Tuesday, November 10, 2009

damn Schwabians

So much has happened since the last time I posted. We received our cream whipping machine from Germany. Really cool, we've whipped a few batches of cream in it, still learning. Cream is delicious, as expected.

Marc Levy,CB, asked his father, Dan, to build us a pretzel rack to use in our store. He dropped it off on Saturday. Awsesome, just awesome. He did an amazing job. It looks like an American girl doll coat rack. It works too. We sold all of our pretzels, sehr schnell. Whole batch Saturday afternoon. We plan to build a three sided Plexiglas wall around it and set it on top of our counter. Evanston, get ready.

The trouble with makin' pretzels is dipping 'em in the caustic soda bath. I may have mentioned that, when I was in Germany, I went there lookin' for three things. One being a pretzel dipping apparatus. At the IBA trade fair, I found two companies that sell such a thing. One is Reid and the other is Riehle. Reid had just what I wanted, the one from Riehle would get me by, but would be my second choice. Downside, Reid doesn't sell to the states or Canada at all. Riehle, sells here, but only big industrial types units. So back to Reid. I pleaded and pleaded. They told me that if I found a German baker to purchase the unit, he could ship it to me. Awhile back I mentioned Hans, the guy who likes his rye bread "Mit der bugs", caraway seed. Funny thing, he has a sister that lives in Germany. She has daughter, Yvonne, Han's niece. She knows a baker there, he can order the unit for me. The unit is about $800US. FedEx is the only one they could find to ship the unit, another $800US. So the folks at Reid suggested that they send the unit in two pieces and we have a welder here, put it together. That is where it stands now. I'm not to familiar with German geography, but one of the last comments by Hans was "Damn Schwabians". I said "What"? He said "Dem German hillbillies". Not sure what all that meant.

Our Thanksgiving website went up yesterday. Brochures are going in the store today. Here we go. I just mentioned to the guys upstairs, "Won't be long, we'll be working like men again". Lots of dirty looks. Not sure how much busier we can get. We've been very fortunate here. We are running well ahead of last year, with no end in sight. This week we are going to start making stollen and gingerbread houses. My favorite time of year in the bakery. Come the 24th of December, I'll be damn near death, but I wouldn't trade it for love or money. Bakery smells so nice this time of year.

I also ordered Christstollen forms from Germany. There, they bake their stollen in a mold, with a cover. They are baked upside down. They loose very little moisture during the bake. Now after thirty four years, I finally got 'em. They leave Germany this week. Gonna be straight up, bad ass.

3 Comments:

Blogger Laminatrix said...

So, lemme get this straight: You know somebody, who likes your rye bread and who's related to somebody, who's related to somebody else, who knows somebody, so you're going to be able to get your machine. That's pretty priceless.

So has Arturo turned on the Christmas music yet? I miss some things about the bakery, but not that.

November 10, 2009 at 1:33 PM  
Blogger Jory Downer said...

exactly, i must have explained competently, or you wouldn't have gotten it. now they aren't going to take apart an existing machine, they are going to wait until they build another one, early december. we'll get it early january.

no xmas music as of yet. he tried, nothin' but that elevator stuff.

November 11, 2009 at 3:28 PM  
Blogger Laminatrix said...

So are you hanging it from the ceiling? You're supposed to hang a minimum of two new things each year from the ceiling.

November 11, 2009 at 7:52 PM  

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