodies in the dark of night (while listening to fela kuti), and then delivers them to cafes around the city, such as FourBarrel (have you ever heard of these guys? i've got a little crush on them), Sightglass, Cafe Sophie, and Elite Audio Coffee Bar.

the dude's got skills, and he ain't afraid to let em shine. in fact, some people say his croissants are the best in the whole frikkin city. do you agree?

quit scratchin your chin and get your a$$ down to FourBarrel and decide for yourself. and tell em Josey Baker sent ya.

MWAH

<3 josey

it's gettin hot in here

i am gettin

too hot

i wanna take my clothes offfffff

but that was then. (last weekend awesome yuba trip w my sweet lady cathy)

THIS IS NOW:

YES! THE OVEN IS ALIVE! HOLY CRAP!!!

truth is that i can't really use the thing just yet, as The Mill is still undergoing its totally awesome transformation. (that being said, i might have made this, just as a test, only as a test:)

even so, the fact that i gotta be good and patient to actually start using that monster oven is not gonna stop me from PEEING MY PANTS I'M SO PUMPED.

while i am doing that, my main dogs Elicia & Tim have been seriously holding down the fort at The Mill, making sure the coffee gets brewed and the toast gets toasted proper. next time you're in there give them an extra special high-five, would ya?

and Roman and his boys Eugene, Benny & others, have been cranking on the space - look at it!

its come a looooooooong way:

can't wait to see what it looks like 6 months from now.

we had a little bread hiatus for the past 2 weeks, but now we're back on track, so i'll be seeing some of ya real soon.

kisses honey pies

<3 josey

a month is too long, baker boy

i mean, come on now - a month since we last spoke?!? oh come on, cut me some slack, i've been riding around with this thing a whole bunch:

i mean, i can understand a week, totally.

don't be mad, here, eat this:

two weeks, okay, i'm not psyched, but i understand.

but look, i made this, just for you!

three weeks, now you're pushing it baker boy.

what about if i gave you this??

a whole month?!? you're a real a-hole.

speaking of a-holes, some guy double parked and almost got me towed so i left this note on his windshield:

OK, enough drama, we're here now together, so let's stop dwelling on the past, and focus on the present, and the future... the future!!! SO PUMPED FOR THE FUTURE. like Marty McFly style, frikkin hoverboards everywhere, jammin' Johnny B. Goode on the stage like whoa, just gettin straight jacked out on the future. feel me? i know you do. this dude does, too:

ok, ok, i'm over the month thing, but why are you being so weird, rambling about how "jacked out" you are on the future, and making references to Back to The Future movies??

cuz in the future we do triple backflips off the tips of unicorn horns, that's why sucka.

uhhhhh, what? what the hell are you talking about?

what i am talking about is that every day The Mill gets closer and closer and closer to being real and done and open, and that has me rambling like a weirdo. see, look at the inside of The Mill, we have walls!!

over the past month i've been baking bread in my hero Dave Miller's bakery out in Chico, and that has been unbelievably awesome. that chapter has come to a close, but i'm pumped to see what the next one will hold. the super generous and talented folks over at NOPA have been kind enough to let me bake bread outta their kitchen a couple nights a week, and for this i am also eternally grateful. and just today i spoke with Brian of Little Star Pizza, right up the street, about using his kitchen for some bread baking adventures. you people are so generous! it makes me crazy with gratitude! FREE BREAD FOR EVERYONE!!!

uhhh, hold on, i take that last one back. but everything else is true. thank you thank you THANK YOU.

so in the mean time i'm baking all sorts of new goodies which we'll have once The Mill is fully open. so pumped on these, but it's too early to talk about.

like what, like what, LIKE WHAT?!?

good things take time my pretties, let's not rush ourselves.

soon!

<3 josey

don't be an a-hole - Tuesday afternoon JBB @ 4B

holy moly, you kids were completely awwwesome on Tuesday - 100 loaves were gone in 15 minutes. dudes - 15 minutes! some quick and dirty arithmetic yields the staggering statistic of one loaf every 9 seconds. i had no idea it was gonna be like that! i mean, there was a line! a line! for my bread!!! it totally made my day. so THANK YOU.

but hey, giving away bread is easy, right? i mean, who doesn't like free bread? (total a-holes, that's who.)

but let's keep this thing going, because i think it's the start of something very special...

so could you do me a favor? don't be an a-hole - come get bread Tuesdays at FourBarrel, at 4pm. i'll be there, ready to fulfill all of your bready fantasies, for just $5 a pop. (well, maybe not ALL of your bready fantasies, but definitely MOST of them... you perv.) and if last week is any indication, come as soon as you can, because it deeply pains me to not have a loaf for someone who wants one.

because everyone deserves to be loafed.

see ya Tuesday honey pies

<3 josey

one hundred loaf give away (NO JK)

hear this all you SF people: i'm giving away 100 loaves of bread this coming Tuesday 8/28 at FourBarrel Coffee on Valencia, starting at 4pm.

no selling, all free, no shit.

why in the heck are you going to do that you zany Baker boy?!?

cuz i'm so damn pumped about the bread i'm baking, and giving away stuff is rad, and i wanna get you kids hooked on my goods. starting the following week, bread'll be for sale there every Tuesday afternoon for $5 a pop. so get it while it's free, then get it when it's five.

where in the heck is all this bread coming from? my bread hero Dave Miller has continued in his unerring awesomeness, and is letting me bake bread out of his bakery way out in Chico. it's been unbelievably wonderful, and now it's time to share the wonder with all of you.

wait just a cotton picking second here Baker boy, what's the big deal, you bake bread all the time? what's so special about this bread?

uhhhhh, yeah, i do bake all the time, but hear this - Dave's got the SAME oven that i'm going to have at The Mill, the SAME mill i'm going to have at The Mill, and so i'm just going bonkers cuz these are just the right tools for the job. and it's like the age-old adage goes: you can't build a house without a hammer. (i just made that up.)

i'll have a few different types of bread on hand, but i'm gonna keep it a surprise, cuz that's more exciting. right??? RIGHT.

so don't dilly dally - come get a free loaf of bread this Tuesday, give me a high five, and then have a dinner party and look like this:

and tell em Josey Baker sent ya.

love you kiddos

<3 josey

practice makes perfect

my goodness gracious, i've been learning lots of things lately... like how to ride my bike with 175 pounds of bread in tow:

and how much bread dough can look like butts:

and how strong Ryan Goodrow is:

aside from all that, mostly i've been learning how tricky it can be to run a bread bakery business when you don't have employees, nor a bakery.

wait a second, hold on baker boy, what do you mean you're "learning" that? that's what you've been doing the whole time, haven't you?? what's the big whoop??

well, if you must know, the big whoop is that i've started up my bread subscription program once again, and as you can guess, i need myself a place to bake all this bread. so where have i been doing it? over at that there La Victoria Bakery on 24th St in the Mission. i've been baking bread the best i can, but it's been good and hard. i've been using that bread for toast outta The Mill, but the ridiculously generous people over at NOPA have also welcomed me into the neighborhood, and i've been doing a little bread baking there as well... speaking of which - have you been to NOPA lately? it's crazy. crazy delicious, and crazy busy - ALL THE TIME. go, and be ready to party.

but speaking of bread, please keep your eyes peeled - within the next few weeks i'm going to start doing a weekly bake out at my bread idol's spot, Miller's Bakehouse, and i do expect those breads to be on another level. veeery pumped about that, but trying to not get my hopes up too high too soon. expect a sneak peak of some freshly milled whole grain loaves, the type of stuff we'll be pumping outta The Mill.

and speaking of The Mill - we're continuing to chip away at it! expect that puppy to start rip roaring in a couple months. in the mean time, come say hey. i'm there for sure all weekend (8am-3pm), but our superstars Elicia & Tim are there Wed-Fri 7am-2pm as well, serving straight up FBC and JBB. we'll treat you real good, i promise. i mean, look how much fun these cats are having:

loves yas

j bear

let them eat toast

yo kiddos! good to see you! where the heck have you been?? where the heck HAVE I BEEN? NO, where the heck have YOU been josey baker?!?

i went home to Vermont to visit my sweet sweet family, one last time before i open up this here bakery. i had a phenomenal time doing stuff like this (those are my new red shorts):

and i visited some of my baker heros like Blaire and Andrew at Elmore Mountain Bread, and Adam and folks at Bread & Butter Farm, and Randy & David at Red Hen. all these cats know how to make a mean loaf, and i absolutely love it when i get the chance to hang with em all.

but guess what! awesome and exciting news! TOAST STARTS THIS WEEK! 

the details: come get your toast on with me and everyone else, in our rad lil tent at The Mill, 736 Divisadero. we be slangin mad toast Wed-Fri 7am-2pm, Sat & Sun 8am-3pm, closed Mon & Tue.

what else has been going on? a lot. installing this 20,000 lb oven from Italy is proving to be more difficult than anticipated, but it's gonna get done next week. we just gotta figure out what to do with these things...

a few weeks ago i hung out up in Ukiah with the likes of Mr. John LeBoyteaux and this fellow here, Mr. Doug Mosel:

we talked about getting me some California wheat for the bakery. in the mean time, i used some of Doug's freshly milled flour to make this:

and get this - the mill is scheduled to arrive Monday! holy crap!!!

(that's not MY mill, it's Doug's, but mine is very similar to that one)

that's all for now buddies. hope to see some of you soon for some coffee and toast!

<3 josey

wanna help me write a cookbook???

hey hey bakers so get this: I’M WRITING A COOKBOOK!

{click here to be a recipe tester}

i know, i know, i can’t believe it either. i mean, if i hadn’t known that i was writing a cookbook for the past while now, i would probably be gasping for air, my eyes all wide and crazy excited, saying things like, “ARE YOU FRIGGING KIDDING ME????? A COOKBOOK???? YYAAAAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!”

but no way, now i’m cool as a cucumber, just sitting here writing myself a cookbook.

i know what some of you are thinking… wait a second here bozo, are you writing a cookbook, like you are just farting around in TextEdit, trying to occupy yourself because you are in between bakeries right now? or are you WRITING A COOKBOOK, like you have a deal with a publisher who is going to actually make a real live book with you???

the latter, dudes. the hip cats over at Chronicle Books and i are gonna knock your baking mitts off. it’s going to be a bread cookbook, and i am going to make it real nice, just for you.

but i’m also freaking out, cuz i don’t know what i’m doing.

and here is where you come in my friends – i want you to be a part of it. so this is a call for recipe testers. i am looking for just a few fine folks who wanna test out some of the ideas i’ve been scribbling, in order to help me make the book better for everyone. i know how to bake this stuff, but i want your help in figuring out if i've done a good job explaining to YOU how to bake this stuff.

wanna be a part of it? go here and fill that puppy out and i’ll get in touch.

kissies

<3 josey