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

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) /  by joseybakerbread

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:

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 /  by joseybakerbread

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 /  by joseybakerbread

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 /  by joseybakerbread

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 /  by joseybakerbread

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) /  by joseybakerbread

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 /  by joseybakerbread

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 /  by joseybakerbread

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??? /  by joseybakerbread

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

it's not you, it's me /  by joseybakerbread

it's just that this isn't working out for me right now, and i think we would both be happier if we just went our separate ways. it really doesn't have anything to do with YOU. it's ME.

WAIT WAIT IT'S NOT TRUE - i love you more than anything and i wanna be with you forever!!!

enough drama - this week is the last week of bread for a little while.

why?

cuz i have a bakery to open, and it's going to take up all my time for a wee bit.

Mission Pie crew - i will miss seeing your beautiful bread-loving faces every week, walking in on Wednesday and Thursday to say hi, grab a loaf, and share some love. if you're thinking to yourself, "crap, this means i will never get my JBB anymore, cuz the new bakery which is at 736 Divisadero, between Fulton & Grove, is way far away from me, and while i like the bread, i ain't going all the way up there to get it," you STOP RIGHT THERE. i will be delivering bread to Mission Pie once a week once The Mill is open, and all you gotta do is sign up to get in on the action. we will still be connected, i promise.

CSB crew (bread subscription homies) - THANK YOU for riding the Josey Baker Bread train this far, and don't you worry, this is just a hiatus. you don't have to do anything now, all of your payments will be suspended until i'm back up and running. just hold tight. and don't go falling in love with anybody else now, ya hear?

Bi Rite peoples - i don't get to see you as often as i'd like, but i want you to know that soon oh so soon i will be all up in that market wayyy more often - like 5 days a week, all day long. can you believe that?!? it's a long time coming, but it's right around the corner.

the plan is to open up The Mill in August. i'd be honored if you'd continue to be a part of the breadventure by following along here, or maybe just maybe swinging by 736 Divisadero once we get our teensy tiny coffee cart toast bar up and running, which should be happening any day now. keep your eyes peeled, i will announce it's beginning.

i know some folks are planning on stocking up on bread this week - the freezer stops bread in its tracks. so if that's your kinda thing, be sure to do it this week.

see ya round honey babies,

<3 josey

the end is nigh (at Mission Pie) /  by joseybakerbread

a year and a half ago i wandered into Mission Pie, having heard wonderful things about their pie, the way they ran their business, and their oven. first i met with Krystin, one of the owners. i told her about what i'd been doing - baking bread at home, and selling it directly to people through my Community Supported Bread program. i was wondering if maybe i could start baking my bread at Mission Pie, and distribute it around the city on my bike. she liked the idea of a CSB, but wasn't super keen on the idea of me coming in, baking a bunch of bread, and then taking all of it away. furthermore, it wasn't something she, or her partner Karen, had ever done at Mission Pie, nor were they eager to start - renting time and space to someone who, while being very passionate, didn't have much of an idea about what they were doing.

but a couple weeks later i swung back through with another loaf of bread, and this time sat down with the both of them, and we were able to come up with a nice idea - i could try baking there one day a week, as long as: 1) i brought all of my supplies with me when i showed up, 2) took them away when i was done, and 3) baked a handful of loaves to sell to Mission Pie's walk-in customers.

amazing!!! now i just needed to figure out how to use that oven…

so i just started doing it. i'd bring in all of my stuff in a backpack and some buckets: flour, seeds, proofing baskets, tiny digital scale. this was my only choice as i was still baking at home and at Pizzaiolo on other days, so i had to bring my stuff with me wherever i went.

after a month of this, i asked if i could maybe have a tiny space in the basement to leave some stuff between my bakes. Karen and Krystin kindly obliged, and let me start using a broken refrigerator as my storage unit.

things were going great at one day a week, so i asked if we could bump it up to two days a week. again, Karen and Krystin generously obliged.

and people kept buying the bread! i started out baking 35 or 40 loaves, and this just steadily increased... these days i bake about 130 loaves a day.

back then i was still buying all of my flour myself, driving up to Petaluma and filling up my car with 600 lbs at a time, and storing it in my bedroom. one day i inquired, "maybe i could get my flour delivered right to the bakery." again, they said yes.

and this is the way it went for the next year -

"is it okay to leave my dough in the fridge overnight?"

"can i invite someone else in to help me shape loaves?"

"could i bake a little earlier in the day?"

"would you mind helping me carry this 100-pound rack up the stairs?"

they always said yes.

because of this totally supportive awesomeness, i've grown to the point where i really need my own space.

so on June 14, my time at Mission Pie comes to close. after this there will be a bread hiatus for a wee bit while we finish building out The Mill. so come get some bread at Mission Pie before then, if you're in the mood.

if ya wanna keep getting bread at Mission Pie, i'm actually going to deliver bread there once a week once i'm up and running out of The Mill. just sign up for a subscription here, and i'll bike it right to ya, every week.

so let me just say it loud and clear - THANK YOU MISSION PIE. i would've never been able to do this without your generosity, your wisdom, your full-on radical ways. if there was a Josey Baker Bread Hall of Fame, you would be at the top of it.

catch ya soon sweeties

<3 josey

multi-task this /  by joseybakerbread

loading the bread into the oven is the most intense part. it's the last time you touch the dough. after this - if you haven't effed anything up - it's bread.

it takes every last bit of concentration i can muster. every once in a while i attempt to have a conversation with someone while i'm loading, but it's always short-lived. after a couple of exchanges my voice trails off, and i'm lost in the bread.

if i can dip the edge of my razor into the dough at just the right angle, and drag it across at just the right speed, and just the right depth, the cuts will erupt in the oven, causing what i like to call a violent explosion. the bread has come to life.

to this day, i am flabbergasted every single time this happens.

slashing bread has its function - it makes the loaf beautiful, allows it to fully expand, and also creates delicious textures in the crust. but it also has meaning - long ago it was how families would tell their loaves apart when they all baked together in the community oven.

these days, it's one more way, one last way, that a baker can impart a small piece of themselves into their bread.

<3 josey

The Mill /  by joseybakerbread

at long last we've landed on a name for the new cafe bakery. we've gone through a million different iterations, and a exchanged a million text messages (in many of which i was [inaccurately] positive that i'd struck gold)... are you ready? you wanna know what it is? are you sure???

The Mill.

its awesome, right?? i know! we are pumped.

(logical next question) hmmm, why in the heck are you calling it The Mill? it sounds real good, but why??

BECAUSE I'M GETTING A MILL. TO MAKE FLOUR. 'THE MILL' WILL HAVE A MILL AND WE WILL USE IT TO MAKE FRESHLY MILLED WHOLE GRAIN FLOURS.

this is what the mill will look like:

and these are the dudes in Austria that are going to make it:

i think we're gonna get along realll nice.

i cannot overstate how totally effing excited i am about this.

we'll use said mill to grind our grains and we'll use said grains to make bread. and scones. and coffee cakes. and cookies. and whatever the hell else we feel like.

so there. are you pumped? i hope so, cuz i'm coming for you.

<3 josey

p.s. check out the first slug of the season! found this lil beauty on a glorious bike camp trip adventure that i took last weekend down to half moon bay. it's beautiful, get out!!!

 

 

 

my trip to meet the baker /  by joseybakerbread

i just got back from a rad breadventure up in Sonoma. snuck in about 2 hours of sleep for the night, but it was well worth it. i'd heard tales of a righteous baker man who baked delicious bread in a wood-fired oven with a bunch of whole grains... in a shipping container that he converted into a bakery.

i decided it was high time i meet the man they call "de bejkr," so i dropped him an e-mail, and asked if i could come hang. no questions there, he was super gracious, and invited me to come right on up. fast forward to last night about 10pm, i'm hopped up on the PizzaHacker's wares, powering through a headache, and rippin through a thunderstorm heading north, arriving just in time to see him mixing up his first batch of dough:

no mechanical mixer in this bakery, just a burly pair of man hands and some strong ideals.

Mike has worked in bread for upwards of 16 years, and i have the sense that he's really found his stride. he works for himself, making the types of bread he wants to make, the way he wants to make them. at this time of year he bakes once a week and sells at the Sonoma Farmer's Market, doing everything himself, mixing everything by hand, baking it all in his woodfired oven:

he bakes a handful of different breads (kracked kamut, pain de campagne, ryebatta, pain biologique, baguettes, to name a few he had today), as well as wood fired pretzels, which he bakes up right at the market. when he does the evening market he also does flatbreads with herbs and veggies from his garden. i'm sure they're just as killer as the stuff i tried.

one of his favorite flourishes is to rock a flour stencil on top of the loaf, which is mighty sexy, if i do say so myself:

if you're up that way on a Friday morning, swing through the Sonoma Farmer's Market, grab a loaf, and tell him Josey Baker sent you.

peace sweethearts, have a great weekend

<3 josey

help help i am trapped in a bread bin! /  by joseybakerbread

ahhhhh this bread bin fell on top of my head and i can't get out!!!

how can i bake bread for you if i am stuck in the frikkin bread bin?!?

maybe i can push my way out with my face!!

no, i've got it, i will lick my way out!!!

have a wonderful weekend.

<3 josey

p.s. don't worry, this bread bin was thoroughly washed after this photoshoot.

p.p.s where did i do this? at Google! i do a bread subscription there for employees, and i get to ride over on my bike, and i am jazzed like a muhfuh.

i heart bakers /  by joseybakerbread

holy god, i just took a trip out to Chico to hang with the raddest dude, my main man Dave Miller. i visited him back in November, and i had such an amazing time that i decided it was time for another hang.

i don't mean to get all lovey dovey on you, but i just think this guy is the coolest.

he lives out on a nice big plot of land with not a neighbor to be seen, has some goats and llamas, and he just does his thing. what is his thing? freshly milled whole grain bread, baked in a wood fired oven, in a bakery attached to his house. he sells all the bread at a farmer's market, once a week.

are you kidding me???

nope. no kids here. just bakers. badass motherfrikkin bakers.

so if he made awesome bread from locally grown, freshly milled flour, that would be enough for me. super rad maverick style, hell yes. (see my previous post on this fella if you're thinking, "what the hell is josey talking about?") but there's a lot more going on.

the man just has awesome focus and clarity of vision. being in that space, and watching someone who is so clear in their intention and so skilled at their craft is just such a mighty inspiration. it reminds me of all the things i talked about in my last post, the things that i'm scared of losing as i embark on the next chapter of this funny little breadventure i'm on - HOLY CRAP ARE YOU KIDDING ME - BREADVENTURE!!! i can't believe i never thought of that before!!! have you ever heard that?!? i just made up a totally totally awesome word! i need to trademark that shit quick, don't go stealing it from me and skipping town with fat stacks of cash that coulda been mine if i'd actually trademarked the coolest word i've ever made up: breadventure.

ummmmmm, anyway......... look at these adorable little wheat berries falling to their doom between two humongous stones.

they kinda look like lemmings, right?

(that's my first animated gif in a post and it makes me very very happy of myself.)
and you don't need to be a baker to know that anybody who rocks a pink Artofex mixer is hella badass:

but back to what i was saying before i got distracted by my accidental fully genius word invention (that's breadventure, bitch) and the pink artofex, it really was re-centering to spend time with him. made me feel more sure than ever that i am on the right track with this whole thing. that is an excellent feeling.
and not to mention these other facts that made the trip god damn amazing: the newest member of the Josey Baker Bread Brigade, sir Nicholaus Aives III, accompanied me on this breadventure, manning the ship for the long journey out, and generally lifting my weary spirits. i feel very fortunate to have him on the team, and you'll all be seeing more of him as the days go by (he's a real looker, and i'm gonna make sure i get some pics of him in his undies, just for you). check out Nick behind this meat truck we found on 24th St on our regular Thursday morning breakfast stroll:
and another stellar baker was on the scene as well - Julie, a rad freshly milled whole grain wood fire oven baker, who runs 600 Degrees up on Vancouver Island. Jules was on a trip all over the states with her kind and talented partnerman Andrew, visiting the little bakers that are doing their thing the right way. turns out she'd just spent a bunch of time in Vermont (my homeland), hanging with folks like Blaire and Andrew at Elmore Mountain Bread, and Gerard Rubaud, and Adam and folks at Bread & Butter Farm. also, she hung with William Davenport of Turtlerock Masonry, whom i haven't yet had the pleasure to meet, but who is based in the Green Mountain state, and is making amazing wood fire brick ovens left and right. small world. i asked if i could come visit up Jules and Andrew up north, and they said i could! stay tuned - if i go, you'll hear all about it.
in parting - rye bread dough is kind of gross looking, isn't it?
but it tastes so good.
<3 josey

directions: pee your pants. get pensive. /  by joseybakerbread

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