Fuel for the oven

Much of the wood for the bread oven comes from our land in Davis County. It seems that nearly every year our woodlot gives up a fair size oak or hickory tree. We cut the largest limbs and the trunk into manageable pieces and pick a weekend to split it all. In the process we find the most interesting bugs. This year, for the first time, we found a pseudoscorpion hiding in the bark. It was less than 1/4 inch in size and looked just like a tiny tick with scorpion claws--which is pretty much what a pseudoscorpion is.


Here is a look at part of the wood we cut, split, and stacked, and the crew who lent their hands. And backs.

Final Bread Bake for March and April

This coming Friday, March 11th, will be the final bread baking day for several weeks. Since I will be away from the oven for a while, I will bake some of just about everything: multigrain, golden multigrain, semolina, olive, and baguettes.

While I am away, I will be wearing my farmer hat--working at our place in southern Iowa to get ready for spring prairie burns. Just cannot seem to keep away from fire.

March baking dates

I will bake bread on the first two Fridays of March: March 4th and March 11th. On the 4th I will bake multigrain, rye bread, olive bread and baguettes. Haven't decided yet for the 11th, but will send out an email when I know.

Bread for Friday, Feb. 11th

I do think the changes I am making in handling leaven and timing fermentation is producing a nicer loaf, so I will keep working on it. One result of these changes is that I cannot make more than 4 types of bread in one day. If I try to do more than that, I end up shortchanging at least one batch of dough and I'm not willing to do that.

So, check here each baking week to see which types I will be baking. I will try always to bake a mix of "brown" and "white" loaves. You may want to consider stocking up on your favorite type(s) on the weeks you see them on the baking menu.

That said: this week's menu of 4 will be: (1) multigrain miche, (2) semolina, (3) olive and (4) baguettes.

This week's bake and looking forward into February

I will bake bread this coming Friday, January 28th and the types I will bake are multigrain, golden multigrain, olive and baguettes.

I will also bake bagels--all the usual types-- on Saturday, January 29th.

If you will want either bread or bagels, let me know by noon Wednesday, January 26th. It is possible/likely there will be orders for more bagels than I can handle, so order early to optimize your odds.

The dreaded month of February will shortly be upon us. I will bake bread on Friday, February 11th and Friday February 25th. The other weeks I will be travelling to visit family.

New Year is a good time to make some changes.

I will bake bread this Friday, January 21st. As I explained in this week's email to the Bread List, I will be baking fewer types of bread per week while I work on changing some techniques.

This week I will bake multigrain and semolina boules, and pain au levain shaped as boules and baguettes. If you will want bread, send your order to me by email (ag.burnside@gmail.com) no later than noon, Wednesday January 19th.

A few other changes: In attempting to streamline the entire process, I have opted to have the labels printed by a local company. They are a generic label now, with just the bakery logo and name. If you wish to have the full ingredient information, as the labels used to show, just let me know and I will be happy to provide it.

I am interested also in encouraging people to provide their own bags. Paper bags are probably less toxic than plastic ones to the landfill, but waste is waste. Certainly many people will not find it feasible to drop off a reusable bag prior to bake day, but if it does work for you, please feel free to do so. Make certain your name is clearly written on the bag. When you come to pick up your bag, take a nickel per loaf out of the cash box.

January baking days

Linda and I send our wishes to everyone for a happy, healthy and interesting New Year.

• I will bake bagels on Saturday, Jan. 8th. Bagels are typically a Sunday event, but I will be away on a short trip to NY on Sunday, so Saturday it is.
• I will bake bread on Friday January 21st and Friday January 28th. As always, please let me know by noon of the preceding Wednesday if you will want bread. I will put out a message closer in time to the baking days to tell which types of bread I will be baking on those days.
• I will try to get another bagel baking day scheduled in January--maybe Saturday the 29th. We will see how the month goes.