...and rounding up this year's interns at the Back Home Bakery was Brendan visiting from Washington, DC.  He came prepared with two-handed-roll-making-skills and a willingness to work his hardest at everything.  Thanks a lot Brendan for all of the help;  hope to see you running your own bakery some day.

-Mark

http://TheBackHomeBakery.com

shaping rye, stretch and fold on 15# Rustic White, ready to sell on a chilly Saturday morning

For those of you who may have missed one or two of the recent postings of the intern bakers who have visited us at the Back Home Bakery this year, I thought I'd use this as a reference page for all of them.  Click on the links to visit the pages specifically about them.  Enjoy.

The cast in order of appearance:

Thomas (tssaweber):  Having grown up in Switzerland, Thomas had the taste of fantastic bread from an early age.  When he moved to the US ten years ago, he began baking his own bread and during the past 5 years he has spent much time experimenting with sourdoughs and native Swiss breads too.  This is the page of his internship.

Diane:  Diane's been cooking and baking bread for many years also.   In her spare time, she's also a cheese maker and dairy farmer.  Here's her internship page.

Paul (PMcCool):   Paul's enjoyed baking breads for over 30 years.  He's also a regular contributor here on TFL and he frequently blogs about his baking adventures.  This is his blog about his visit.

Callie (calliekoch):  Callie has spent most of her life cooking at home and has been baking bread for the last few years.  About a year ago she began to enjoy baking sourdoughs with her own starter.  Here's a bit about her internship.

Greg (gcook17):  Greg's well versed in both pastries and breads.  Although not a professional baker, he's taken several courses at SFBI and has been baking artisnal breads for many years.  This is the page about his stay.

Pat (proth5):  Pat's a great bread baker with the mind of a pastry chef.  Not only has she baked bread since she was a little child, she's also studied under some of the top bread bakers around the country.  This is her blog about her stay.

Brendan (smithbr11)  Brendan is relatively new to bread baking, but is improving quickly.  With his kinesthetic learning style and detail oriented mind, he'll be an expert in no time.  This is my blog entry about his internship.

Thanks so much to all of you interns for all of your help and time.  I hope you went home with some improvement in your skills and maybe a little more baking knowledge too.  Take it easy.

-Mark

http://TheBackHomeBakery.com

I recently made some sour rye bread using Mark's recipe from The Back Home Bakery. I posted the complete photo step-by-step on my blog here if you want all the dirty details, but here's the final product;

I'm not totally sure the crumb is as open as it should be, although it's about 36% rye to 64% AP and is a 63% hydration dough. It seems just a wee bit too tight, but maybe that's just me. I'm thoroughly happy with the taste (and pretty dang proud of finally getting good slashes!) so if this is indeed "pretty much spot on" then I've got no complaints.

Can anyone suggest what one might do if that isn't what the crumb texture is supposed to be? 

Hopefully even a word from Mark would be great but I assume he's got a day job that keeps him busy. And "day" is pretty subjective here, from what I've been seeing lately ;) 

Normally, I'd include the recipe but since Mark has taken them off his site after going into business full swing, I don't want to be giving away the shop secrets.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

Callie (calliekoch) came from Fort Collins, Colorado to the Back Home Bakery last week (Sept 5-13) for her one week internship.  Although new to sourdoughs, Callie's been baking and cooking for a while, and it showed in her meticulous work and attention to detail.

striking a pose while sheeting puff-pastry dough

Apfelstrudel, shaping Buckwheat Flax boule, croissants, finished Buckwheat Flax loaves

I'm sure you'll agree everything looks absolutely perfect!

Thanks for all of the help Callie, hope to see you again up here.

-Mark

http://TheBackHomeBakery.com

This is a five minute snapshot from last Saturday at our bakery.  We were fortunate to have Paul and his wife visiting at the time, so you'll catch a glimpse of Paul (PMcCool) doing his thing.  Enjoy.

If you'd like to read a detailed account of Paul's internship, check out his blog entry here.

PS Thanks a bunch Paul for all of your help.

-Mark

http://TheBackHomeBakery.com

At the end of August, Diane came from Vancouver Island, BC for a week long internship at the Back Home Bakery.  During her stay we made everything from puff pastry dough to baguettes with everything in between.  Although both she and Sharon (aka 'the wife') are a bit camera shy, I did manage to snap a couple of photos of the elusive two during the course of the week.
Thanks a bunch Diane for helping out with the farmers' markets, daily deliveries, wholesale accounts and even dinner too.  Hope to see you again next time around.

-Mark
http://TheBackHomeBakery.com

Sharon and Diane working on some pain au chocolat

Diane putting them together

This is us pretending to have a good time

Well, last week we finished up one week of hard work together for the first baker's internship of the summer.  Fellow Fresh Loaf member Thomas flew out here to Montana from Chicago to help me prepare for 3 main events last week.  We had two separate farmers' markets to prepare for and sell at, and one night event where we furnished enough appetizers for approximately 150 people at an artist's gallery opening. 
Picture descriptions clockwise from top left:
1 - Thomas tightening up a boule of 18 pounds of dough after 'stretch and fold #2'
2-  Working on mini roll-up appetizers made with croissant dough, black forest ham, and swiss cheese
3-  Getting ready for a farmer's market
4-  214 mini palmiers, 275 mini ham and cheese croissants, and 175 spinach and artichoke croissant diamonds

Thanks Thomas for all of the hard work and for being willing to do everything from shaping and mixing to egg washing and cooking too.  I hope your expectations were fulfilled and in addition you had an enjoyable time.  You're welcome to visit again next time you feel like some more baking in beautiful Northwest Montana.

-Mark

PS  As mentioned in my original internship post, I'll be looking for more volunteers later in the year as my wife and helper gets ready for her next school year (September), so if you're interested, please email me!

http://TheBackHomeBakery.com

If you're looking for a way to brush up on your baking skills and learn some new ones too, have I got good news for you!  Things are getting busy and I need one hard working baker to team up with me for a week in the middle of June (17th-24th).  This isn't a vacation or a 'come and watch as Mark demonstrates techniques' kind of workshop.  You'll be working beside me working baker's hours and sharing all of the tasks with me too. We'll be making everything from baguettes and sourdough to bear claws and croissants.  We'll be selling at the farmer's markets and making daily deliveries too.   How's that?  It's free to you and free to me, so we both win. 
If you're interested or just inquisitive, you can download more information about it here with this PDF. 

-Mark

http://TheBackHomeBakery.com

edit on July 2, 2009 UPDATE