Winter is my dreamtime. It's the time to follow my curiosity, to explore new places and ideas, to slow down my days and speed up my mind. There's so much I want to learn this winter that the three months till the farmers market starts again already feel overstuffed, stretched taut with ideas and plans. After market last Saturday I headed east to the winter idyll of the Methow, where I spent the sunlit hours rediscovering my ski stride, and the long evenings reading by the fire. I've been visiting this cabin in the pines since the days of sled runs and snow forts, and the beauty of the valley still feels new and wonderful every time I return. Between serene hours spent with Stafford and James Rebanks, I started my initial foray into the world of masonry wood-fired ovens with Scott and Wing's classic, The Bread Builders, and a new book by Richard Miscovich, an East Coast baker I met at the Skagit Grain Gathering. I'm enormously excited and a little nervous about my grand winter project: a community wood-fired oven. I've been thinking about building a wood-fired bread oven for years, and love the idea of making a place where food and fire can bring people together. If you have ideas about oven design, funding/sources for materials, or ways to make this oven a valuable community resource, I'd love to talk! I have lots of notes and ideas, but no fully formed plans.
And finally, I'm going to do a bake the first week of January. Stay tuned to find out how to order your bread (and perhaps pastry)! Happy Merry Holidays. Sophie I had imagined I might write an especially thoughtful newsletter for the last market of the year, but here we are on Saturday morning and I find myself too staring and stupid with sleep to know my own thoughts, never mind sharing them eloquently with others. In a fitting end to the baking season, I spent most of the night in the kitchen, came home for a nap, and am now rallying to go back to pack up for market. Yes! Packing! Bicycle trailers! Efficiency! (at least, I hope that's how it goes) Out of all those hours in the kitchen came a small mountain of treats, from Smoky Vollkornbrot (finally), to a strange and extravagant pie creation and endless cookies. I even remembered to make a few extra stollen, so if you didn't place your order in time, don't despair, get to market early and you may still enjoy the most decadent of breads. See you soon!
Sophie The end of the year, and of my baking season, is inching ever closer. Two more markets (including today), and then... I don't quite know what. I have endless and extravagant winter plans (community woodfired oven! cold smoker! bakery visits! bike trip!) but since none of them are yet pinned down, the coming months still feel wonderfully and intimidatingly open. I'm sure I'll fit in a few big bakes between all those projects and adventures, so don't worry, you don't have to stockpile three whole months of bread. But since I don't yet know when I'll be baking again, or how I'll be selling/distributing, you might want to hoard just a little. To that end, I'm taking pre-orders for the last market, so that if you want to take home extra bread (or pastry!) you won't clear me out and deprive all the other customers of their glutenous satisfaction. If you want a 2 kg loaf of Mountain Rye or Smoky Vollkornbrot (yes! I found a smoker to borrow!), a 1.6 kg sandwich loaf of Red & White, or an unusual number of any of my other staples, please let me know by the middle of next week. And don't forget to place your holiday order by next Tuesday! With all that business out of the way, you can go home and curl up with a steamy mug of milky tea (or black coffee, if you prefer), a sweet treat, and a book, while the rain drips down the windows. I have all the usual treats, plus a wonderfully decadent winter cake, a sort of harvest celebration, stuffed with apples, raisins, and hazelnuts, layered with pear butter and red wine plum butter, and wrapped up in a rich apple cider buttercream (oh my!). And I have all the best toast breads for you, too: cinnamon raisin, twice fermented apple & oat, mountain rye. I'm already dreaming of my evening book date and the sun's not even up. I came home from Henderson's the other day with a fantastically tall stack of new (used) books to complement the teetering pile beside my bed, lay down on the rug in my room with the books spread all around me and my tea at my elbow and read for hours. Sharon Olds' devastating chronicle of the end of her marriage, Stag's Leap, cover to cover, and then a bit of James Rebanks' tranquil, clear-eyed book on family and farming in the British Lake District, and finally an indulgent trip into the charming, witty world of Georgette Heyer till I was laughing out loud. It was perfect. I hope your day is just as sweet.
Sophie The sun will be up in five minutes, and I can just hear the seagulls over the buzz of the refrigerators. The morning feels in-between and disoriented, like all my hours in the kitchen are getting tangled, and I may have misplaced myself in time. Yesterday was a confusion of baking and the holiday pop-up market, too many cookies, and a kitchen so cold the last batch of bread wouldn't rise. When I got back to the kitchen at 8 pm to find the dough still heavy and slow, I gave into the siren call of a sit-down dinner, threw a stack of proofing baskets in my panniers, strapped the 12 kg dough tub to my rack, and rode home, where the dough responded happily to the warmth of an oven light, and then spent the night rising in its baskets on the front porch. And now, some hours later, the bread and I are back in the kitchen and preparing for another market. The weather today is supposed to be truly nasty, but you live in the Pacific Northwest, and love the rain! Right? I have some lovely holiday specials (gingerbread! shortbread! oh my!), all wrapped up and ready to take home. They'll make an excellent host(ess) gift, or a treat for yourself on a windy weekend, while you settle down with the Sunday paper and your morning coffee, though I wouldn't recommend eating a dozen shortbread by yourself in one sitting, no matter how wintry the weather. And speaking of the holidays, it's time to put in your holiday order! You can download and print the order sheet or pick up a copy at the market today.
See you soon! Sophie |
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