Micro-bakery (sourdough)

[faz]

I know there is at least one other person on here (Matt) who runs a micro-bakery from their home, so I thought I would start a thread on the subject.

For the last 5 or 6 months we have been baking bread and home and selling it in the local area. So far we have been baking to order and delivering direct to the customers homes but this coming weekend we are doing a farmers market in the next town and it looks like I'll be pulling an all-nighter to make sure we have enough product to sell.

We mostly make sour-dough and up until recently we were using just a single domestic fan oven, though recently we bought a second fan oven on EBay so we now have an oven sitting on the kitchen table until I get somewhere set up where we can store it securely.

I am amazed at how much interest there has been without any real advertising, we even supply a nice restaurant in the next town with white sourdough for their bruschetta.

Very tiring (as I also work a normal full-time job too) but very satisfying )

Is anyone else tempted to do the same thing, or maybe a different food related micro-business like chutneys, jams, etc.

[bookemdanno]

yep, i'm tempted to get out of the day job!

anything...

[rivergirl]

When I come back to England I am itching to go on a charcuterie course, I make all our chutneys, jams, syrups etc and some of them get sold for charity .
Good luck with your venture I really hope that it takes off for you!!

[firebeard]

What you are doing sounds great, I hope the framers market goes well for you.

Mick Hartley produced an amazing amount of bread from his micro bakery in a tiny terraced house in Bethesda. I think the main focus of his efforts now is teaching and promoting sourdough baking. He is an excellent baker with an amazing hands on knowledge of sourdough bread.

Here is a link to his blog: thepartisanbaker.com/

Joe

[faz]

Cheers guys and thanks for the link firebeard

I may even post some pics of our stall on Sunday (if I remember to take any!!)

[faz]

Our plain white sourdough recipe

This is my tried and tested recipe - quantities are based on Allinsons Strong White flour, other flours may need slightly more or less water.

1. Pot of viable starter kept in fridge
2. 24hrs before baking, make the preferment, using 110g water and 110g flour, plus 1 dessert spoon of starter.
3. After 24 hours, add 280g water, 510g flour and 7g salt, mix well and knead lightly (there is no need to carry out kneading in a way that makes the veins on the side of your head bulge!)
4. Stretch and fold the dough occasionally (once or twice is ok!) as the dough ferments - this helps develop further strength in the dough and also improves homogeneity of temperature within the dough
5. Once the dough is ready shape the dough and place it in a banneton for a final rise
6. Once risen, turn out on to a hot baking tray, slash top with a sharp blade and bake at 230 deg C for 10 minutes, then 210 deg C for a further 35 minutes. Add water to the oven when you start to ensure a good bloom - either by putting a tray in the base of the oven and tipping water in to it, or by spraying water in and then quickly shutting the door.
7. Repeat until the starter is nearly empty
8. When there is no longer enough starter left to make a loaf, refresh it by adding equal weights of water and flour to the starter jar (in my smallish kilner jar I add 225g flour, 225g water). If you add too much you may come back to find that your starter is trying to escape the jar and is all over your worktop, dresser etc.
9. Mix well
10. Leave out for 24 hours - the starter should ferment all the added material and become bubbly and a bit thinner.
11. Pop back in the fridge and use whenever you like for baking, starting at step 2 above.
12. Enjoy beautiful additive free bread ;D


The pre-ferment is done at ambient temperatures. You can also ferment the final shaped dough in the fridge overnight or longer if you like a long ferment, or even if it just fits in with your schedule better.

Patience really is a virtue with sourdough, as it works much slower than bread made with baker's yeast.

[petec]

Hi Faz

one more question .....
how long do you usually ferment the dough at stage 4 ?

cheers
Pete

[faz]

Depends on the temperature, but if your kitchen is at around 20ish degrees it should be done in no more than 4 hours. It can be very variable depending on the temperature of the room, the starter, the water you add and how strong your starter is. If you use warmish water (say 20% from the hot tap, 80% from the cold) you'll at least be sure your fermentation will go at a reasonable pace. It is definitely not as predictable as bakers yeast, hence the comment about patience being a virtue!

[petec]

cheers Faz,

I'm pretty pleased so far with my sourdough efforts but your are definitely on the next level and I'd like to achieve that consistency.

I'll let you know how i get on

thanks again for sharing
Rgds
Pete

[faz]

It would be good to see some pics Pete, hope your bake goes well

I am off to bed now, then will be up at 3am to finish off baking before going to the market. Looks like I'll be a bit tired tomorrow

[petec]

Hope you had a very profitable and productive day Faz,

using your recipe and my sourdough culture ..here's todays sourdough boule result !

I had to retard overnight in FRidge and prove for a few hours this morning but has turned out great - cant wait to tuck into at Dinner tonight

Scale is difficult to guage but the loaf has risen well and is about 5" deep - just what I have been aiming for.
thanks again for a good recipe.

cheers
Pete

[faz]

Hey that looks great Pete! Glad the recipe works well for you

We sold out within 2 hours so we were well chuffed, it was an early morning to finish off the baking (3am!) but it was a really enjoyable day.

From this :



To this :

[petec]

Fabulous - love the before and after pics - must have been a very rewarding day.
Hope you're cracking open a bottle of beer or a glass of wine for your efforts !

Just eaten some of the sourdough boule with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic glaze, to go with the homemade fish pie for Dinner - really nice !

next preferment is on the go already.....

Cheers
Pete

[faz]

I had a little nap this afternoon and now I am just about to go and make dough for a morning delivery. No rest for the wicked!!

Sounds like you'll be baking regularly too.

[minesamojito]

Nice one, hoe all goes well with this, the bread certainly looks stunning.
Cheers
Marcus