Dressed to Mill

I have baked a lot of bread lately.

No, really. I mean, a lot. Like, serious bakery quantities. OK, that's a slight exaggeration, but over the past two weeks, I've baked about three dozen loaves of bread for market.

That means that not only has my KitchenAid been earning its keep, I've also gone through a lot of flour. And at this point I am totally out of the whole wheat and spelt flours I got from my mill guy in November, and I'm switching over to the home-milled variety.

That, in turn, means more work.


I loaded up a bucket of whole spelt berries and slipped and slid my way to the Renaissance Man's place today. He very kindly offered a home for my "new" big mill on his back porch, so I intended to give it a bit of a workout. And as you can see here, I needed to start by switching the burrs (that metal plate) from the coarse grind to a finer one.

Normally, this is not a difficult task. But I must stop here and add that the RM's back porch is an uninsulated one. After the snowstorm we had, the temps today were barely into the 20s, and thus the temps on his porch were, oh, maybe into the 40s.


So to grind the spelt into flour, I had to be dressed appropriately -- that is, for the frigid outdoors. And it wasn't easy undoing the burrs with thickly gloved fingers. But I persisted (with a little help from the RM) and worked and milled and ended up with about five pounds of flour (which still needs to be sifted).

You always have to have the appropriate equipment for the job, and for some jobs, you need the appropriate costume.

And yes, in this case, I was dressed to mill.

Market Report: 2/6/10

You know that snow I mentioned in yesterday's post? Well, I hadn't been convinced that we would well and truly get the major snowfall that had been predicted...


...until I headed out at about 7:15 this morning, intending to deliver the last of my baked goods to Local Roots, and saw this. I think it's fair to say that we got the predicted amount!

And it kept coming down...

Being one of the few who (A) had a key to the market and (B) was able to get to the market, I ended up helping a couple of other people open up for the day: unpacking producers' items, setting things out for online order pickup, setting cookies and such in the pastry case, shoveling, and so on. What was going to be a mere "stop and shop" visit before I headed out of town ended up being a full day's work shift (with my trip canceled).


I will say that my contributions to the pastry case looked pretty elegant: dark chocolate seduction torte and buckwheat butter cookies (with cacao nibs). But I was pretty sure that I wouldn't sell out of either since I didn't think too many people would be in.


My shelf looked pretty terrific this week, too, but it was immediately apparent that I had baked waaaaaaaay too much bread, given the forecast!

But no matter: eventually One Happy Guy came in (with his family) and started brewing coffee, and while we waited for the snow to abate and the shoppers to trickle in, we volunteers enjoyed a morning coffee break with samples of bagels and goat cheese, plus pastries we had purchased to go along with that fresh locally-roasted brew. When we did finally spot a customer or two, we invited them to join us, in conversation if not in food.

Aside from ourselves, we probably had no more than 25 customers come through. Even the end of the snow, the clearing of roads, and the brilliant sunshine couldn't draw out most people (who were likely still blocked by big snow piles at home). But those who came in did buy a good bit, so my sales at the end of the day turned out to be about a quarter of what I had taken in -- and most of the remaining products can be carried over to next week -- so it was not a total loss.

In all, it really was a relaxing, comfortable day spent with some good people; I made a little money; and now I have the rest of the weekend free to do some restful things at home (like making soup!).

Snow fun if you can't enjoy it somehow, right?

Independence Days #37

The snow has steadily drifted down outside my window for the past three hours now, the prelude to a winter storm due to intensify tonight. Though I worry a bit that this will both affect the market tomorrow and even cancel my travel plans for the weekend, it's been a delight to sit here at the computer, sip hot tea, work, and watch the flakes grow larger and pile up.

I'm glad I took my baked goods to the market earlier this afternoon. I had baked a lot of bread over the past day and a half, on top of other goodies earlier in the week, and I don't think I would have been too happy unloading all of it in the snow!

Other than the baking, it hasn't been a particularly exciting week at home food-wise, but I think I still managed to show a little Independence:

1. Plant something: Nope. I'm a little tired of sprouts!

2. Harvest something: Broccoli sprouts.

3. Preserve something: Nothing.

4. Reduce waste (Waste not): Tried to use a little less cornmeal on baking sheets and flour on the kneading board; used the rest of my butter wrappers for greasing pans; saved turnip tops for stock; converted leftover snacks from Tuesday's reception -- the ones not set out -- into items I can sell at the market tomorrow.

5. Preparation and storage (Want not): Ordered and received more chocolate for pains au chocolat; starting to work through more canned goods and stored potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squash; started list of more baking ingredients needed from a local bulk food store (I've gone through 25 lbs. of unbleached flour in a week and a half!).

6. Build local food systems: Visited with Emily of Eat Close to Home (happy times!) and showed her around Local Roots; accepted Emily's gift of Forty Seeds -- her tried-and-true bean seeds!; attended community garden discussion at Local Roots and talked with a couple of people afterwards about ideas; baked for another client; prepared crackers, spiced nuts for members-only reception for Deborah Madison; spent the afternoon with my Spiral Friend and her daughter, showing her daughter how to make chai spice shortbread; enjoyed dinner with The Photographer and planned a joint outing next week (research for an article); baked a lot for market.

7. Eat the food: Locally-made "everything" bagel; homemade croissants; ravioli with spaghetti sauce (all homemade); cherry pie; hash browns with eggs and cheese; squash soup (from The Photographer); roasted sweet potatoes and potatoes on raw turnip greens; Hakurei turnip slices (raw) with homemade baguette chunks.

A good week, in all -- even after a bumpy start.

So this evening I get to sit back, revel in the knowledge that my market work is done for the week, inhale the fragrance of roasting vegetables, and watch the snow fall some more.

And whatever happens -- well, it will be for the best.

Feeling Out of Tortes?

Before launching into this week's baking, I started off the week by baking a few special items for a special event at Local Roots.

When I found out that Deborah Madison -- author of one of my favorite cookbooks, Local Flavors -- was coming to town to speak at the college's Wellness Series, I asked around and got people to agree to a members-only reception for her at Local Roots after the college's reception. I offered to bake my sesame crackers and rosemary walnuts to serve at the market, but I wanted to come up with something on the sweet side, too.

I ended up pulling out and dusting off the recipe I created for a Dark Chocolate Seduction Torte, something I haven't made for a couple of years.


On Monday I tackled the first four layers, including baking the spiced nuts. This time around, it occurred to me that I might not have as much difficulty in cutting pieces if (A) I didn't refrigerate it first, (B) I cut the torte into squares before adding the sauce, and (C) I used a paring knife.

Bingo on all counts!


Sure, the sauce was a little sloppy and pooled in the bottom of the cupcake liners, but overall this made the squares of torte easier to handle -- and easier to dazzle.

I dropped everything at the market ahead of time and then headed up to campus to listen to Deborah's talk -- which covered the impact of food on culture from the early immigrants to America to our current locavore movement. Several times I wanted to shout out "yes!" to what she had to say (don't worry, I restrained myself).

After the talk, I rushed back down to the market building to help lay out the reception table. A few people raised an eyebrow or laughed when they read the name of my dessert, but once they tasted it, they decided I had not exaggerated.


We gave Deborah a thorough tour of the market once she arrived, and we all had the chance to talk with her (second from left). She wasn't able to enjoy the spread as she realized after the talk that her stomach felt unsettled, but she expressed her delight with what we had done and even bought a few things from our producers! We gave her a Local Roots t-shirt before she headed out, and she promised to wear it to her yoga class.

The rest of us lingered a while longer to enjoy more of the goodies (including raspberry ribbon bars, maple pumpkin bars, mushroom pate, spelt crackers, and artisan cheeses) and our own conversations, but all agreed it had been a fine party, even if it had been sparsely attended.

I still have some torte squares left over, so I will likely save those for the pastry case on Saturday. I feel better knowing that the excess of what I made (what hadn't been set out) will earn me a little extra money for no more work on market day.

And hopefully this torte will make someone else feel better, too!

Market Report: 1/30/10

How's this for setting a new record? This is easily the earliest Market Report I've been able to post in any year!

That's right, Local Roots reopened today -- but not as a farmers' market, as an honest-to-goodness store that features local foods. Producers didn't have to be on-site (though a handful were at least part of the time), and items for sale were arranged by general category (with shelves or tables for producers to display their products):


The new freezer and coolers housed locally-produced meats, cider, milk, butter, cheeses, and LOTS of eggs.


One row of display units featured racks of assorted baked goods (mine are on the top shelf here)...


...while the produce growers had the tilted tables in the middle of the floor loaded with potatoes, onions, squash, apples, and high tunnel roots and greens.


The new coffee bar does not yet have all the equipment needed for brewing freshly-ground locally-roasted coffee, but One Happy Guy offered samples of his coffees throughout the day.


At the other end of the coffee bar, a glass pastry case allowed local bakers to show off their special items: muffins, bagels, German lye rolls (oh, heaven!), and my specialty (far end of the top shelf), pains au chocolat, made with homemade croissant dough using local eggs, butter, and milk. (Sorry, I didn't get a better photo; they went fast!)


While we didn't have as many people stop in to shop as we did at the holiday farmers' markets, the crowd provided a steady stream of activity throughout the day, and most people seemed impressed with the store design.

As for me, I hung around for a while and did my shopping:


--a lye roll and hobo bread from The Photographer
--two everything bagels from another baker
--gorgeous and sweet Hakurei turnips from The Winter Harvesters
--cabbage from the Amish Farmer
--a Brie-style cheese from the Cheese Guy
--croutons from the Young Amish

I also had the fun of showing Emily from Eat Close to Home around the market, introducing her to a few of our producers and generally enjoying her enthusiasm for the place. When she headed out to return home, I followed her to drop my groceries at home before coming back to the market for a community garden discussion in the afternoon.

All in all, I did pretty well in sales: the only perishable item that didn't sell was a final loaf of bread, and the rest of what didn't sell (one bag of granola, some biscotti and cookies) will last until next week. The pains au chocolat were a very big hit, so I think I will have to make those again sometime (but not next week).

So here we go again -- another market season, starting early!