Being in a slump I was trying to take an assessment of personal labor that I could market and make money for like, bills.
I've become a pretty skilled baker over the years, fresh rustic sourdough breads, cupcakes, cookies, macarons. Somethings I've gotten very good at, like a Pumpkin Carrot Cake with Mascarpone Frosting and Candied Hazelnuts that I make every fall for the family.
Turns out there are no bakers in my town anymore, there are places that sell bread, and places that call themselves bakeries, but 99.99% of the work is either putting pre-formed dough in the oven, or setting up a display case from the baked goods delivered to you by a wholesaler that supplies the rest of the bakeries with the exact same product that they made 4 days ago at their factory bakery in another state.
Sourdough is one of those things that's best done in a larger scale environment, I feel, otherwise you're throwing away the 70% or whatever you take out to feed the... whatever it is again (Lactobacillus maybe?). Otherwise you're making a loaf of delicious bread every day and I don't go through a loaf every day (in a house of 2 adults, 2 kids). I kinda feel this way about kefir (water and milk kinds) too. The economy of scale, labor wise, isn't as nice for small batch.
Anyway, as someone who can't eat bread with HFCS, power to you if you open a bread shop. Market farming is a thing that pays ok, I guess, so small batch baking should be sustainable too. Maybe if it's an owner-operator type situation then it could work out. We have a local donut business that is quite popular in my county that probably started that way or as a family thing. They ship donuts out to all the gas stations.
When did baking die off as an industry?
Being in a slump I was trying to take an assessment of personal labor that I could market and make money for like, bills.
I've become a pretty skilled baker over the years, fresh rustic sourdough breads, cupcakes, cookies, macarons. Somethings I've gotten very good at, like a Pumpkin Carrot Cake with Mascarpone Frosting and Candied Hazelnuts that I make every fall for the family.
Turns out there are no bakers in my town anymore, there are places that sell bread, and places that call themselves bakeries, but 99.99% of the work is either putting pre-formed dough in the oven, or setting up a display case from the baked goods delivered to you by a wholesaler that supplies the rest of the bakeries with the exact same product that they made 4 days ago at their factory bakery in another state.
When people stopped buying fancy breads unless they were rich?
It's because the Mrs. Baird's/Bimbo stuff is shelf stable for weeks and is loaded with sugar with very little nutritional value.
It's not fancy just because it's pre-sliced!
Sourdough is one of those things that's best done in a larger scale environment, I feel, otherwise you're throwing away the 70% or whatever you take out to feed the... whatever it is again (Lactobacillus maybe?). Otherwise you're making a loaf of delicious bread every day and I don't go through a loaf every day (in a house of 2 adults, 2 kids). I kinda feel this way about kefir (water and milk kinds) too. The economy of scale, labor wise, isn't as nice for small batch.
Anyway, as someone who can't eat bread with HFCS, power to you if you open a bread shop. Market farming is a thing that pays ok, I guess, so small batch baking should be sustainable too. Maybe if it's an owner-operator type situation then it could work out. We have a local donut business that is quite popular in my county that probably started that way or as a family thing. They ship donuts out to all the gas stations.