The big reveal - This is what I have been up too ...
Well, I have strung everybody along for long enough ...
It seems my plans are coming to fruition so it's time to share what I have been up too ...
Last year my graphic design position of eight years was made redundant and I found myself unemployed with the uneasy prospect of contemplating my future career. It was one of the hardest, most drawn out and stressful years I have known, but through this change I grew stronger and found an energy lost long ago working in an unchallenging desk job.
I have known in my heart for some time that bread was going to play a part in my future and to cut a long story fairly short after a few months of putting myself and my blog out into the market I have landed on my feet baking for one of Brisbane trendiest restaurants/pubs ...
http://www.alfredandconstance.com.au/ [4]
… and I will soon be baking woodfired sourdoughs in one of their sister ventures …
http://www.chesterstreetkitchen.com.au/ [5]
So how did this come to be?
Contacts … it seems so much in this this life is interconnected … more than we actually realise sometimes.
I have blogged previously about my woodfired baking experiences with Laurie Stiller at Chalala Micro-Bakery in a oven that Alan Scott had built. Helping with that build was a bloke named Dennis Benson. Dennis is a bricklayer and was an old friend of Alans who has built many ovens all across Australia. Early last year I contacted Dennis who lives close to Brisbane about the price of building an oven (at the time not knowing he had helped build Lauries oven). Although that oven was never built, Dennis mentioned that he was building another oven for restaurant in town in which they would be roasting whole pigs. I went along to see the build and met the owner briefly. It was about six months after this time that I lost my graphic design job.
When I was finally unemployed I looked into setting up a micro-bakery and subletting space, but the costs and regulations seemed prohibitive in an already uncertain time for me. I emailed the owner of the restaurant to see if I could sublet the woodfired oven when it was not in use … and after some months a reply came through that it probably wasn't possible but they had leased another location and were building another Alan Scott oven if I was interested in baking for them …. um … guess how long it took for me to answer that question!
So here I am … the new oven is halfway through being built. Everyday is an exciting challenge for me in the kitchen and I am working harder and longer than I ever remember ... and loving every single second of it.
Today, on my day off, I spent the morning hemming edges of the new couche that has arrived from France, then popped in and spent some time with Dennis and helped pour some vermiculite around the edges of the concrete hearth, then spent time learning the ins-and-outs of the coffee machine and I am about to sit down and review a couple of bread formulas that need some tweaking for tomorrows bake.
The ovens I am currently using are not bread ovens and are less than ideal … but I am making do … and each day the woodfired oven is closer to completion.
Stay Tuned :)
Cheers,
Phil