August 5, 2014 - 2:20pm
Look behind the doors - welcome to Karin's Bäckerei!
I sometimes mention my little home based bakery. Since - as my husband always says - inquiring minds want to know - I will open the door to my Bar Harbor kitchen.
Since 5 years I am licensed to sell breads (and cupcakes) from my home. My kitchen was officially inspected, and I'm paying every year 20 bucks for the renewal of my Home Processor's License.
I am therefore legally:
I bake European breads for A&B Naturals, our our local natural food store - in summer twice, in winter once a week.
To show you more, please follow me to my blog Brot & Bread - for some reason TFL doesn't let me upload any other photo today.
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Comments
Everything within easy reach and lots of sunlight. Can't go wrong with that.
Paul
I hate dark rooms, or neon lighting - this is the place where I spend a lot of time, basically our living room.
Karin
Hi Karin,
Thanks for a peek into your 'world'. My kitchen is like yours in that I have a lot of natural light too and the counter where I mix and shape my doughs is right in front of a window that looks out on a small park across the street from our house where there is always something to see. People walking dogs. Parents and kids walking to the park. Hawks hunting their meals. Squirrels and birds watching out for hawks while they eat their meals. Last week we even had a doe visit and nibble crab apples off of our crab apple tree. (I do not live in the country but a suburban area though the small park with water running through it does lend itself to wild life.)
I must say that your 'cupboard' is a lot more orderly than mine is. My supplies are spread around the kitchen and house due to too much of my baking stuff and too little cupboard space. My family insists on having cupboard space to….I just can't figure that one out but I have learned to share.
Love the photo of your bread basket. Everything looks delicious.
Take Care,
Janet
P.S. I finally got around to baking your Weizenbrotchen last week. They were a big hit and now have their own section in one of my bread binders. I even did them using SD and the results were nice too. Love how the olive oil makes the dough feel when it is 'ripe'. There just seems to be something about olive oil and wheat in combination in a dough….
Your view sounds lovely, I see mainly our cats patrolling the neighbor fence or young squirrels chasing each other. I have supplies spread around in different other areas and cupboards in our kitchen, too, so it's a good thing it's fairly large.
I'm glad you like the Weizenbrötchen, I should try them with SD, too.
Take care,
Karin
Neat and tidy, just as I expected. My setup isn't as well lit by sunlight, though, but that may be a good thing since it's incredibly hot where I live.
Anyway, congrats on the license renewal! Here's hoping for years of bread baking to come!
Zita
I can imagine it's at times very hot in Cambodia. How is your bakery coming along?
Karin
It's coming along well, thanks for asking!
I posted an update on my progress a few weeks ago, in case you're interested:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/39482/baking-catering-greek-pitas
Jolly bakings,
Zita
Nice setup, Karin! very tidy, clean, and organized.
I'm curious as to how they license you to prepare food on wooden surfaces. Out here, municipality bans bakeries and restaurants from using anything made from wood, only stainless steel.
Best,
Khalid
Of course, it doesn't look ALWAYS that neat!
According to the Department of Agriculture's Regulations for commercial bakeries the work surfaces have to be made of "corrosion resistant material" and cleaned and sanitized daily. I heard about a ban of wood work surfaces for diaries, but I didn't see anything like that for bakeries, even commercial ones.
The inspector put emphasis only cleanliness and a double sink - he told me otherwise, he had never had any problems with home kitchens - quite the opposite of some commercial kitchens!
Karin
Traumhaft schön, wirklich herrlich! I'm a frequent visitor to your site which I really like, especially that wonderful photo of your studies in Aix! Am currently trying to decide between your einkorn & hazelnut or your einkorn & walnut & yogurt breads. Tough choices! Keep blogging please!
Do both - they are worth it!
That was a great summer in Aix - I visited 20 years later, and it had all changed for the worse: souvenir shops instead of restaurants, all fixed up and expensive.
Thanks, I will keep blogging!
Liebe Grüsse,
Karin
It would take some kinda hard-hearted inspector to deny a setup like that, Karin! Hell, you could probably scatter mouse-droppings on the counter and still get an clean bill, except for an XXX rating because you're so obscenely well organized.
And some very sweet down east joinery in evidence as well. Home-built?
Enviable workshop, Karin! And probably with a view of the sea....ahhh.
Tom
anyone who has a itch to get into this kind of home baking for sale should take note. So how has your set up changed for the last time you posted about it a couple years ago or so? It would be interesting to know what you do different now with your set up? If I remember right, your hubby mad your beautiful work station from scratch to your specifications? I do forget things now so that might be off the reservation:-)
Happy Baking Karin - I'm so glad your last one handed challenge turned out so well.
No, no - he just assembles the stuff we bought from Ikea - has enough experience as retired furniture dealer and usually can finagle something when important parts are missing.
What changed a bit is my schedule. I figured out how to make my baking one batch of breads after the other easier and faster. I also found a supplier for medium rye in bulk - used for a lot of German rye breads.
And, what is very gratifying, I hear a lot of positive comments from people who realize that I am the European bread baker.
Karin
No, no - he just assembles the stuff we bought from Ikea - has enough experience as retired furniture dealer and usually can finagle something when important parts are missing.
What changed a bit is my schedule. I figured out how to make my baking one batch of breads after the other easier and faster. I also found a supplier for medium rye in bulk - used for a lot of German rye breads.
And, what is very gratifying, I hear a lot of positive comments from people who realize that I am the European bread baker.
Karin
where only the subject line posted....
Thanks for the peek Karin. Very lovely space. -Varda
Karin
and lovely! Looks inviting and like a lot of wonderful, thoughtful bread comes out of your kitchen.
for your nice comments!
I wish I had more time to post more of my breads.
Karin
What a lovely set-up Karin and so neat! Very nice to hear your home based business is going so well. You have some lucky customers for sure.
Regards,
Ian
:)
Karin
Interesting about wooden surfaces
when i started my apprenticeship we still had a big wooden trough that had a wooden top and although no doughs were made in the trough the wooden top was used for all the hand moulding, and cob loaves were proofed on ply wood boards that were liberally dusted with sharp (semolina)
regards Derek
I think these regulations really go overboard sometimes. To banish cheese making on wooden boards, when those cheeses get their unique flavor from this procedure - overzealous bureaucracy in my opinion.
In medical school we also learned that wood has antibacterial properties, compared to plastic surfaces.
Karin