The smile on Hans face

We start the Andersonville Farmers Market tonight. Should be a very good market. They have put together a list of top notch vendors. Brunkow Cheese, River Valley Ranch, Tomato Mountain, Herbally Yours, and many more. It won't be like the Wilmette market, sellin' all kinds o' junk. Dog treats, jewelry, candles, nonsense. They even once had a person there doing massages. Ridiculous. There are four bakeries there. mostly nasty stuff. I think the other bakeries there are just re-sellers. The only reason we do that market is because it's close. We can fit it in with the vehicles, and personnel, we have. They accept anyone into that market. They have no boundaries or criteria.

Hans rye bread yesterday came out very nice. He was very pleased. He had one of the loaves sliced. I was shocked. I smelled it, as did he. He closed his eyes, drew in a breath, and smiled, said "sehr gut, wundervoll". He didn't taste it. He offered "to fresh to eat". Off he went. Feels good to make someone happy. Tis' the beauty of this business, the thing that draws me to it. Makin' peoples day, all day long, everyday. Pastries, baked goods in general, make people happy. My son is a hockey player. I used to take his skates to be sharpened, at the Wilmette Bike Shop. I'd walk in there and Larry was standing there in a sea of skates. Lady gave him a pair of skates, he gave her a claim ticket. He said "be ready tomorrow afternoon". She left. I handed Larry my sons skates, and a box of morning pastries. He sharpened the skates while I waited. We have our local welder guy. Does beautiful work. Little handles, brackets, any little stuff, him and I both know. He always tells my dad, "we work for food".

Hans rye bread will probably be best tomorrow. It takes a few days for the flavours to meld, and the gumminess to go away. Beefsteak rye, in the grocery aisle, can be eaten right away, no worries. That stuff is as far from rye bread as I am from Hans.
We make a rye loaf with eighty percent rye. We scald the rye flour with boiling water, the day before the bake. Once out of the oven, we wrap the loaves in linen and let them set overnight before we cut them into sellable size pieces. That is my favorite bread. Scalding the rye flour really get those enzymes going. There is so much transformation of starch into sugar that the crumb is almost sweet. We also add some rye sour, creates some very complex flavours. Wrapped up, the stuff will last for months. Again the ph is to low for it to mold. Ya gotta think back, few hundred years ago,folks only got to bake every other week in a communal oven. They had to learn ways to get their bread to last, without spoiling.

Gotta get upstairs, gotta get the things started that are gonna put a smile on the folks faces down in Andersonville. Just like ol' Hans.