the parties rage on in East + West: Nopa on 5/26 - Penrose on 6/6

what up my sweet + beautiful friends!!

great news - we got a couple more book release parties coming up in the next few weeks - one in San Francisco, one in Oakland. these are gonna be a freakin blast, can't wait to hang with all y'all. i mean, who doesn't like to eat delicious food and drink delicious drink and just generally celebrate life and be merry... and end the night with a hot off the presses copy of my new cookbook in your hands?!?!?

i'll tell you who doesn't like to do that: a-holes. and ya know what - NO A HOLES ALLOWED at these parties.

Nopa - Monday 5/26, 5-6pm - happy hour w/ *free* savory toast bites

one of my favorite places to eat in SF, hell, one of many, many people's favorite places to eat in SF, is Nopa. if you've been here then you know exactly what i mean. and if you haven't been here, now's your chance. they started using our bread on the daily a couple months after we opened, and i am so so so happy about it. they're going to be whipping up some special savory toast bites that we'll be serving *on the house,* so come through and have a munch, get yourself a cocktail, buy a book for your dad, and celebrate Memorial Day in style.

and if SF is not your side of the bay, don't you worry your pretty little self, i got you covered -

Penrose - Friday 6/6, all night long - a whole menu of dishes made with JBB bread + our whole grain flours

have you been to Penrose??? holy moly, you're going to freak out. Mr. Charlie Hallowell + team have outdone themselves, goodness gracious. i met Charlie back in the fall of 2010, just a few months after i started baking, and we really hit it off... within a week we were having sleepovers, prancing about in our (matching) undies and baking bread together early in the morning out of his wood fired oven at Pizzaiolo. and look at us now - he just opened his third ridiculously delicious restaurant, and i'm blabbing about this book i just wrote. supremely stoked about this evening, it's sure to be very fun and very delicious.

please note - while it's great if you wanna come to these to a buy a book, you are also more than welcome to just come and party with us, and leave book-free. we just like having fun, and we want you to do it with us. (and by 'it' i mean 'have fun,' you little perv.) 

catch ya soon lovelies

<3 j

dear portland, have breakfast w me tmrw...?

tomorrow, Saturday May 3 @ 11AM at The Cleaners at Ace Hotel

let me buy you breakfast - free JBB granola + biscotti + coffee

i'll show some embarassing photos + blab about my book + then maybe you will buy one for yourself + your mom

me: goodness gracious, i'm kinda overwhelmed.

portland: oh really? i couldn't tell... what's up?

me: i mean, i know that we just met, that this is our first date, but it's just, you're so... i don't know... you're so... sweet.

portland: oh stop it, you're rad too. and come on, i'm not perfect you know.

me: i'm sure, nowhere is, but everything i've seen so far has just been so... nice.

portland: well that's sweet of you... you're pretty nice yourself.

me: all of your streets are so serene, and you've got that wonderful river right in the middle, and the food, and the coffee, and the cocktails, and all the pretty people...

portland: well, you do have a point, i've got very good versions of all of those things.

me: i just rode my bike all over you today, and at every frikkin turn i was met with such rad stuff. i mean, you even inspired me to buy new shoes!

portland: well aren't those cute!!

me: anyway, i have something i've been wanting to ask you...

portland: and what's that?

me: ummmm, well, i was thinking that maybe we could, i don't know, ya know, ummmm...

portland: yes......?

me: oh no, i can't ask, now i'm embarassed.

portland: oh come on! don't be a weenie, just ask me! would it help if i told you that i had a really nice day with you, and that i think that you're a very cute young man...?

me: <blushes> ...wanna have breakfast together?

portland: ...i thought you'd never ask.

hope to see some of you sweet portland folk tomorrow morning.

<3 j

hittin the road - Seattle + Portland here i come!

come out + say yo

• Wednesday, 4/30, 6:30pm - Book Larder, Seattle

• Thursday, 5/1, 7pm - Powell's Books Beaverton

• Saturday, 5/3, 11am - The Ace Hotel/The Cleaners, Portland

• Sunday, 5/4, 3pm - Omnivore Books, San Francisco

yo dogs

so so so very stoked to hit the road and share the loaves... still can't really believe it, but that's not gonna stop me.

next Tuesday i am flying up to Seattle to hang with the dudes who make photos like this:

and this:

crazy right? they're full of magic tricks. stay tuned.

after that i'm supremely stoked to say that i'll head up to The Bread Lab up at Washington State University to hang with Mr. Stephen Jones & crew and geek out about grains and baking and what have you. then an evening at Book Larder. see you there?

then a hop skip & jump down to Portland, a place i've only been to once, but am hearing from everyone how much i am going to love. will prob spend most of my time doing this:

very stoked to spend a few days here, will start out at Powell's Books Beaverton Thursday eve, and end up at The Ace Hotel for a Saturday morning presentation & book signing. i'm gonna bring some granola from the bakery, so swing through and have breakfast with me.

ok - i've gotta ride my bike to the Presidio Branch of the SF Public Library right now, have an event to do! hope to catch ya at one of these events sweethearts.

<3 j

tomorrow night (4/22) dinner @ State Bird Provisions

the stars align this Tuesday night my friends!! for one night only these two beautiful and supremely talented folks are hosting a book release + bake sale complete with a whole bunch of special dishes that they've dreamt up using our bread and stone ground whole grains: say hello to Nicole & Stuart, the totally badass couple behind State Bird Provisions.

tomorrow night they've done away with reservations and will fill our mouths and bellies with some of the most incredible food this fine world's ever known. just spoke with Stuart, they'll be cooking up some JBB griddle cakes, State Bird style... I CANNOT WAIT.

i'll be there all night long with a pile of my books, fresh baked bread, and a whole bunch of stone ground whole grains for you to take home. come hungry, leave happy.

hope to see ya there sweetie pies

<3 josey

in a week...

party starts at 6pm at The Mill my dogs, hope to see ya. and don't forget we got pizza tonight too! tonight's pie: garlicky kale.

<3 josey

book parties across the country + pizza party on

holy crap, so much to share! so much to get stoked about! so many backflips to do! don't worry, i know you're squeezing in reading this while your boss is "in a meeting" and you're supposed to be "compiling that data," so i will keep it brief -

1. i'm hitting the road to pump up my book
2. pizza parties are on full steam ahead

alright, first things first, let's tackle #1, which i still am having a hard time believing -

my book is coming out in less than 2 weeks. will someone please pinch me.

you: hah, sure i'll pinch you, i've been wanting to do that for a while now... <p*i*n*c*h>

me: OWE STOP THAT.

we'll be celebrating the release in many ways, most notably with a totally rad evening in collaboration with State Bird Provisions.

you: but baker boy, i don't live in SF and i wanna hang out and get a book and what have you and what not, what the heck am i supposed to do???

me: i got your back, i'm headed out on the road to spread the good word:

• April 29, 30: Seattle
  • Book Larder, 4/30  6:30pm
• May 1-3: Portland/Beaverton
  • Powell's Books in Beaverton, 5/1  7pm
  • The Ace Hotel/The Cleaners, 5/3  11am-1pm
• June 12: New York
  • Marlow & Sons, dinner
• June 17: Boston
• June 19: Vermont
• sometime soon: LA

mark your calendars, details to come.

as for all you Bay Area peeps, here's a bunch of events we got planned:

• 4/14: The Mill, 6-9pm
• 4/22: State Bird Provisions, 5:30-10pm, walk in only, no reservations!
• 4/24: SF Public Library, Main Branch, 6pm
• 4/26: SF Public Library, Presidio Branch, 2pm
• 5/4: Omnivore Books, 3pm
• 5/29: Nopa, 5-6pm happy hour party
• 6/6: Penrose, 5:30-11pm
• 6/8: SF Cooking School, 11am-1pm

and for #2 -

many folks have said this -

you: hey, these Monday Night Pizza parties are supremely rad, i'm bummed that they're only for the month of March... 

me: be bummed no more my friends, Monday Night Pizza is continuing on forever!!!

yup, now you know where to find us on Monday night in perpetuity, scarfing slices of pizza and doing silly dances. we are working on an online pre-order system so that you can place your order beforehand and just come pick up your pie, hold tight.

and to tie everything together, check this out - we'll be having a book launch party at The Mill in 2 weeks, on Monday April 14, where you can buy a copy of the book, eat as much pizza as your heart desires, and toast life. then you can do stuff like this whenever you want:

and yes, that is a bread bra. Colleen is a badass.

check ya soon sweeties

<3 j

a book release + bake sale

i seriously cannot believe what i'm about to tell you, so please, slap me if i start to faint...

a book release & bake sale

brought to you by josey baker bread & state bird provisions

i’m teaming up with the folks from State Bird Provisions for a very special one-night-only event –Tuesday, April 22 - in which we celebrate the release of my cookbook, Josey Baker Bread (sneak peak below!!!). i've been working on this book for the last 2 1/2 years, and i could not be more pumped to release it out into the world. it's a beginner's bread baking cookbook, the book that i wish i had when i first fell in love with baking just a few years ago.

and don't you worry, it's got plenty of recipes and techniques for you experienced bakers as well.

as for this very special evening, i know what y’all are thinking, “but State Bird takes reservations 60 days in advance, and they always fill up immediately… why are you even telling me about this if i can’t even go???” don’t worry dudes, we got your back – there will be no reservations on this night, it’s walk-in only. 

Stuart & Nicole and the rest of the State Bird crew are going to be dreaming up some special dishes just for this evening, in which they use stone ground whole grains from The Mill, and of course plenty of our bread (which they use in their menu everyday). and that's not it - we'll have plenty of loaves of bread for sale as well, so you can fill yourself up with delicious dinner, take home a loaf for tomorrow's toast, and get to work on your baking from then on out.

sound like a good time?

you can bet your ass that i’ll be there, selling and signing copies of the book, with a pile of bread loaves for sale, eating more than I should, expressing extreme gratitude for what a wonder-full world it is.

that is all, hope to see you there.

<3 j

**josey baker bread book sneak peak**

so many folks have been writing to me saying something along the lines of this -

you: hey baker!!! yes you! gimme a copy of your book, i wanna get it before it's out and take a good hard look and maybe even review it.

me: ummm, i'm not sure i can do that, the book's not out yet, i can't just go around giving everyone a copy who asks for one, ya know? but i've got an idea - just order the book now, and it'll get to you as soon as possible!

you: but i want it NOW!! come ooooooooooon i want a sneak peak of that sucker. 

me: hmm, okay, here ya go...

me: hah hah, no way!! but nick & kyle can take a look at it. aren't they so cute? i gave them a copy to look at, and next thing you know they were doing stuff like this.

you: oh come on, don't be such a jerk, i want that book NOW.

me: ya know what my ol' buddy Mick used to always say?? i can't give you what you want, but i will most definitely give you what you need, so long as you are willing to try. sometimes.

how was that for a sneak peak?

wait, what's that? ohhhh, you wanted to see INSIDE the book??!? well, quit lollygaggin' and order your copy!

<3 josey

how to love your loaf

i've been having a lot of folks ask about how to care for their loaves, so here i am to tell you what i like to do to take care of mine.

but lets be clear here my dudes - i'm not the boss of you, nor am i any sort of all knowing bread authority, so please do whatever makes you feel the most special. because you are the most special. and you deserve to feel like it.

and your loaf is also very special, so start off by telling your loaf that it looks good today, that you notice that it's doing something a little different with it's crust, and you think it's sexy. your loaf may not act like it appreciates it, but trust me, it does.

next up - as much as you want to eat our bread when it's still hot from the oven, patience is a virtue and it's best to let it cool. i know, i know, I KNOW, i'm such a party pooper, but hear me out. our breads all have a lot of whole grains in them (most of them are actually ALL whole grain), and whole grain bread is not done baking until it is cool. in fact, rye bread really needs to sit overnight, some people would even say it should sit for a couple of days before it's ready to be devoured by you beautiful people. luckily we bake the rye bread in the evening so that it is ready for the eating in the morning. but just take it easy on the other breads, they're hot outta the oven every morning, and they like to chiiiiiiiill before partying with you.

whatever baker boy, i'ma eat my bread hot, and you can just shut your piehole!! you're not the boss of me!!!

be my guest.

... this bread is a little weird, it's kind of... gooey... WTF??!?!?

told you.

ok, now that you've let your loaf cool down, just eat the whole thing. the end.

no, for real though, once i've let my loaf cool, i like to heat that sucker back up! this way the bread's fully baked, AND it's warm and delicious. i usually do this in a toaster, but you should do yours with a flame thrower or something else just as awesome. short of a flame thrower or toaster, a very wonderful way to eat your slice of bread is to fry it sunny side up style in a skillet with a bunch of butter. very very VERY good.

***as a small aside - we like our breads to be nice and moist on the inside, nice and crunchy on the outside. but for some people, our bread is actually too moist. and to these fine folks i apologize and say that there's plenty of bread in this world that is less moist and perhaps will achieve a higher score on your perfect-bread-moisture scale.

back to how to love your loaf!! once my loaf has cooled and it's eating time, i just cut myself a slice or four and leave my loaf cut side down on my cutting board, slicing away additional slices as needed. by leaving it cut side down, you are protecting the vulnerable insides from getting all dried out, while the crust maintains it's integrity. it should be fine for several days, just like this.

but let's also respect that loaf and it's needs and desires. i mean, sometimes a loaf doesn't want to get sliced, and that is FINE. you should only toast up a slice when it's ready for it. anything else would be disrespectful, and we ain't in to disrespectin' no bread, ya feel me?

some things that i typically DO NOT do with my bread:

• put it in a plastic bag
• put it in the refrigerator
• let it sit on my counter WITHOUT the cut side down
• eat it while still hot from the oven (i do make exceptions for our black pepper parmesan bread, but shhh don't tell anybody)

i have been known to take a loaf and cut it into slices and then wrap the whole thing in plastic and put it in a freezer so that it can be enjoyed one slice at a time over several months. this is what i sometimes do for my parents when i go home to visit them and find myself baking a few loaves that i want them to be able to eat once i've up and gone back to california.

i hope that helps and answers some folks' questions about how to best love their loaves. feel free to chime in below with any more tips you have for your fellow bread lovers out there.

and remember, even if you don't love your loaf, it will always love you.

<3 josey

don't worry, you're invited

ever heard about a party after the fact and thought to yourself, “sheesh, i really wish those jerks had invited me, that sounded like SO MUCH fun, and i really am very bummed that i did not get to attend… maybe they don’t like me as much as i thought they did…” yup, we’ve all felt that way. but check this out - this Saturday February 22 from 6-9pm we are having a big frikkin party at The Mill, and YOU are invited! we’ve teamed up with the rad rad rad folks from Nopa (the restaurant) who are working on a new project – Nopalize – and to celebrate the launch we’re throwing a shindig, complete w some ridiculously delicious sausages from the talented (and gorgeous) Mr. David Golovin. there will be some very delicious drinks for the drinking, and there will even be a debut screening of a film made by the oh so gifted folks over at Werehaus about some jerk who works in the neighborhood. (it’s about me!!) so if’n you’re free please do come by for some dinner, drinks, and movie watching, i’m very excited about all of it.

aaand, in other very good news, i have this to share with you -

this time it’s for real my dudes – starting in March we’re gonna be slangin pizza every Monday night 6-9pm @ The Mill. that’s right, Monday Night Pizza is here.

and don’t you worry, all you folks that wanna just grab that pizza and then eat it at home in front of the entire season 2 of House of Cards (or Monday Night Football/Wrestling/Whatever), we will have both slices ($2.50) and whole pies ($20) to go. we’ll change it up every week, here’s where we’re at for now, since i know y’all like to know what we got going on:

3/3: roasted garlic + chicories

a very special night - art opening for Lana Williams’ very rad art that is currently gracing our big white walls!!!

3/10: peppers + onions

3/17: shrooms + gras (cremini + asparagus)

3/24: spicy broccoli

3/31: leek + potato

that is all my friends, check ya soon i hope.

<3 josey

we're turning 1 + we're partying

Sat Feb 8th 6-10pm @ The Mill, 736 Divisadero

very very very hard to believe, but it's almost been a whole frikkin year since we opened, and i'll be damned if we're not gonna throw ourselves a hell of a birthday shindig.

thank you a zillion times over to all you who have helped and supported and loved us up so good along the way, we'd be lost without you.

so come on out and eat some pizza and drink some drink and listen to some sweet tunes and have yourselves a ball with us.

<3 josey

an unexpected rant

well, the holidays have come and gone, and by golly, looks like we're a good 3 weeks into 2014 already... holy crap! did you make any resolutions? i sure did - for 2014 i am finally going to stop eating so much bread. YEAH RIGHT I WILL NEVER DO THAT NOT EVER EVER EVER DON'T EVEN JOKE ABOUT THAT

but for real, i'm all in favor of January 1 being the motivation for folks to make changes to their lives that they've been wanting to make for a while and have needed that extra push to make it happen. so if you need less bread in your life, then please be my guest. we do make a handful of yummy goodies at The Mill that don't have any wheat in them, so treat yourself to some granola, or a breakfast bar, or very soon we will actually have a peanut butter cookie that's made without any gluten-filled ingredients too! but be warned - if you have a very serious allergy/sensitivity, everything is made in close proximity to wheat, so we cannot guarantee against it making you feel the way wheat/gluten makes you feel.

but while we are on the topic of wheat/bread/gluten, check this out - i have been doing an informal experiment for the last few years, and i would hereby like to publish my results, right frikkin here and now. (wow, i'm getting excited, i didn't know i was going to do this until just now, and now my heart is beating so nice and fast.) so here it is.

i know many people who have sensitivity to wheat/bread/gluten. their symptoms vary from getting queasy, to having rashes, to a very upset tummy. to each of them i have said this - if you wouldn't mind taking the risk, i would love for you to try a loaf of our dark mountain rye bread, and see how it makes you feel. this is what that loaf looks like, in case you were wondering:

obviously this is a big thing for them to do, as they are willfully engaging in behavior that may make them queasy/rashy/farty. so for this i thank them passionately. and i gift them a loaf, a meager expression of the deep gratitude i feel for the risk they're taking. and now you are wondering, oh curious reader, what has happened to them? queasiness for days? rashes covering every inch of their body? farts, farts, and more farts??!? no my friends, every single one of had the same result: nothing. they eat the bread and they don't have any symptoms and they go about their day as per usual. (a little fart here and there is perfectly normal, ok??)

so what the hell, let me be clear - i am NOT saying that our dark mountain rye bread is the silver bullet to our current epidemic of health issues related to wheat/bread/gluten. so don't let me catch any of you going around quoting me as saying such or i will furrow my brow at you and tell you how disappointed i am in your poor listening skills. but what i am saying is this - while many people have had health problems associated with eating bread, i do firmly believe that the vast majority of these problems have their roots in the way that that particular loaf of bread was made. to be specific, mass-produced bread made with mass-produced ingredients is maybe not the sweetest.

but if you take an organically grown grain (be it wheat or rye), mill it into flour while keeping it nice and cool, use that flour to make a loaf of bread in combination with a sourdough culture, properly ferment that sucker, then eat it fresh, i would hazard to guess that it would digest very easily for almost everybody reading this. (mind you, i specifically say *almost* everybody, undoubtedly it will be harmful for some of you, and i am not doubting that for one moment.) yes, it just might not cause you the same problems that you had with that loaf of bread that was wrapped in plastic and sitting on a grocery store shelf for weeks before you bought it. not to mention that it was made in a factory using ingredients that were raised with profitability as the one & only goal, not taste nor nutrition nor goodness for the Earth. so yes, i do think that small batch whole grain sourdough bread is good for you, and mass produced factory white bread is not.

but that's just me, you can do whatever the heck you want.

(phew, that was a bit of a rush, i really wasn't planning on doing that, please forgive me if you were just looking to get your fill of pretty pictures and silly jokes.)

anyhoo, enough of that, let me show you some pretty pictures and tell you some silly jokes.

i spent 2 weeks home in Vermont & New York, and it was so so so nice. first i went to my mama's house, and gave her a X mas gift, which she added to her collection. her collection of what, you ask?? well, maybe just maybe you will want to get it for someone you love so they can add to their collection as well:

AWWW YEAAAHHHHH the book is done!!! it's released April 15, and it is very hard for me to believe, so please pinch me and remind that i did in fact write a book and maybe just maybe people want to buy it. i may even do a little bit of traveling to promote this thing, so keep your eyes peeled cuz i may be coming to a party near you.

after mama checked out the book i made us some pizza:

then a nice hike with papa in the woods where we stumbled upon a sweet old maple sugar shack:

and plenty of other good good things, but come oooooon, i don't wanna bore ya, i'm sure you've got plenty of more valuable things to do with your time than read these here tales any longer... and i've got a mountain bike ride to go on!!

but one more thing, before i forget - The Mill turns 1 year old on February 13! cannot believe a whole year has gone by, but as the old folks say, "time flies when you're having fun." will keep you posted about festivities.

love & kisses & rainbows 4eva

j

it's that time of year again

it's that time of year again folks, and i do have to say, i like it more than i remember. this might be because last year i spent every waking moment in the construction site that was soon to be The Mill, trying to figure out what the hell i was doing, and mixing up the hundreds and hundreds of tiles that now cover our southern wall (and yes, that was me at work in the bathroom too, thank you very much).

yup, last year was the first year that i didn't spend the holidays at home in Vermont with my folks and aunts and uncles and cousins, and i did not like that very much. so i was thinking i'd most definitely head home this year to wake up Christmas morning in my childhood home and maybe even sneak a peak of Santa eating some of the cookies that i left out the night before... but you've gotta be kidding me, i've got frikkin bread to bake, Santa is going to need to wait.

and the truth is, i've got such a ridiculously awesome crew of friends & colleagues here that i am grateful as hell to get the spend the holidays with them. and $hit, it's the holiday season no matter where you are, and that mean's that it's time for all sorts of awesome stuff.

like what, you ask?

time to eat whatever you want for breakfast.

time to borrow super warm comfy clothes from your friends so that you don't freeze your little tushy off even when you're inside.

time to go for long walks in the woods with your beautiful lady and be reminded that one thing is for certain: ladybugs know how to party way harder than any of us humans.

time to remind your family that you love them the most ever.

(and please do me a favor if you could - send my mama some healing vibes if you can muster, she will feel and appreciate them.)

time to get free and let out your true creative genius to discover the next big thing.

time to take off to the woods for a night with your brother and mother nature and spend it staring into a wood burning stove roasting steak on a stick and hobo packing sweet potatoes.

time to be generous with the things you have and let them go even when you really really want to hold on to them.

speaking of which, i wanted to share something i'm proud of - we donate about 75 loaves a week to people in need. it feels good to be doing a small part to continue the tradition of bread being the most basic of sustenance, as i know that our goods are just too expensive for some people. we're doing the best we can.

any hoo - mostly this time of year provides us with a chance to slow down and (look out, i'm going to get a teensy sentimental here, but wtf i never do that, so just shut your whiny face and) be thankful. yup, good god, be frikkin thankful for everything. even the things that are hard and get you all worked up and make you say swear words. and especially the things that you take for granted, the stuff that make your life wonderful and rich and sexy.

because as my good buddy Burl likes to say, "life is full of wonder." oh how right Burl is.

happy holidays sweethearts, i am grateful for all of you.

<3 j

so famous

listen, it's not you, it's me.

oh stop it, i didn't even miss you, i've been soooooo busy with all sorts of super important and interesting stuff. 

oh, well great... but maybe i missed you. did ya ever think of that?

well that is very sweet of you... okay, let's make out!!

that's not what i meant.

anyway - lots of rad stuff my friends!! first, many of you have seen this, i know, but just wanted to say it loud & proud - i'm famous.

oh stop it, i ain't famous!! but i am on a bunch of frikkin bus stops around the city, being a poster child for the rad rad folks at Good Eggs, who are kicking more and more ass by the day. if ya haven't checked em out, i'd suggest that you do.

but on another note - we've been having a blast with Josef Wagner, this very nice fellow baker who is spending November with us at The Mill. we've been working on some collaborative loaves together, and tomorrow we debut our sunflower rye. it's made of whole wheat & rye that we grind at The Mill, as well as a bunch of toasted sunflower seeds and some sprouted rye berries. check it out -

doesn't look too shabby does it?? Josef showed me formulas for a handful of breads that he makes at his bakery back in Bavaria, and i took this one and JJB-ified it.

the milling has been going totally awesome, and we've been getting great feedback from all of y'all about the bread - namely you just buy it all every frikkin day! and don't be fooled - it's not without its challenges. we work as hard as we can every damn day to make the bread better than the last, and it means the world to me that y'all are appreciating it. so - T H A N K Y O U.

but if you're not digging on it, instead of coming in and telling me how much the bread sucks, i have an even better idea, a very nice suggestion of sorts - take some of our flour home and make your own damn bread!

yup, we've gone and done it - we are now selling our stone ground whole grain flour at The Mill. we're not shipping it, nor selling it at any stores, so for the time being if ya wanna give it a try you're just gonna have to come by. we've got red wheat, white wheat and rye for now, and soon oh so soon we'll have corn meal, and country bread blend, and then one day (after i've done some more recipe testing and stuffing of mine face) we'll be offering up gramma's griddle cake mix -

it's shaping up real nice, a blend of wheat, rye, oats, corn meal, flax seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and i can't even tell you what else because i haven't figured it out. but don't you worry - i won't give it to ya unless it's good, real real real good.

Halloween was fun right?? i dressed up like this, what did you do?

our pizza party was crazy fun, thanks to all you crazy jerks who came and partied with us the night after Halloween, you are the wind beneath my wings. Sandy's & Kaisle Krisp crushed, especially that bass player who looked like this -

we'll do another one on Friday, Dec 6, so come hang if you're around and free. and sorry for running out of pizza, we will make more next time, and then you all can eat as much as your sweet hearts desire.

i had so many other nice photos but my iPhone up and died on me, and i lost em all. sorry. :(

loves yas darlings, talk with ya sooooooonly

<3 j

fresh milly 4eva

just a quick note to share my extraordinary excitement - today is the day my dogs, today is the frikkin day.

what do you mean??? today is the day for WHAT??!??

from here on out we shall be milling all of our whole grain flour in house. yup - rye, red wheat, white wheat, corn meal, einkorn, kamut, and what the hell ever else we feel like. as we like to say in the bakery -

FRESH MILLY 4EVA

what's the big deal baker boy, i figured you'd been doing that all along, i mean, the name of the place is The Mill, ya know?

listen jerk, milling your own flour is a big friggin deal, it's a total pain in the a$s, and it's not easy to just start doing it all yourself. we've been building towards this day for many months, and by god, i'll be damned if i'm not gonna toot our horn about it.

whoaaaa there stud, chill yourself right out, ok, i get it, congrats, yadda yadda yadda.

thank you.

no, thank you.

hey, you're pretty cute...

you're not too shabby yourself...

... ok. so it's on dudes. i'll be curious to hear from y'all whatcha think about the bread, if you notice a difference, if you think it sucks, etc. hopefully you'll grab a loaf some time soon and say out loud, "holy crap, i didn't know this bread could get any better, but this is some serious $hit."

oh yeah, thank you to all y'all that came our for rock n roll pizza #1.

it was a smashing success, we ran out of pizza at 8:30, and it's got us all super pumped to do it again on Friday, November 1. not sure what the pizza or tunes will be, you'll just come to come and see for yourself.

peace out loves

<3 j

rock n roll pizza

get ready to party honey babies.

this friday night we's gonna be slangin slices of *P*I*Z*Z*A* and listening to The Beatles allllll night long at The Mill. and by allllll night long, i mean from 6-9pm. we're bakers, remember?

yup, it's the first installment of rock n roll pizza, and it's pretty frikkin simple: we make pizzas the best way we know how to, you come and hang out and eat a few slices (they'll prob be $3.50/slice), and we get all good and vibey to some good ol fashioned rock n roll. we're starting out with a band that only total a-holes don't like: The Beatles. i am very pumped to have my right hand man Rafi helping out with pizza on this fine night, so when you get here please shoot him a wink, maybe even pinch his bum.

and in case you're curious, we got some good news & some bad news on the milling front. what do you want first, the good or the bad?

good, gimme the good news first, cuz news is like food, and i always eat dessert first. 

well i certainly don't agree with that type of approach, i am going to give you the bad news first, because i like to save the most delicious stuff for last. ok - bad news is that we got all our hopes all pumped up about some very nice grain that we were going to be sourcing from a farm not too far from here, and then it all fell through. i was very bummed out about it.

well that sucks baker, i'm sorry to hear that. but i see your point about that whole saving dessert for last... what's the good news??!?

the good news is that you can't stop us, we're masters of turning lemons into lemon bars, and we spoke with our grain guru Nicky Giusto up at Central Milling in Petaluma, and WTF, we bounced right back and are now milling ALL of the wheat for our whole wheat breads!! $HIT YES!!! this wheat is coming from a farm in Washington, grown at the hands of a man named Spud Brown. sorry for continually blabbing about how pumped i am on this, but i just can't overstate how excited it makes me to be at this point in the game. a very special thanks goes to viking baker extraordinaires Wendy and Ryan, who fearlessly took the plunge while i was gallivanting around Chico with this guy:

i spent a couple days last week out in Chico with Dave and it was so so so nice. it was my first trip out to visit him since we opened The Mill, and it was just as refreshing and relaxing as ever. it was also the first time that i'd actually gone to the Chico Farmer's Market with him, to see the breads get handed off to his customers in person. it was pretty crazy - in about 4 hours he sold just under 400 loaves of bread to a steady stream of regulars. and this isn't special, this is just what happens every week. watching the mutual appreciation expressed between him and all his customers was very special for me.

last week me and the whole JBB crew went out to Bolinas for our first overnight retreat. we spent the afternoon on the beach surfing and swimming and drinking micheladas, and then headed back to my good and generous buddy Kacey's home:

the evening was spent bbqing and playing ridiculously entertaining games such as 'spikenpuppen' and 'pomme bomb.' wish i could share images of these in action, but i'll just let your imagination work with this - one of the games involved picking up a crab apple with your butt cheeks. how bout them apples?

on a more professional note, as i am a man interested in mills and milling and all things related, last week i made a trip up to the Bale Grist Mill in St. Helena. what a spectacular glimpse into the past this thing is! i couldn't actually go inside, but i snapped some nice pics, take a looksee:

tomorrow ushers in October, and i am ready for it, i love autumn. hope you're ready for it too my dogs.

hearts & rainbows 4eva,

j

our noses are all up on that grindstone

awwww yeahhhhhhhhh now it's really on.

this week we're gonna start milling about half of the whole wheat we use in the bakery (we're going through a whopping 6,000 lbs of whole wheat per month!!!), and by next week we are going to be milling ALL of our whole wheat flour. by the end of the month we should be offering up said flours for sale at The Mill to all you lovely bakers and soon-to-be-bakers. so get pumped please.

DUDES IT'S ABOUT TO HAPPEN THE MILL IS GOING TO BE THE MILL FOR REAL I CANNOT EVEN STAND IT.

ahem, i can, and will stand it. and you should too. cuz its gonna be very rad.

we've been talking with a lovely little farm very close to us here in SF, and we should be getting our first delivery of wheat within the next couple of weeks. will tell you all about them once we are stone milling up a storm. and i don't wanna speak too soon, but once we start stone milling all that flour, i think you're going to notice the difference in the bread. but you don't have to take my word for it - come get a loaf and let me know what you think.

while i am getting all excited and writing in ALL CAPS, i should let you know about a very sweet exchange that we're gonna do at The Mill in a couple of months... we're going to host a baker from Germany, Bavaria to be exact. i've been speaking with the folks at the German Consulate about this for weeks, but i just spoke with Mr. Josef Wagner himself the other day. we got along swimmingly, and i invited him to come along and spend November with us at The Mill. it's going to be awesome - we'll teach him how we do things at JBB, and he will teach us how he does things at his bakery back in Bavaria. during that time we will be trying out some new breads and goodies, but don't you worry, i will keep you abreast of all this excitement.

folks have been asking me a lot lately when my book is coming out - soon! i still can't really believe it - i wrote a book! and it's going to be real! like, a real, live, physical book about bread that i wrote!!! i think it's gonna be out in January, but i'll be yelling all about it from every roof top in town, so don't you worry, you'll know.

lastly, i wanted to let you all know that we will not  be baking or delivering any bread on Wednesday, September 25. we will still have toast, and pastries, and coffee, and tea, and sweet sweet vibes at The Mill, just no bread for sale. why, you ask, why why WHY? because i'm taking the whole JBB team on a little retreat, a night up in Bolinas where we shall surf, barbecue, relax in a hot tub, and most definitely NOT bake any bread. since we opened The Mill back on February 13, i've been blown away by how much bread and pastries y'all have been eating up, and we've been working just as hard as we can to make enough. and so now i just can't help but give us all a little time away from the bakery, where we can just have ourselves a nice time. thanks for understanding sweeties.

love you sweethearts, and thanks for all the love letters, they make me feel so nice.

<3 josey

p.s. California river trips make me absolutely bonkers with glee. if you haven't been out there lately, please go soon.

take your clothes off & jump in the river

well dudes, i dare say that things couldn't get any sweeter. why baker boy, why do you have that $hit-eating grin on your face, and you're just oh so happy about stuff???

cuz it's summer time, and summer time is time for doing stuff like this:

sheesh, do you always have to be showing off your butt??? and come on, i mean, that left foot is like, perfectly placed, otherwise this would be totally inappropriate...

don't be a prude, we're all human here.

anyhoo, i'm hanging out on my mom's porch in Vermont, on the tail end of a truly incredible week spent soaking up New England summer, and i am just so gosh darn stoked about it all. cuz check it out - my vacation here is over, and i am PUMPED to be coming back to SF. pumped to come back to work that i love, with people that i love, eating bread that i love. (i also am very lucky to be coming back to the woman that i love, whom i've got locked in... Cathy and i got engaged!).

summer time is the raddest, and we are so spoiled in California (and Vermont too) to have so much incredible wilderness to enjoy. but even for those of you who may not be inclined to "rough it" out to isolated wilderness spots, i have a suggestion for you - just put on that flannel (you know you have at least one that you can get dirty), pack that bag, and go sleep in Golden Gate Park:

for real - my dear buddy Shawn and I did just that. i'd been searching for someone to accompany me on this adventure for weeks, and of course Shawn was crazy/smart/stupid enough to join me. we left from my house and entered GGP, immediately making friends with a fella who had likely spent a few years getting to know the intricacies of the Park. we parted ways, and Shawn and I hiked all the way to the ocean, opting to slumber at Land's End, with Poseidon's whisperings lulling us to sleep.

the next week none other than my bread hero Dave Miller came to visit, and he even spent the morning at the bakery, imparting some of his wisdom directly into a few loaves:

it was a real joy to share The Mill with Dave, as he was a huge inspiration for the whole thing. and now that we've just started milling our own flour, it couldn't have been better timed. thanks again Dave, you are the man.

that was followed by one last day of photography for my book, which, aside from making a loaf of Adventure Bread (our new super seedy and also gluten-free bread) was really just mostly being silly with Mr. Charlie Hallowell, who is one of the most generous and fun-loving guys on Earth. i think this is gonna be the cover shot:

good god, after that i took off on another wilderness trip with my boyfriends Rafi & Marcus, and got lost in the Sierra foothills, diving and soaking in bright emerald pool after bright emerald pool, oohing and ahhing at scampering baby brown bears, realizing our life goal that wherever you are is the perfect place to be:

it was one of the best wilderness trips ever. we actually were pretty darn sure that we were lost for a good part of it. which is a hell of a feeling - like, you're L*O*S*T in the woods, you don't know where to go, you don't know where in the frik you are. turns out we weren't lost, we were exactly where we were supposed to be. (see, that hippie shit comes in handy now don't it?)

a day in SF, then i hopped a plane to VT to chill hard in the homeland. i was ridiculously excited about this, as it was my first time home in a year, since i spent the last 12 months obsessing about the bakery, not really able to think about anything else for more than 4 hours. but i hopped on that plane carefree, because the team at The Mill is just so gosh darn full of skill and dedication and spirit, i knew i could take off for a spell and they'd make that magic happen real nice without me.

over the past year my pops has totally fallen in love with mountain biking, and i was totally floored at how hard he can shred:

after ripping for 2 days with him, i took a day to just drive around these windy backroads without any plans, following my whimsy, sniffing out adventure. i had brunch in Hardwick, visited Mr. Robert Hunt out at Bohemian Bakery in East Calais, then ended up in a big grassy field where i found this man mellowly slicing up his wood-fired rye bread:

who is this righteous looking dude, you wonder? none other than Peter Schumann, the radical badass founder and director of Bread & Puppet Theater. i spent the afternoon in that field watching the theater and then ate that fresh baked rye bread dripping with aioli and drove home with the windows down and a big ol' $hit-eating grin on my face.

oh yeah, and yesterday me and pops went to our favorite woods waterfall, followed by a trip down the Alpine Slide:

Vermont, it's been a real lovely romp, but it's time for me to go back to SF.

til next time ol buddy,

<3 josey

let the milling begin

ok ok ok, i am miiighty pumped about all of the grain milling we are about to do, but first i just gotta tell you about some of the sweet stuff i've seen over the past few weeks...

i mean, is this not the raddest little dude around??!? he is my new best bud.

jk, i wish he was, but he won't return my texts.

and what about that frikkin super moon the other night!!

(photo taken on a 2am wander walk along the coast of bolinas, i saw many things by the light of that moon, let me tell you.) my god man, i'm as much of a moon fan as the next guy, but that thing was really out of control. do you know what a super moon is?? i had no idea til my sweet lady cathy told me about it... it's when a full moon is the closest it can get to the Earth, and so WHAMMO, it's super, AKA the biggest looking moon we will ever know. read here if you got a few to kill.

meanwhile, we've been having a blast in the bakery, making the best bread we know how to, such as this adorable little fella that snuck out into our backyard before i caught him:

i LOVE it when the country bread comes out like this, with a powerful explosion in the oven, as well as a lovely ripple flutter to the slash. this takes finesse for sure, but it overjoys me when it fully transforms like this little beauty did.

speaking of the country bread, i wanted to let y'all know something about this bread about which i am rather pumped (and is a little bit of a secret). most "country bread," or "pain au levain," or "whatever you wanna call it," is a sourdough bread that is mostly white flour, with just a wee bit, say 5-15% whole grain flour (usually wheat and/or rye). our country bread has a naughty little secret - it's a whopping 50% whole grain. did you know that??!? if you didn't, i will take that as a compliment, because most people (except for you radical hippies, which i will address in a few moments) have some poopy stereotypes when it comes to "whole grain bread." you say things like, "wah wah wah, whole grain bread is dense and dry and it's like a brick and i like my bread to be more like cotton candy cuz i'm a wussy pants, wah wah wah." wellllll, we tricked you now didn't we!! YES!!

anywayyy, i like the taste, texture, and keeping qualities of a bread with more whole grain in it, and thus, we've settled on a nice 50/50 flour blend for our country bread, and i do sincerely hope that you like it, and that it won't turn you away if you are one of those whole grain hating cotton candy loving peoples.

another reason i am bringing this up is because it is very significant wrt all the M*I*L*L*I*N*G we're about to start doing. yuuuuuup, we are on the verge of milling all our whole grain flour and i may just need to start wearing a helmet all day everyday cuz i'm just gonna be doing backflips rip roaring about the whole thing.

what i mean is, we'll be able to mill half the flour we use for our country bread (it's half whole wheat, half bread flour [whole wheat flour that has had some of the bran & germ sifted out]), not to mention 100% of the flour we use for our dark mountain rye bread (which is all rye flour + sesame + sunflower + flax + corn meal, yes all organic), and 100% of the flour we use for our whole wheat, such as this little bomb right here:

(special thanks to Ms. Wendy for this spectacular photo)

what else is new? well, i had a really nice morning today hanging with my buddy Heidi, rapping about cookbooks and canadian honey and how to open wooden crates that are nailed shut. it got me all jazzed about my book, which is coming along very nicely, and should be out this winter. i wanna show it to you so bad, but it's not ready yet, so please just be patient and know that i will give you sneak peaks as soon as i can.

oh, and holy crap, i have new teeth! i cannot even tell you how nice it is to have working chompers - they have been severely effed since i fell on my face 2 months ago, but now they're better than ever, just look:

anyhoooooo, i love you! and we are gonna start milling more flour than we know what to do with pretty soon, then it will be all your turn to give it a shot, so please o please stay tuned and don't go fallin in love with any other miller bakers in the mean time, except of course for this guy, for which i would not have a hint of jealousy, only respect and understanding:

butterflies and rainbows and sexy slugs

<3 j

p.s. i have to share two secrets of life i have recently discovered: 1) if you ever have stressful mornings you should try waking up a half hour earlier and spend it quietly and gently stretching and coffee drinking while reading your favorite book (like 'Everything & More by Mr. David Foster Wallace), it improves the quality of life immeasurably, and 2) start your very own GDP - Grateful Dead Pandora station - and realize that it's okay to like things.

wow

it's been a hell of a month. first of all, i have to apologize to all of you for posting that photo of myself where i look completely bruised up and crazy. i was in fact crazy for a spell (which is probably why it seemed like a good idea to post that photo), with all of you incredible folk tethering me to the ground, thank god. i whacked my head real good, and i am sure it would have been a lot tougher had it not been for the love that y'all showered upon me. so again, i just have to say: thanks, it meant the world to me that you were all there for me.

aaaaand onward we go!

we had such a nice little gathering with some buddies to celebrate the fact that we've tamed this crazy beast, opened up The Mill once and for all. it was a pizza party, and i had more fun than i even know how to describe here. after we baked and ate all the pizza we could, we decided to sing some songs, which looked a little bit like this:

this photo was snapped (by Nihal), and was moments before that handsome man i'm embracing decided to give my first experience in man-to-man tongue kissing. (it fit with the song we were singing, ok??)  it wasn't an altogether unenjoyable experience, although not one i will be looking to repeat any time soon.

and if ya wanna know the truth, we're working on getting our ducks in a row so that we can do another pizza party, maybe even make pizza on the regular an evening or two a week. wouldn't that be so frikkin fun??!? i think so too! stay the ef tuned, sweethearts.

and just so noone is confused about anything, my dear brother Jed took this photo above. so if you like it, i can't take credit for it, but i will let him know that you think it's nice.

but i DID take this one! this is in The Mill, in a special spot that gets a beautiful and focused beam of light for only a few moments each day.

and hey i wanted to share some exciting news - for those of you who don't live near The Mill, you can now get my bread at a few different spots around the city, 7 days a week!

• Bi Rite Market 18th St - this was the first store that ever carried my bread (aside from Gravel & Gold, in the good ol days), and i couldn't be more proud to be working with them.
• Bi Rite Market Divis - they're right down the street from The Mill, so i swing by almost everyday to get something delicious on which to munch. you should too.
• Rainbow Grocery - we juuust started delivering to Rainbow about a week ago, and it makes me giggle with glee.

i wanna tell you all about the other folks that we're working with, but i'll save that for the next time.

and OH YEAH - i am looking to hire another person to help out with the JBB party! we need a bread delivery/errand/jack of all trades who can work Friday-Sunday mornings, beginning at 8:30am and ranging from 2-6 hours, depending on the needs of the day, and meets the following criteria:

• clean driving record & CA driver's license
• loves driving around the city with a car full of bread
• is excited to help do unbelievably exciting things, such as stamp and sticker bread bags (lose yourself in it, it's awesome)
• able to lift a buuunch of bread

e-mail jobs@joseybakerbread.com if you're into it.

have a lovely day you sexy thang

<3 josey