Orange Boot Bakery

[Here's a post that went out to our Bootnik email list earlier today. Not a Bootnik yet? Well then you're missing out! If you enter the contest below, check "send me email updates" and you won't miss a thing.]

Orange Boot Bakery’s First Birthday

As I mentioned in our last email, today is our 1st Birthday!  A year of great bread and yummy baked goods.

Today (Wednesday, January 18)  at the bakery, every customer will receive a special birthday treat to say thanks for the great support you’ve shown us this year.

We will also be having a larger blow out on Saturday February 4 when we announce the winner of our very special birthday contest (more on that below!)

Old Grain, New Bread

We are also pleased to announce that we are working on a new loaf of bread for you: Orange Boot Spelt. Spelt is an ancient cousin of wheat that is making a big comeback these days. While it presents a few challenges to farmers, millers and bakers, we think we’ve developed a tasty loaf which stays true to our ‘no additives’ philosophy. We get the yummy from organic spelt flour, water, salt and yeast. Nothing else.

We have a few loaves available at the bakery today to sample as Birthday Bread and will be offering the loaf on a regular basis soon (we’re still fine tuning the loaf and working out the day(s) to bake it.)

Orange Boot Bakery’s “True Friends” Contest

Some of our best memories are of meals shared with friends and family.  A loaf of bread, a bottle of wine, a bit of cheese and we were set to talk the night away.  Sometimes we’d tell the same stories we’d been sharing for years.  Other times we’d plot out small scale revolution.  Once in a while we’d share our dream of opening a bakery.

Friends and family are core to why we opened Orange Boot Bakery — Cindy and I get to share our love of bread with new friends in the neighbourhood and you get to share simple but tasty meals with your family and friends. It’s an opportunity to make a deeper connection with a child, reconnect with a neighbour, or even rekindle a romance.

So when Cindy and I started planning how to celebrate our first birthday as a proper bakery, we wanted to give something special to our new friends and celebrate YOUR special friends too. Here’s what we came up with.

Part 1: Win Free Bread for a Year!

That’s right. One lucky Bootnik will win free bread for an entire year. That’s two loaves of organic, hand made artisan bread from Orange Boot Bakery every week from Feb 7, 2012 to Feb 2, 2013. The way we see it, by the end of 2012 the lucky winner will be able to sample the wide variety of bread we offer. They will also have two opportunities per week to have friends over for a nice visit, with something ready to serve as a snack.

Not bad eh? We thought that was being pretty darn friendly. But the more we thought about it, we began to wonder if that was all we could do to celebrate great friends. So we had another idea.

Part 2: Free Bread for your Best Friend!

Hmmm…this might take it to a whole ‘nother level!

Here’s what we’ll do. When you enter to the Bootnik “True Friends” contest, you get to nominate a friend. Tell us why your friend is special to you and if you win, your friend will win free bread for a year too!

Two Ways To Enter

a) click here and enter online.  Fill in the form, nominate your friend and you’re in!

b) fill in a form in person at the bakery.

But be quick! Contest entries close at 6PM on Friday, February 3, 2012. So enter now!

[this post was automatically emailed to our beloved Bootniks.  Not a Bootnik?  Oh my!  Better sign up now!]

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great, relaxing season. At Orange Boot we had a welcome rest after an extremely busy December. It was so great to see so many people buying bread and cookies to complement your holiday meal or to give as a gift. It’s as if we were invited to 1000 Christmas dinners this year!

Happy Birthday to…Us!

Wednesday, January 18 is Orange Boot Bakery’s first birthday. I know! It’s hard to believe we’ve been baking for you for an entire year now. Cindy and I have never worked harder, worked longer, or had as much stress, worry, aches and pains as we’ve had over the past year. We’ve also never experimented as much, learned as much, met as many great people, and had as much fun. The bakery has changed a lot in a year and we’re very excited about our plans for Year 2.

To celebrate our birthday we’re having a special 1st Birthday Party on Wednesday, January 18. There will be special treats for everyone who comes out to visit and we’ll announce a brand new addition to our bread lineup too.

We will also be launching a very special contest on January 18th as well. We’ll announce it first at the store and later online. We’re very excited about it and I’m sure you will be too. I don’t want to give away too much but you might want to spend the next few days thinking about who your best friends are.

That’s it for now. Happy New Year and I hope to see you on the 18th for our birthday party (if not sooner!)

Best wishes,

Mark, Cindy, Ben and Robyn Dyck

Orange Boot Bakery
3904 Gordon Road, Regina, SK S4S 6Y3
(306) 584-BOOT (2668)

Now that winter is finally here we are issuing a updated Bake Schedule.

We’ve introduced two new specialty products into the weekly rotation — German Pretzels and Black Olive Sourdough.

Cindy and Kim are also re-working the muffin schedule to get more variety and yumminess.

Check it out!

Link to the PDF: Winter 2012  Bake Schedule

The following letter went out to everyone on the Bootnik Email List on Tuesday. Don’t miss out! You can sign up to the best darn bakery newsletter with “Orange” in the title here!

We’re in the full holiday swing at the bakery these days. The Christmas playlist is humming (Patti likes her carols with Peruvian flute while Mark is waffling between Christmas with the Rat Pack and Bob Dylan’s Christmas album), we’ve got a special afternoon cookie crew sprinkling and piping like Santa’s elves and our noon hour braiding line is so efficient it should be put to music. You could say we’ve got the spirit!

Special Holiday Cookies

Each day till Christmas Eve we will be offering a selection of tempting christmas cookies. Stars, stockings (orange boots, you know), bears and gingerbread men will tempt your tastebuds.

We are also offering one of our regular classic cookies every day too in case you’re looking for something more traditional. Don’t worry — we have muffins too!

Special Holiday Bread

This year, Cindy and I want to share a loaf with you that has been part of our family’s Christmas for many years now. It’s a Braided Holiday Loaf — sweet, rich and silky, chock full of cranberries and walnuts and with a delightful hint of orange.

This attractive loaf is perfect for a house party, a gift, a pot luck supper or the main feast.

We are making very limited quantities every day up until Christmas Eve. Don’t wait — they freeze amazingly well — so get yours today!

Special Holiday Hours

The entire Orange Boot Bakery team will be going hard to make as much bread, as many muffins and all the cookies we can make up to and including Christmas Eve. The hours are long and the work is hard but we really don’t want any of you to miss out.

Come 3pm on Christmas Eve though, we are going to be closed for a while so the bakers and staff can spend time with our families. We will be closed from 3PM on December 24 till Tuesday January 2, 2012. Of course that means we’re closed New Year’s Eve, so stock up early if you’re having people over!

Special Holiday Thanks

In closing, we want to say Thank You once again for the outstanding feedback, support and good vibes you have sent our way since we opened the bakery back in January.

For years we’ve dreamed about making new friends and sharing our love of great bread through our own bake shop. Now our dream has come true — we get to help make hundreds of holiday celebrations a tiny bit better. What a thrill! Thank you for letting us do this.

Best wishes and Happy Holidays!

The weather is getting a teeny tiny bit cooler so we thought it was high time to release a new bake schedule.

Hamburger buns take a holiday. Lunch box buns are ready for school and work lunches.

Hearty specialty breads every day.

New sweets. Old favourites.

This new schedule has it all!

Link to the PDF: Autumn Bake Schedule – Website Version

The message below went out to our Bootnik email list early this morning.  Not a Bootnik?  Sign up here!

Hello Bread Lovers!

What a wild and crazy September we’ve had!  I hope you are all enjoying this amazing warm autumn weather.  I hope you are able to spend some time outdoors; I can’t imagine a better way to spend an hour than a leisurely walk around the neighbourhood.

This time around we have three big things to share with you:

• Notes from the Baker’s Bench
• Giving Thanks
• Thanksgiving Week Specials

So let’s get started!

Notes from the Baker’s Bench

I’ll be honest:  September has been an exhausting month for Cindy and me.  Most all of our staff went back to school by the end of August and it took much longer than expected to find the right people to join the Orange Boot team.  And in the middle of September, our baker Patti broke her wrist and will be out of commission for several weeks.  All that meant 16 hour shifts for Mark and Cindy and delays in introducing new baked yumminess.   No fun there.

But not all was gloom and doom.  We now have a consistent rotation of specialty loaves and rolls every day and we’re getting amazing feedback about them:

• Tuesday:  Roasted Garlic Sourdough (loaves), Semolina with Fennel and Raisins (rolls and loaves)
• Wednesday:  Roasted Potato Sourdough, Multigrain Carrot Rolls
• Thursday:  Wild Rice Multigrain (loaves), Flax Currant (rolls and loaves), Onion Poppyseed Rolls
• Friday:  Walnut Raisin Sourdough, Cheese Buns
• Saturday:  Walnut Raisin Sourdough, Soft White Pull Apart Rolls

We also introduced a trio of yummy buns in time for back-to-school and back-to-work.  We call them Lunch Box Buns because they are the perfect size for a nice sandwich or two for lunch.  They are available in white, 100% whole wheat and a blend we call Country Style.  Mmmm…

As October arrived, so did our staff!  We’re slowly building our team so we can bake more for you:

• Heather and Sorena serving customers
• Olivia and Ethan baking bread and treats
• Trish will be joining the morning bake team by mid-October and hopefully Patti will be back baking before Christmas.
• Ben, Robyn and Jessica will be also helping out on Saturdays, as their hectic schedules permit.

Giving Thanks

As we begin our ninth month of baking for you, Cindy and I want to make sure you know just how thankful we are to have you as a friend and a Bootnik.  You are the reason we’re keeping these crazy hours!

• Thank you for the 22,000 times someone has come in to the bakery since we opened in January;
• Thank you to our regulars who visit us 2-3 times every week for fresh bread and baked treats;
• Thank you for telling us such amazing stories about how you shared our bread at baby showers, or church meetings, or family gatherings, or when you took our bread to Calgary or Winnipeg or Costa Rica;
• Thank you for telling your friends and co-workers about Orange Boot Bakery;
• Thank you for calling and emailing when we made something you especially enjoy;
• And thank you for calling and emailing when we make something you *don’t* enjoy.  It’s your thoughtful, specific, constructive criticism that pushes us to be better bakers.

Thanksgiving Week Specials

Through all the turmoil in September we have been planning out something special for Thanksgiving .  I think we have a really great selection of special items lined up for you:

• We are bringing back our Pumpkin Pecan muffins for fall.  They will be available all week leading up to Thanksgiving before entering our weekly rotation.
• We will be baking extra Soft White Pull Apart rolls on Friday and Saturday.   They are the perfect dinner roll to accompany your Thanksgiving Dinner.  ($4.00 for a block of six rolls)
• We will also be making a very special Thanksgiving loaf on Friday and Saturday.  It’s a Buckwheat Pear loaf:  the unique taste of buckwheat flour combined with pears soaked in white wine, all baked up in a pear shaped loaf.  Here’s a picture. ($7 per loaf)

Please note!  The Pull Apart rolls and Buckwheat Pear loaves are available by special order only!

We only have so much oven space (and only so many pears) and don’t want to leave anyone high and dry the day before Thanksgiving.  So here how it will work:

If you would like a Buckwheat Pear loaf or Pull Apart rolls for Thanksgiving:

1. send us an email at [email protected] and put Thanksgiving Order in the subject line.
2. let us know how many pull apart rolls (six packs) and/or Buckwheat Pear loaves you would like
3. be sure to include your name and a contact phone number
4. tell us whether you will be picking up on Friday or Saturday.

Orders for Friday pickup must be received by 6PM on Wednesday, October 5

Orders for Saturday pickup must be received by 6PM on Thursday, October 6

Again, quantities are limited so please order as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Final Thoughts

Every day, we are blown away by feedback about our bread and the amazing stories we hear from people coming into the bakery.  We truly love being part of your weekly routine.  Thank you so much!  We can’t wait to see you again.

Best wishes,

Mark, Cindy, Ben and Robyn Dyck

Orange Boot Bakery
3904 Gordon Road, Regina, SK S4S 6Y3
(306) 584-BOOT (2668)
https://orangeboot.ca/

Saturday, July 30 is the last day at the bakery for our summer intern, Teisha Huff.  She’s heading back to Calgary after two months working with Mark and Patti on the bread shift and helping Cindy and Heather with cookies and muffins.

Teisha’s been a great help; we’ve been able to get our morning bread out much faster and she passed along several tips and techniques picked up from the excellent instructors at SAIT. Hopefully we were able to teach her a thing or two as well; at minimum we’ve improved her knowledge of women’s soccer and the Tour de France!

When we asked Teisha what she thought of her time with us, she mentioned how much she enjoyed the Breadville Open House (especially teaching some of our guests how to shape baguettes!) and the morning the Ethel Milliken kindergartens came to visit and shape buns.

She also said that working in a new bakery was a great opportunity to see how things change every day, as we introduce new products, adjust to wild weather changes and learn how our guest’s shopping patterns change as the weather turns warm. She’s also become super awesome at cleaning the mixer!

We are really going to miss Teisha and we wish her great success as she completes her courses at SAIT. Hopefully we can get her back as an apprentice next year.

We want to give everyone advance notice that Orange Boot Bakery is closing from August 2 – August 15 for summer vacation. Orange Boot staff is dispersing across the country:

• Patti is flying home to New Brunswick to visit her folks
• Teisha is heading back to Calgary to complete her Baking and Pastry Arts program at SAIT.
• Heather is quite possibly heading to PEI to visit her grandparents

There is still time to stock up on bread and other baking to get you through the start of August. Call us (584-BOOT) or email if you want us to work up a care package for you!

And what of Mark, Cindy, Ben and Robyn? Our visitors are coming to us! We are excited to host Ms. Yuko Sakumai, a 15 year old student from Fujioka, Japan. Yuko is coming with 24 other students as part of the Regina Fujioka Student Exchange Program to learn about Canadian culture and practice their English. Robyn will be heading to Fujioka next summer to complete the exchange cycle. Ben was part of the last exchange cycle so we know it’ll be a great 10 days this August.

Never fear though — we’ll still be thinking about bread, sweets and all the yummy things we can make for you this fall. And of course, we’ll be thinking of all our friends who come say hi every week as they get some wheaty, gluteny sustenance at Orange Boot Bakery.