The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

It's up and running!

mcs's picture
mcs

It's up and running!

 Fresh Loafians,
Well, after much waiting and other stuff, we finally got our bakery licensed yesterday!  It's official, so I just thought I'd share the news with all of you.  Now it's just a matter of getting back into the flow of doing all of that mixing, shaping, and baking that I've been looking forward to.  Here's a photo of the main work area of the bakery which is located in the lower level of our house.

the bakerythe bakery

-Mark

 thebackhomebakery.com


AnnieT's picture
AnnieT

Mark, congratulations and all best wishes! Your bakery looks wonderful and I look forward to hearing how things go - when you have time! A.

GrapevineTXoldaccount's picture
GrapevineTXolda...

Your bakery is a beautiful! 

SourdoLady's picture
SourdoLady

Wow, that looks really nice! Will you have a retail sales area, or will you just be doing consignment baking? Congratulations on your beginning bakery, and I hope it really takes off for you!

Russ's picture
Russ

Congratulations! It looks great. Best wishes as you get started.

 

Russ

Janedo's picture
Janedo

Wow! That's great. I'd LOVE to be able to bake bread in such a lovely kitchen. You're going to be a busy beaver in the next while. But do keep us posted.

Jane 

mcs's picture
mcs

Thanks everybody.  Although we're licensed for retail and wholesale, most of the business will be wholesale since we live 'out in the sticks'.   Right now we've got a couple of places selling our stuff and it's leaning mostly towards goodies made with croissant and puff pastry dough.  One is buying all of their goods as precooked and frozen - that way they can bake them themselves when they need it.
I'll be sure to keep you updated and of course if you're in Northwest Montana, you're welcome to stop in!

-Mark

http://thebackhomebakery.com

Drifty Baker's picture
Drifty Baker

Congratulations!  Your bakery looks great.  What do you have on the floor and is it easy to clean up all the flour that will get on it?

 I wish you well on your venture and hope it is very rewarding for you.  One thing that is really nice is your commute in to work.

Drifty Baker

Go biking while its rising! 

 

 

mcs's picture
mcs

Drifty,

The bakery floor is just sealed (many times) concrete.  It cleans up very well with both a broom and mop. 

http://thebackhomebakery.com

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Everything really came together nicely Mark. Very nice. Ahhh there's the sheeter, outstanding.

Good Luck to you both.

Eric 

proth5's picture
proth5

So, it can happen...

I'd wish you luck - but somehow I think luck has little to do with it.

Happy Baking!

foolishpoolish's picture
foolishpoolish

That's great news.

Wishing you all the best for the future.

Congrats!

FP 

weavershouse's picture
weavershouse

All the best to you Mark. What a beautiful place you have to work in. Enjoy!                 weavershouse

Susan's picture
Susan

Your bakery is beautiful! Have you got wireless music coming in from iTunes so you can whistle while you work?

Best of luck!

Susan from San Diego

mcs's picture
mcs

Susan,
It's not quite wireless, but I do have speakers connected via a hole in the wall to my computer in the other room, so that fits the bill.

-Mark 

http://thebackhomebakery.com

edh's picture
edh

Congratulations Mark!

The bakery looks beautiful, and I'm sure you're going to have lots of fun in it! Can't wait to hear about your adventures and wild successes.

Good job!

edh

staff of life's picture
staff of life

Hi Mark--

Yay for you!  Can you give us a tour of the bake area?  I think I see two mixers on the left, a sheeter in the back, 2 coolers or freezers, I can't tell which, a proofer, and two different types of ovens on the wall.  Can you also give us more info about the ovens?

SOL

mcs's picture
mcs

SOL,
Like a family photo, I'll go left to right.  Kitchenaid 5 qt mixer, Berkel 20 qt mixer, dough divider (mostly hidden), Doyon sheeter (by the window), Arctic Air freezer, Arctic Air fridge, Winholt proofer, two Blodgett Zephaire gas ovens (stacked on top of each other under the hood), a Blodgett Mark V electric oven (with the windows) on top, and a Blodgett BP100 proofer below it.   The three ovens are convection so I'm still in the process of getting used to the adjusted cooking times/methods for breads. Of course the less exciting things are missing from the picture like the big sink, storage stuff, racks and all that. The big item that's missing is the larger mixer we need.  Unfortunately some of the hoops we had to jump through gobbled up our funds for that.  

And the most important item of all is the great work table in the center.  It had been a long time since I worked on a wood surface, and I really missed it.

-Mark

http://thebackhomebakery.com

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Great news, Mark, that all your hard work and the waiting is over. Get a frame ready for that first dollar bill that comes in (or maybe a $100?).

Accolades to you - and now go play in the dough!

LindyD

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Back Home is a baker named Mark,

With patience long retarded in the dark.

Now officially in bold light,

He rises with might! 

And Montana will never be the same ...   


Mini O

audra36274's picture
audra36274

The bakery is the envy of us all! I know you'll be busy, but please try to keep us posted. I wish you all the best!

                                                                                Audra

Mike Avery's picture
Mike Avery

Congratulations!  My hat's off to you!

 

While chance favors a prepared mind, and while the harder you work the luckier you get, I'll still wish you luck - you can't have too much of it!

 

Mike

 

staff of life's picture
staff of life

I am curious as to why you chose electric and gas ovens.  Being out in the sticks I'm thinking probably means you don't have access to 3-phase electric.  Does that have something to do with it? 

SOL

mcs's picture
mcs

SOL,
You are correct about the lack of 3 phase electric where we are.  That was the first choice, but not an option.  The 60 qt mixer will also have to be single phase for the same reason.  When I got the gas ovens, propane wasn't quite so high in price; now the electric is cheaper to run.  I came very close to getting a deck (pizza) oven instead of the convections since I feel they turn out a superior bread, however I decided to go with the convection mainly because they work better for pastries - I felt there was more of a market for the sweet stuff here, and it would be more possible to make a living if I favored them over bread.  Consequently I'm learning how to make good bread with these ovens and I'm getting close to the level I was with the 'bread ovens'.

-Mark

http://thebackhomebakery.com

jerryf01's picture
jerryf01

Beautiful, but I missed the video recording set up?

You could be the only baker on the net with live cam, you already have the web page :^)

Best Wishes for a sucessful future!

cheesecake man's picture
cheesecake man

Love your kitchen! 

Best of Luck!

Just curious why you went with the convection oven rather than a deck oven with steam? 

Cheesecake man (Rick)

mcs's picture
mcs

Rick,
Oops, just realized I combined my answer about the ovens in my reply to SOL above. 
-Mark

http://thebackhomebakery.com

holds99's picture
holds99

Mark,

Your work area looks great; well designed, very efficiently laid out and spic and span.  Is that apprentice job still open :-) 

Here's wishing you every success.

Howard - St. Augustine, FL

mcs's picture
mcs

Howard,
My wife said you can come only if you bring some of your famous bbq sauce.  You are welcome to come and 'apprentice', however I must warn you that while working I am only slightly more pleasant than Donald Trump, and as my recently visiting mother would attest, you would only be paid with an occasional sticky bun or croissant (the ugliest ones of course).

-Mark

http://thebackhomebakery.com

holds99's picture
holds99

So, now that I have your roll shaping technique down pretty well, I think I'm going to have to negotiate for more in the way of compensation :-) 

Seriously, you deserve a great deal of credit for what you have accomplished.   Charlene and I wish you every success.

Howard

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Congrats, Mark.

ejm's picture
ejm

Whoohooo!!! It looks fabulous. All the best!

-Elizabeth 

Rosalie's picture
Rosalie

Mark, you've given us great videos and great recipes.  I wish you luck, although I know you're very good at making your own.

I did fleetingly wonder why you didn't call the bakery "The Under Home Bakery", but I think you made the right call.

Rosalie

Paddyscake's picture
Paddyscake

I guess you know you have a huge fan base here cheering for you! Thanks for all you've contributed..videos, recipes and music to bake by! Did you create the perfect olive loaf for your repetoire(?sp). Your baking arena looks awesome. All the best..catch us up when you have a chance!!

Betty

mcs's picture
mcs

I'd like to thank all of you for your positive words now and also over the course of the last few months while we've been going through the process to get this bakery going.   It's great to see such a positve community people who are both helpful and critcal in this wonderful trade.  I'll do my best to keep you posted on our progress, and hopefully I'll be putting out another video in the not too distant future.
-Mark

http://thebackhomebakery.com

ehanner's picture
ehanner

If you want a visual treat go check out Marks images of his pastries. This is a starter HERE

 Very nice assortment of sweets and displayed professionally. The web site looks great!

Eric 

LindyD's picture
LindyD

I think I gained a pound just looking at that pastry. Almost licked my screen.

kanin's picture
kanin

 Congratulations! That picture looks like a playground to me right now. Wow.

http://www.applepiepatispate.com

Dragonbones's picture
Dragonbones

Happy one year bakiversary to Mark!  I have enjoyed your videos, and hope this year has treated you well.

 

Kent in Taiwan