arlo's blog

I love the new bakery I am working at. Everyday I get to work by 2-23oish a.m. and bake till 10 a.m. Five days a week, sometimes six. I experiment with new ideas, new shaping methods and have just so much fun. Though after work I walk down the road and attend school for another 8-9 hours. So I am pretty tired out and never really get the chance to bake at home, so lately my blogs have been lacking and all I can do is comment on the wonderful works I have been seeing on TFL lately.

After nearly two good years at my local Great Harvest, two weeks ago I packed up, called it good and moved to a new venture down the road. It was hard to leave good friends and a great boss, but after talking to my Chef/Professor at college and my fiance, I decided I had hit the wall, learned everything I could at the bakery and because of that, it was time to move on from my current bakery. In order to grow and develop I needed to start working on other skills and making different loaves daily.

Though I haven't posted about bread in a while, I have my reasons. No, I am still working at the bakery baking bread daily which hasn't made me bread-sick. I still am studying to complete my degree (end of this fall it looks like!) but I make time for the important things in life (like baking!). But what is keeping me away from bread is that I am working towards my American Culinary Federation Certified Pastry Chef title, which I hope to obtain this year. What that means is I have been baking a lot of genoise cakes, cookies and attempting Bavarian cream.

A good bostock turns my day around 180 degrees. From wrong to right, goodbye to hello, ok to fan-freaking-tastic.

Just yesterday happened to be one of those times I needed a bostock to help me out. While my other classmates are out and having fun during spring break, I am still at home baking each morning at  3 a.m. for work (and home!), trying to catch up on arranging our new apartment, and getting an early start with semester end projects. Not really much of a spring break, considering it is still in the thirties outside too!

Before I went and watched my boss's dogs and house while he was away on vacation, I managed to bake a few loaves of bread that I did not get a chance to blog about.

The first loaf was a 100% whole wheat mash bread from Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads.

The past few loaves I've baked since I have moved into my new apartment at the start of the new year have been variations on the Tartine Bread whole wheat dough. Out of the five or six whole wheat loaves I have baked, I have been very, very pleased with the results. More often the crumb is remarkably open for such high percentage of whole wheat, the crumb is moist, the tang, though not assertive, lies in the background for an added depth of flavor. All in all, a lovely loaf of bread I am quite proud of and have shared with friends and family with high praise.

The ramping up for the holiday sales started about two weeks ago, but this week was definitely the bulk of it all. Each day started at the crack of the middle of the night, 1 a.m. when I awoke to get ready for the big days of baking starting promptly at 2 a.m. all this week. That meant going to bed at about 5 p.m at night, and focusing on being rested for those 12 hour days of baking.