Home of Brick Oven Bread in Regina, Saskatchewan

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…