Mobile Bakery
I just met a truly ingenious baker at the Toledo (Oregon - a 10K pop mill town) farmers' market. He has converted a small van into a mobile bakery, jury-rigging most of the equipment himself.
He has an old 3 deck oven with steam injection from a cup of water coupled with a windscreen wiper device activated by touching 2 bare wires together; a retarding /refrigeration unit worked by an old single room air conditioner; a home rigged proofer and, the only new commercial item, a Globe mixer which is the pride of his life. All the non-standard equipment runs on 12V electricity!
Most of his products are sourdough & he sells 2# sandwich loaves for $3 to make sure children in this economically depressed area can afford good food. He is a great enthusiast and a tribute to American inventiveness!
Patsy
Patsy, Were you able to take any photos of this rig? It sounds absolutely ingenious. I am not interested in copying it but I would love to see how he squeezed and wired everything in.
I'll ask him if I may take photos when I go to the market next week.
LIke Candango, would love to see photos and am not interested in copying. But love to see creativity at work!!
.... sounds cool!
Patsy,
Please pass congratulations on to Glen when you see him next. That is one seriously clever rig he has put together, especially wiring everything to 12 v. No doubt he has rigged up some heavy duty spare batteries or else he has the motor running when he fires up the oven, but it is still a remarkable contraption. I look forward to the 01 October YWL article.
Bob
Glen,
Congratulations. Your ingenuity and determination should be an example to the rest of us. Your shuttlebus bakery is a great idea come to life, and you are fortunate that the state regulators gave you the necessary approvals. I feel that here in Virginia you might have had more of a bureaucratic fight on your hands. Well done.
Bob
That is one sweet-looking set-up you've got there, bro. Big kudos to you for ushering a tricky project forward, and for using your know-how and can-do to bring good, affordable bread to the people.
Has local TV news done a story on you? If not, I'll point them in your direction when you say the word.
Ooooh... I found it! Thanks and great page and photo's.