Recent content by retired pastrychef

yeh you're right except there isn't much to connect with here, no hairdressers or businesses beyond the one grocery store. I cancelled another giveaway this week, its been cold and rainy all week until next tuesday. 6C is cold.

Last sunday I did a free crois giveaway of 6 in a box, I got a 2 women who took a box at 10 am when they were coming out of the oven, the second pickup dropped by at 7pm. And that was it. Can't even give them away free. No-one ordered cannoli so I didn't fill them. The 2 women who picked up a...

Dipped in callebaut and ground pistachios. 3 for $5.

So I had a bit of pastry cream leftover, tried it and it works nicely.

The raw milk was to make ricotta, its just small curd cottage cheese really. I think its over pressed, too much whey drained and the result is very good but on the dry side, I can add heavy cream or some pastry cream. Pastry cream is preferable because it acts like glue without fattiness. Safer...

May 26 is memorial day here, same as your poppy day. Its the traditional start of summer with BBQ's and cookouts. I'll shoot for that, maybe give out free samples this week to get the word out. I just made the ricotta, its rather sweet even with salt. I'm going to see the farmer nearby to get...

I just want to bake croissants even if I give them all away, they don't cost peanuts to make. just made some cannoli shells, on saturday I'll buy milk and make ricotta cheese for the filling. They're very popular here and always soggy at the supermkt....if you can even find them. Total cost is...

the farmers mkt was a complete waste, 5 vendors and even less customers. It was exhausting, moving concrete anchor blocks, tables/tent. The easy part was the baking, so I'm not doing that again unless its indoors. My medical checkup was the day after so I gave all the nurses and doctor gift...

My fresh yeast arrived, I made a small batch of 30 peices,

Summer gets an influx of tourists, many people own summer homes here, I take care of a doctors house across the street. Gorgeous weather is the attraction, very low humidity, warm sunny days but cool dry nights. Salmon fishing in the spring, lake fishing in summer, hiking /camping, fall is...

Cottage food permit is $20 yr, they might do an initial inspection but no follow ups unless theres a problem. Heres the sign when entering the state of Maine. "Open for business." They pretty much leave people alone here, some states don't even allow lemonade stands. Either way I designed our...

cake yeast, compressed yeast, wet yeast, vs dry granulated yeast. Its nite and day, cake yeast is so lively the dough has to be mixed with ice water to keep it under control. Dry yeast needs warm water or it will not proof.

The farmer mkt says they use cinder blocks as anchors, I used empty gallon milk jugs but it wasn't enough weight. I dried the canvas out on the grass and put them away, I'll fix the frame today. I'll have to get the concrete blocks. My product lineup is taking shape, danish. croissant...

I try to avoid fads.... especially expensive ones, its fun to try or a loss leader to attract , not as a staple. Theres only one store in our little town but he sells everything from bread to bullets, (this area is big for hunting). Since I couldn't find fresh (cake) yeast here I've only made...

they're selling pistacio donuts now. I bought a pop up tent, it takes 2 hours to erect and blows over too easy. I might just forget the tent. I had 1 gallon water jugs on each leg but the breeze still moved the feet , the top started to pool up rain waterand the whole thing collapsed.