Hello from NL 46; this is Bake Sense—a somewhat ordered record of ramblings concerning the world of baking. Along the way, you’ll find recipes and insights from life in and out of the professional bakery and plenty of fruitful chat.
We made it! To any fellow bakers out there tending to their bakery through a busy holiday season, congrats! You’ve either finished up for the year, or you’re nearly there.
Beyond the physical labour of lugging sacks of flour, loading ovens, and 12+ hour days on the same two feet, there’s the mental arithmetic of scaling and planning at volume, scheduling, processing, and tracking orders. That's even before we get to the emotional labour involved in supporting staff and colleagues, your working family and the massive duty of care to customers.
No wonder we reach the end feeling weary and ready to recharge. With that very feeling in my bones and tingly, overworked tendons, it will be no surprise that this will be the last newsletter of 2023. Of course, I can’t sign off without sharing my plans for Bake Sense in 2024!
When I began this newsletter at the beginning of the year, my daily routine was very different. The bakery was fully staffed, and I had carved out time to concentrate on other projects, this being one of them. I wrote because I could and because I wanted to extend community beyond the immediate one that was able to physically access the bakery.
Much has changed since then, and I can say it’s all for the better, aside from a couple of caveats, one being that I find myself with less time to invest in my weekly writing here and the other, a little less time to invest in rest. But writing and rest are key to my being, and there’s no need to give up either, but there is a need to reprogram and reschedule.
Although we have closed the bakery for Christmas, the work doesn’t end there; we’re taking a few days off before we begin relocating to a new unit a little down the way, ready to reopen in the new year. So I’ve decided to take the month of January ‘off’, so to speak. I won’t publish a newsletter every week, but should I manage to write something worth sharing, you’ll find it in your inbox.
During this time, I’ll plan how best to continue developing the content and community here, how I want the newsletter to evolve, what I want it to say and most importantly, how I want it to serve me as an outlet and you as a resource.
I have a few other projects lined up for next year; these include writing elsewhere and teaching in-person classes. I want to explore writing more extended essays on topics I have only had time to skim over here in the past year and develop more in-depth user guides for regional grains, flours and non-dogmatic methods of creating classic baked goods.
I’ll pause paid subscriptions for January, and only press go again once I feel ready. This eases the pressure and encourages me to take the time needed to plan and structure future issues.
All that’s left for me to say is that I genuinely hope you have found as much enjoyment in reading Bake Sense this year as I have writing it.
I am open to hearing from you all if there is anything, in particular, you want to know more about, a topic that can be explored in depth in a future essay or help with a recipe that needs a little wholegrain re-imagining. Maybe you have questions about running a bakery, developing recipes or subjects we have yet to touch upon here, such as sourdough bread or more complex makes and bakes. Whatever it is, feel free to drop me a message here or on Instagram.
Thank you, as always, for being here; sending you all the best baking wishes for Christmas and the New Year!
S. x
Thank you for your words this year, as the owner of a fairly conventional bakery it’s enlightening to learn more about baking with Uk grain and being a bit more thoughtful about ingredients. Hard to change habits sometimes but useful to learn and think. Thanks for showing up here every week on top of all the other work running a bakery needs!
Enjoy this little break and good luck with the new place!
I would love to know more about your daily routines in the bakery, how you manage production volume, how often do your start planning menu changes or testing recipes and how to develop your own. How do you feel about freezing your production? The cafe I work in, I have to do it otherwise I won't leave the place!