The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Starting a Micro Bakery?

adam_smith1992's picture
adam_smith1992

Starting a Micro Bakery?

Hello all, 

Sorry if this is in the wrong section!

I am currently working as a sourdough baker, and whilst I like working as a baker, it just isn't the same as baking your own bread. You don't have the control over formulas, timings, or even baking. As I am moving away from the area i am thinking about opening my own micro bakery. 

I am thinking about putting a Rofco B40 and x50 bannetons, on a credit card and going for it, selling bread at farmers markets. I have a garage with drainage and power, and i'm fairly  sure a few electric heaters will keep it  warm enough for good bulk fermentation. failing that I will install heating elements into water baths below the dough tubs.

to start  with i am planing on  keeping things real simple, no mixer, so just hand mixing and folding to start off with, and only making two breads  country sourdough and a 50% whole wheat, and as it is the Christmas season, then maybe batches of cinnamon buns. 

any help from people would be great, does anyone know the  max amount of dough that can be hand mixed? and what are   peoples experiences developing gluten with out a mixer? 

 

even though at the moment I have no real outgoings and a supportive partner am I crazy to do this? 

MichaelLily's picture
MichaelLily

Depending on where you are, your cottage food laws will be different in what you are and are not allowed to do.

That aside, 50 loaves a day is pretty easy and is a small investment.  If it fails, you can get a normal job and you won't be too far behind.  Hand mix according to the size of your bowl.  Wetter dough is much easier to hand mix.  I used to hand mix 20kg dough at a time in 3.5 gallon bins, or in a 5 gallon bucket, depending on what mood I was in.  Always turned out fine.

It's hard work and very time-consuming as a one-man-show, but who cares?  Weigh out the pros and cons, and if you do it and it doesn't pan out, then you can always just quit.

drogon's picture
drogon

You probably don't need any help with your bread making, but I run a little "microbakery experience" thing aimed at home bakers who want to go commercial. I have a Rofco B40 (and other ovens). Have a look at the link in my profile if you like, but I'm based in Devon, UK.

On a more practical note - the Rofco can bake 12 large loaves at once (you can do 18 smaller ones - 520g dough)  - and with good time management you can run a batch through in 45 minutes, (don't forget loading/unloading time), so for your 50 loaves, it's 4 runs - 3 hours baking time (+ 2-hours heating up time). I balance things up by having 2 other ovens, so the Rofco does the large loaves (12) and the Lincat the small ones (another 12) with the Beko (standard domestic fan oven) doing 6 tins. That gives me a capacity of 30 loaves per run. I don't normally do more than 2 runs in a morning although a batch of sticky buns which only take 12 minutes to bake can be fitted in.

A lot will depend on just how willing to get up at early AM though (governed by how early you need the bread to be out!) My aim is to be our delivering my loaves by 9am, so I usually get up at 5am on the busy days.

If I were to expand, the next thing I would do is get a retarder - and a time switch for the oven, so when I get up, the oven will be hot and I can take dough directly from the fridge into the oven, then get on with shaping & scaling the overnight dough (and then after deliverys, make up the dough for the next mornings bake, etc.)

Mixer wise, I have a 60 year old Hobart A200 and a relatively new (which I bought 2nd hand) Finera spiral mixer - really aimed at Pizza places, but it works well on my sourdoughs. I don't do stretch & folds on my dough - mostly because it's in tubs fermenting at room temp. overnight and also because most of my customers don't want big glossy holey bread - they're traditionalists where I am in Devon!

-Gordon

Bonzo's picture
Bonzo

Hi Gordon

 

You mentioned Micro-bakery experience, I can't seem to see your contact details anywhere.

 

 

Thanks

drogon's picture
drogon

Over 2 years since I last posted here, but hey ho... Still baking, still selling, but I no-longer run the microbakery experience things. Lookup Brookfoods in Somerset for Rofco experience days if you want.

My contact details/website is on my profile page.

-Gordon

Bonzo's picture
Bonzo

Perfect, thanks! That was the issue though, I couldn't see your profile page :D

Joaquin's picture
Joaquin

Hey mate! I would like to get in touch with you in regards your bakery operation and I can't  access your profile for some reason. 

I want to scale up from home baker to microbaker and I have a few questions about the setup, nothing to annoying i guess. If you have the time to answer a few questions will be much preciated.

 

Cheers!

hanseata's picture
hanseata

and get a license it's worth a try. Here in Maine I got a home-processors' license after my kitchen was inspected, for a commercial bakery the rules would be much stricter.

You have to find a wholesale supplier for your flours, you don't want to buy them at retail prices, and have To figure out what you can charge per loaf - I charge 3 x the cost of goods, plus or minus, depending on what people in your area would be willing to pay.

Good luck!

Karin

csnider's picture
csnider

Hi Karin, just curious where you are in Maine? I'm sorta kinda exploring the idea of a microbakery specializing in baguettes and focaccia in Indianapolis. My wife's family owns a restaurant and brewery in Bangor, ME - Geaghan Bros. If you're still doing your micro bakery I'd love to hear how it's going.

 

hanseata's picture
hanseata

I am in Bar Harbor, next door to Acadia National Park. It's now 10 years that I have my home-based microbakery, selling my breads to our local natural food store. I'm still enjoying it, especially since they mostly let me do want I want!

I know Geaghan's, very nice, we went there often when we still lived in Bangor. The world is a small place!

Karin

ifaey's picture
ifaey

Go for it! As Michael says above it's a comparatively small investment. I'm in the middle of doing the exact same thing myself, and currently debating a rofco vs a used deck. 

A couple of suggestions based on my experience:

1) as they say, definitely get licensed. Hopefully you're in a state where there's some kind of cottage industry license you can get, but do your research and make certain it will extend to a garage bakehouse. The license here in WA is geared more for domestic kitchens. They'll want to see your dish washing setup, your work flow and sanitation schedules, your recipes, your layout. Junk like that. They may also require water tests and septic system verifications, if you're not on city water and sewer (I'm in the country). Most farmers' markets will not allow you to sell without some kind of license. 

2) this is a big one, and I didn't know about it until I read a micro-bakery thread on the Bread Bakers Guild discussion board: CHECK UP ON YOUR HOMEOWNER'S INSURANCE. Or, if you're renting (like me), talk to your landlord. Many policies are rendered null and void by the presence of commercial equipment (I'm still trying to find out whether the rofcos are considered commercial). Some policies are rendered invalid by use of the residence as a place of business. So you can cowboy up and do it anyway and to hell with the insurance, but it's a good idea to at least know (and make sure your landlord knows, if you've got one) what kind of risk you're taking. 

I know, right? Stupid bureaucratic red tape, we just want to bake bread. 

Good luck!

adam_smith1992's picture
adam_smith1992

thanks for your help guys, I am in the Uk so home kitchens are tolerated here.

Drogon, that is exactly what i was thinking, of moving to rofco for the big loaves and tines and small ones in other ovens. At the moment I am getting up at three to go to work so i have no problem with that.. We actually have a Hobart A200 at work but we never put sourdough in it what sort of hydration breads can it handle?   might save for a spiral mixer and hand mix for the moment. 

 

many thanks

 

thinking for teh company name "simply sourdough", means i will have to figure out sourdough cinimon rolls, but that is worth it! 

drogon's picture
drogon

What sort of hydration are you working with? Almost all my sourdoughs are 63%. The max my old A200 can manage is a mix of 4 large and 6 small loaves - works out at about 6.8Kg of dough. I have the spiral mixing "hook" (which are about 70 quid off ebay)

A 3am start - that'll give you plenty of time. My morning starts at 5am, but it's a "split-shift" sort of thing - 3-4pm I make up the sourdough, 7:30-9pm I mix/knead (and cleanup) then off to bed and up at 5am to scale/shape/prove. A small number (the Rye breads which have been in the fridge overnight) go in at 6am, the first main lot goes into the ovens at 7am, 2nd hopefully before 8am. I "half bag" my loaves for the shops (ie. a cut-down standard kraft paper bag) with a sticky label on them (customers can be so fussy!) although I don't bag all of them for markets.

Try to get a good catchy name - be aware that the word "sourdough" is really an americanism and outside the hipster community (and "those that know") it's not really that well known in the UK - I still get people who won't buy my breads because of the "sour" part in it - it's really not a traditional bread here at all, despite 1000's of bakeries now using it and even the big commercial ones using terms like "with added sourdough" more as marketing than anything else. Our little thing is called Moorbakes ( http://moorbakes.co.uk/ ) but I get people asking "is it more?" and so on. (Moor because we're on Dartmoor!)

And do your local research too - there is a national group called "Country Markets" which are a spin-off from the W.I. See if they have a local one in-need of a baker (although they have some weird rules, but bread & cakes are fine for the most part).

As for the sticky buns - that's your biggest mark-up area. Don't be a sourdough purist when its not needed. I use fresh yeast (From Sainsburys - £2.30 for an 800g brick that lasts me 4 weeks) and that's used in my sticky buns, brioche, overnight baguettes and tin loaves...

Good luck!

-Gordon

RoundhayBaker's picture
RoundhayBaker

As others have said, if you're in the UK, US, Canada, Oz, NZ etc. rules and regulations vary wildly and it is hard to give sensible advice without knowing where you are.

drogon's picture
drogon

Just an FYI note for those (mainly in the US) about what the rules, etc. are in the UK.

There are no "licenses" to be had, nothing called "cottage industry rules", etc. In-general, it seems to me (from reading posts here, mostly) that we have it easy in the UK. Probably because we've always had a tradition of baking from home and selling it at local sales, markets and so on.

You only really need one thing - an inspection from your local authoritys Environmental Health department. They are good people, not to be feared. Our lot tell us that they're 50% enforcement and 50% education. Use the education side wisely - treat their visit as a free 2-hour consultancy.

Also keep a diary and the Govt. publication: Safer Food, Better Business (known as SFBB) gives you everything you need. https://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/sfbb

And other than insurance, that's that. Insurance - you need product liability insurance, but some markets also require 3rd party liability - I need a bit more to cover people coming into my house when I'm running bread making courses, etc. but that's independent of my house insurance. It costs me about £230 a year for all that.

Running a business from home is also OK, and you can often claim tax back on rooms used for business (but do check with an accountant!)

What's not needed, but strongly advised is to do some food hygiene training - the usual one is a "Level 2 food hygiene and safety course) These can be done online, but your local authority usually run them too - takes a day and my last one cost me £45 (online is usually much cheaper), however you get practical advice and a chance to do some local networking. Some markets insist on a level 2 to sell - always best to check. (And in-theory you only ever need to do one of these in your life, but are strongly recommended to do a refresher every 3 years)

We've been doing home catering for about 6-7 years now without any issues - next inspection is round about May/June next year. They have to tell you in advance when they're coming if it's a home-based business, in  shop/unit/factory they can turn up unannounced.

Hope that's of use/help/information!

Cheers,

-Gordon

adam_smith1992's picture
adam_smith1992

Hi guys, 

 

thanks for all your help, the bakery is up and running and im trading at markets. Still got a full time job at the moment but that wont last for ever! 

right now the problem is fitting baking around my 9-5 job. As I type im trying a 30 hour prove out.   plan: make dough thursday night, shape at 12pm. retard till saturday morning and bake the breads from 5-7am x4 runs in the rofco. 

If anyone has any other idears how this can be schedualed better then let me know. Thinking for say a saturday market,

Mix friday morning  6am 

Put in Fridge

Go to work

come home and Shape at 6pm

Retard till 4am saturday morning

 

MichaelLily's picture
MichaelLily

The one day schedule ought to work.  As long as the dough is sufficiently proofed during the bulk.

jolerrs1@me.com's picture
jolerrs1@me.com

Adam, out of interest, how long were you baking before you decide to try your hand at bakery?

jolerrs1@me.com's picture
jolerrs1@me.com

I liked Chad Robertson's idea (Tartine) of preparing the bread for the evening instead of the morning - sourdough will still be fresh for breakfast the next day.  I don't know if that would help you or how popular that might be with people. 

I'm thinking of earning a bit of pocket money by baking sourdough for friends and maybe a few people locally, but only providing one type of sourdough each week - which means I can experiment with a loaf and if it works out, that will be the loaf for the following week, otherwise its the same loaf as previous week - people can order or not.  It won't make me rich but it gives me the opportunity to practice baking sourdough and cover my costs in the process.

Is anyone else doing anything like this, or maybe on a slightly larger scale but still only using their kitchen?

Adam4SD's picture
Adam4SD

Just curious how your business is going?  Are you still holding the day job?

I want to do the same after I retire - in a couple of years - but the whole concept is so vague since I don't even know where to start.  :-)

 

saintpaulsourdough's picture
saintpaulsourdough

Hey Adam, 

Are you still selling at markets?

How's it been going? 

How have you enjoyed your ROFCO experience? I'm considering one, myself. 

Anything you've learned that might be helpful for someone who wants to run a similar operation? 

Steve Petermann's picture
Steve Petermann

Here's a video about a cool UK woman who has her own micro bakery in her home. She does everything by hand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J-JqqSnpJU

Joaquin's picture
Joaquin

I came across this post of yours, I just wander how did you go with your project and if your bakery still going. I'm thinking on starting something similar myself and I want to ask a couple questions. cheers!

CStanford's picture
CStanford

Don't spend money on an oven until you watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J-JqqSnpJU&t=121s

berryblondeboys's picture
berryblondeboys

Wow... and I have to wonder if basically giving up her home to baking bread is financially doable  - especially with needing to replace the oven and parts so often? And then there is the cost of the bannetons and such.  Just wow.