Category — Early Days: Brick Oven Baking

It was great to get back to baking last week. The weather has been remarkable all fall and that continued. Each week is a little colder but the sun keeps trying to warm us up!

Last week was a great example of what we mean when we say we’re still starting up. The combination of extra-fast rising and a too-hot oven meant our semolina loaf was not up to our standards. So, several of our customers got shorted on their order. It was double disappointing because we haven’t been able to share our favorite loaf at its best — yet.

This Week: we’ve received several requests for specific varieties so some of your favorites are making a re-appearance on our menu:

#1: Our “birdseed” loaf is a slightly sweet multi-grain loaf chock-full of roasted pumpkin, sunflower and flax seeds. The seeds add extra crunchiness and pack a lot of flavour!

Orange Boot Birdseed Bread, 800g Sandwich Loaf, $4.00

#2: Our Cheddar-Chive torpedo is a big favorite as well. Potatoes are added to the dough for extra smoothness, fresh chives are mixed in for a great herb flavour and aged cheddar cheese adds a lovely bite. This loaf looks great and tastes even better.

Note: The limiting ingredient here is the amount of fresh chives I can find in November. Please order as much as you like but we may have to limit quantities.

Cheddar-Chive Torpedo, 600g, $5.00

#3: We’ll bake it later in the day, when the oven’s cooler. We’ll have a dedicated person watching the dough rise. We’ll never give up! Pane Sicliano is on the menu again. This deep brown ‘S’ shaped loaf contains Durum flour in the dough and roasted sesame seeds on top.

Semolina Loaf (Pane Siciliano), 500g loaf, $3.50

As is our custom — please order by 6PM on Wednesday by sending an email to mark@madbaker.com or calling (306) 522-1592. Your bread will be ready for pickup between 3PM and 6PM on Friday, November 16 and can be picked up at 2904 Wascana Street. If you need the bread delivered I can do that after 6:00PM Friday but please call in advance to arrange for delivery.

We promise to reply and confirm every email order we receive. So if you don’t hear from us within 24 hours please call or email again.

=== What’s Happening at the Orange Boot? ===

We’re really pleased to announce that we have an official flour supplier! Bob Balfour at R&J Milling in Riceton, Saskatchewan is an organic grain farmer who mills several varieties of flour, including the unbleached white flour and semolina flour we’ve used over the past several weeks. We’re going to be working with Bob to test new flours over the next few months. Stay tuned!

Our construction work is still in progress, but we can’t wait any longer — we need to bake! Here’s hoping you’re in need of some bread this week too.

This is a ‘back to basic’ week. Three loaves which are the building blocks of all the bread we make. But don’t let that deter you! Sometimes the simplest things are the best:

#1: Our multigrain loaf is our best seller. OK, it’s also the most offered loaf but people really seem to like it. This large sandwich loaf contains corn meal, rolled oats, brown rice and honey in addition to wheat flour giving a complex and slightly sweet flavour. It’s the mainstay of our breakfast routine.

– Orange Boot Multigrain, 800g Sandwich Loaf, $4.00

#2: Our semolina loaf (Pane Siciliano) doesn’t the love it deserves — until you taste it. This deep brown ‘S’ shaped loaf contains Durum flour in the dough and roasted sesame seeds on top. It’s Cindy’s favorite. Yummy!

– Semolina Loaf (Pane Siciliano), 500g loaf, $3.50

#3: There’s nothing ordinary about our Pain Ordinaire – our french loaf is given an extra slow rise to extract the most flavour from our organic flour.

– French Loaf (Pain Ordinaire), 700g Batard, $3.50

As is our custom — please order by 6PM on Wednesday by sending an email to mark@madbaker.com or calling (306) 522-1592. Your bread will be ready for pickup between 3PM and 6PM on Friday, November 9 and can be picked up at 2904 Wascana Street. If you need the bread delivered I can do that after 6:00PM Friday but please call in advance to arrange for delivery.

We promise to reply and confirm every email order we receive. So if you don’t hear from us within 24 hours please call or email again.

Best wishes this week!

=== What’s Happening at the Orange Boot? ===

So we have power in the garage and we have a furnace in the garage. But we don’t have power connected to the furnace yet. Brrr!

Our week away from baking meant we put a great many hours into getting the prep / pickup area cleaned up, but there is still a lot of work to do. So pickup is in the house for at least another week. It’s getting there, though.

One of the problems people have been mentioning is not getting emails from the Orange Boot. The main reason is that I forget to add you to my Outlook email list. That’s pretty risky for both of us — we miss out on a regular customer and you miss out on good bread. Booo!

I think I can fix that. Now you can subscribe to updates from the website. Just check over on the sidebar where it says ‘Subscribe.’ Over there, on the right hand side of the screen —-> See the two links? “Subscribe by email” will 100% guarantee that you will get every single update on this site sent to your email inbox. “Subscribe in a reader” will let you get updates sent to your favorite RSS feed reader (if you don’t know about RSS, just stick with email.)

Either way, in three clicks or less you’ll be guaranteed never to miss an update, and never miss a chance to get some great bread. Yay!

Hello Bread Lovers!

I hope you enjoyed the bread last week. We had our busiest day yet with several new customers joining the Orange Boot list and a great many repeat orders, but we’re also getting the hang of the daily bake schedule now too. So even though we baked the most bread yet, we still had a chance to chat with everyone. That really makes the sore shoulders worthwhile!

We are bringing back some old favourites this week — a nice mix of bread styles to satisfy the most particular craving:

#1: Our multigrain loaf received a huge amount of positive feedback two weeks ago. This large sandwich loaf contains corn meal, rolled oats, brown rice and honey in addition to wheat flour giving a complex and slightly sweet flavour. If you didn’t get a chance to make toast with this bread last time, please get enough to try it this time. It makes the best toast ever!

– Orange Boot Multigrain, 800g Sandwich Loaf, $4.00

#2: Our semolina loaf (Pane Siciliano) was turned out a little rustic looking on Week #1 but the flavour was spot on. This deep brown ‘S’ shaped loaf contains Durum flour in the dough and roasted sesame seeds on top. Yummy!

– Semolina Loaf (Pane Siciliano), 500g loaf, $3.50

#3: I couldn’t keep enough Saskatchewan Sourdough around last week, so we’re making more this week. The wild yeast starter is strong and ready to perform for you once again. We add some whole wheat and rye flour for extra (not too sour) flavour.

– Saskatchewan Sourdough (Pain au Levain), 700g Boule, $3.50

#4: There’s nothing ordinary about our Pain Ordinaire – our french loaf is given an extra slow rise to extract the most flavour from our organic flour.

– French Loaf (Pain Ordinaire), 700g Batard, $3.50

As is our custom — please order by 6PM on Wednesday by sending an email to mark@madbaker.com or calling (306) 522-1592. Your bread will be ready for pickup between 3PM and 6PM on Friday, October 26 and can be picked up at 2904 Wascana Street. If you need the bread delivered I can do that after 6:00PM Friday but please call in advance to arrange for delivery.

*Please Note* — we promise to reply and confirm every email order we receive. So if you don’t hear from us within 24 hours please call or email again. We had a couple orders slip through the cracks and I still don’t know how that happened.

Best wishes this week!

Mark and Cindy

Ben and Robyn (chief order takers and phone support!)

mark@madbaker.com / cindy@madbaker.com

522-1592

http://orangeboot.wordpress.com/

=== What’s Happening at the Orange Boot? ===

Gas work got delayed by a week but we’re told it will be Thursday. Touch wood.

We’re working on getting bread pictures on the web site so you can see what you’re ordering. Hoping to get a start on that this week.

The mid week essay didn’t happen last week. Sorry about that. I think I over-reached. Right now we’re focused on getting better order tracking so we don’t miss you. That and pictures.

When Cindy and I decided it was time to start spreading the word about our brick oven bread, we saw this as a way to make stronger connections — with our ingredients, the baking process and especially with our friends. My dream is to have a weekly chat with each of you to stay connected while at the same time sharing some of the very best food we can make to sustain you during the week. While we’re getting there, we haven’t exactly reached the ultimate dream state and last Friday was an extreme case of our all too standard craziness. We had trenches, electricians, gas fitters, hockey practice and a birthday party all converge at the same time Friday while we were also baking over three dozen loaves. Suffice to say I didn’t get a chance to chat with some of you near as much as I would have liked. I promise to make it up to you this week, if you have the time of course.

The electrical work is done and the trench is filled in (YAY!!) but we still don’t have heat / cooling in the prep area, so we’re restricting things to three varieties again this week. But don’t let that dampen things — the three loaves we’re offering will amaze, astound and delight! Or at the very least, taste really, really good.

#1: There has been a wee clamour to add some whole grain / different grain bread to the Orange Boot repertoire, so I spent some time delving deep into my notes for some grainier, seedier options. Whole grain baking is a different beast, especially without any commercial additives, high speed mixers or high humidity proofing, but I think we have a loaf that, while not exactly granola, is pretty darn hearty:

– Orange Boot Birdseed Bread: a big ol’ sandwich loaf with roasted pumpkin, sunflower and flax seeds for a crunchy texture and nutty flavour. A solid base for your favorite sandwich toppings or to dunk in a fall soup. 800g loaf, $4.00

#2: Saskatchewan Sourdough (Pain au Levain): If I could make only one bread for you, this would be it. I’ve been nurturing a wild yeast starter for over 6 weeks getting ready to introduce this king of breads and the time is now. You will be amazed at the delicate flavours the wild yeast evokes from only flour, water and salt. Its’ flavour is much milder than Boudin’s in San Francisco, so if you think you don’t like sourdough bread, please try ours. You’ll be glad you did!

– Saskatchewan Sourdough: 700g Boule, $3.50

#3: Finally, for those of you who like ’stuff’ in your bread but not ’seeds’, we offer up an Onion and Herb Ciabatta. A loaf so fragrant you’ll wonder how it could ever taste as good as it smells, until you taste it!

– Onion and Herb Ciabatta: 500g rustic loaf, $3.50

As has been our custom so far — please order by 6PM on Wednesday by sending an email to mark@madbaker.com or calling (306) 522-1592. Your bread will be ready for pickup at 2904 Wascana Street between 3PM and 6PM on Friday, October 19. If you need the bread delivered I can do that after 6:00PM Friday but please call in advance to arrange for delivery.

Best wishes this week!

Thank you to everyone who ordered Orange Boot Bread last week. It was a great pleasure to bake for you. I know of one batch that made it to Saskatoon and another went to Calgary; I hope your bread complemented whatever Thanksgiving meal you had, wherever you had it.

This week we’re introducing two new loaves which I think you’ll enjoy:

• 500g Ciabatta: This is one of my favorite little loaves with a paper thin crust and amazing taste. The rustic shape makes it as visually appealing as it is tasty. ($3.00)
• 700g Multigrain: This complex loaf has it all – wheat bran, corn meal, oats and even some brown rice. A little honey and brown sugar provide a touch of sweetness too. This loaf makes the best toast ever! ($3.50)

We’re back to our regular Friday bakes after the long weekend — please order by 6PM on Wednesday by sending an email to mark@madbaker.com or calling (306) 522-1592. Your bread will be ready for pickup between 3PM and 6PM on Friday, October 12. If you need the bread delivered I can do that after 8:00PM Friday but please call to arrange for delivery.

One note: We’re doing some renovations on the preparation area this week. While our contractors do great work they are a little loose on dates, which might throw a wrench into the Friday bake schedule. We’ll contact you directly if there is any issue with your order.

This afternoon I realized that a great many customers didn’t receive the invitation for Thanksgiving bread that I emailed out on Saturday. My initial reaction was relief since I was starting to get worried about the lack of orders but it seems now that it was just the case that nobody knew we were open. Wow, talk about the best kept secret in town!

I suspect the problem was that I put the word ‘Order’ in the subject line, or perhaps it was my sending email address. If your spam filter allows white-listing, I sure would appreciate you putting mark@madbaker.com in your ‘allowed list.’ If this becomes a lingering problem I’ll investigate a bulk email service.

Subscribing to this web site (using the subscription links in the sidebar) is one way to make sure you always get the latest updates from the bakery.

Thanksgiving is coming up quickly. If you’re like me, that means a big turkey dinner with all the fixings and lots of family and friends to share in the day. But turkeys can be a challenge to cook — why not take some of the pressure off your turkey basting by serving some fresh, hand made bread?

Orange Boot is offering four excellent accompaniments to your Thanksgiving Dinner.

• 700g French Boule: This large round loaf has a surprisingly complex flavour for a lean dough. ($3.50)
• 500g French Batard: Larger than a baguette, smaller than a boule, this torpedo shaped loaf packs all the flavour in a smaller package ($3.00)
• 500g Semolina Loaf Pane Siciliano: Durum semolina flour and sesame seeds add extra flavour to the loaf. The ‘S’ shape adds visual appeal as well! ($3.50)
• 700g Cheddar Chive Torpedo: Aged cheddar, fresh chives and local potatoes combine to make a loaf which is surprisingly soft and packed with flavour! ($5.00)

As always, our bread is made from locally milled organic flours. The dough is built over two days to extract the maximum flavour from the grain and is baked in our wood fired brick oven.

Please order by 5PM Wednesday, October 3 for pickup or delivery on Saturday the 6th. To order, either call (306-522-1592) or email

I’m not 100% sure that The Great Man actually knows about us, but I took advantage of a really cool viral promo about his new album to share this with some friends.

I can’t embed the video (at least I can’t figure it out) but here’s a link:

Short Link

Dang. I wish I could embed it. Sorry. The link is pretty cool though…