Sunday, November 13, 2011

Week 35

The scene: Beautiful Fall weather (low 60's and sunny) made for a laid-back, pleasant day at the market.  After 9AM, the sun was at our backs and warmed us through.  Lonny over at Vega Metals provided the soundtrack (with a heavy rotation of cuts off The Blues Brother Soundtrack).

The product: Brioche Challah: killer.  Many compliments and was sold out by 10:40AM.  Dark Rye Bread: This bread came out more like a sourdough rye (we used a 3-day starter build).  I looked on the side of a Pepperidge Farm package of pumpernickel and found that they use "caramel coloring" for darkening.  We used homemade brown sugar syrup, but it did not really darken the bread as much as I would have liked.  More experimentation and tweaking is needed.

Customer comments/feedback: We met one customer who claimed that she was given a sourdough starter that traces its roots back to the Gold Rush and has traveled around the country.  Two Guglhupf employees came by the stand and called the rye bread, "very good" (I was humbled).  One customer on a bicycle in racing unitard purchased a loaf and proceeded to carbo-load half of it at a nearby bench.  Repeat customers for coffee remarked how consistently good the caffeine is every week (we are now serving Costa Rican Kind Coffee roasted in Carrboro).  One belated endorsement for our donuts was relayed to me last week: A supposed tai chi instructor attending the Occupy Durham Assembly said, "I want to punch whoever made these donuts in the face!" which I suppose is the greatest compliment one could receive from a tai chi instructor?!

Fam in the place: The Berenbaums were visiting and so we went five-strong this weekend at the stand.  They were super-helpful and even worked on this blog post!

Our awesome customers: Ian and family, Zane and the Market Run crew, Imani, Annie, the Marvelles, Franklin et al., Mark, the Schneider clan, Allie and Jeff, and Elana.

One of most loyal customers and friends, Annie, featured with rye bread, butternut squash, and baby bump.



Bartering: Daikon Radish and Sweet Potatoes from George and Dominique at Lil' Farm; Kettle Corn from Jeep; Monuts from Rob.

Crew: Thanks so much to our crew, AR, RML, and the immediate Berenbaum family.  AR worked on the rye starter build and learned Saturday morning how to make 2-strand challah braids; then, we talked French philosophy at 6AM while waiting for everything to come out of the oven -- fans of Gilles Deleuze and Alain Badiou stand up!

A good look: Food and drink connoisseur and owner of BUNS of Chapel Hill, George Ash, is featuring a Berenbaums' Brioche bun for a limited time tomorrow.  This is, in his own words: Skirt steak, sirloin, chuck. Gruyere, grilled mush, caramelized onion.


This week: Be prepared for a new donut coming next Saturday.  I'm not telling what it is.

1 comment:

  1. Great post Ar - it was great fun helping out and getting to meet all your costumers! =)

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