christmas break

We are going to take a short break from baking over Christmas. Our last bake day before holidays will be Wednesday, Dec. 23. We will be back to work on Tuesday, Dec. 29. A wonderful holiday season to all!

come see us in Nanaimo this weekend

We will be one of many vendors taking part in the first annual Christmas Farmer's Market at the Green Thumb Garden Centre. They will trees for sale, and the market place will be set up inside one of their greenhouses, so we'll be out of the weather. We'll have a variety of our breads, as well as honey granola, Garibaldi cookies, Christmas Stollen, and some other new treats. We look forward to seeing you there, Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 3pm.

we're on the map

Well, no, we're not on the map exactly.... but we are on street view.

oven repairs done...for now

Well, our oven repairs are done for now, the oven is fired back up, and we started baking again last Friday. The new fire box should last considerably longer than any of our previous attempts. Here is what it looks like now from the outside.

We are still playing with bagel recipes - we are finally getting our malt powder tomorrow, so now can try bagels for real! We'll be starting on our Christmas Stollen soon as well.

new door frame

The look of the oven changed dramatically again yesterday. Chris (the mason we had doing the work), placed the formed pieces in the top of the fire box, and lined it all with ceramic blanket, then began the block work that will hold the doors. I had to step out after the first blocks were laid, and when I came back, I saw the finished product in the lower photo. What a transformation! We'll wait until Thursday to light a small fire, and then it's back to business as usual.

Oven Repairs Under Way

On Sunday we took apart the inside portion of the fire box (top photo). Today we built the form for the new wall of the fire box, poured it, and prepared the two pieces that will sit on top of the wall, and the small slab that will become the new ceiling of the box. The ceiling will have a ceramic blanket placed between it and the underside of the main slab of the oven. Tomorrow we're going to build some block work in front of the fire box to create a more solid attachment point for the fire box door. The blocks and door will also be insulated from the main firebox by a gasket of ceramic fiber blanket.

Oven Maintenance

After Saturday mornings baking, we will be shutting down for a few days so we can make some repairs/modifications to the fire box of the oven. We are hoping to be baking again on Thursday. Thanks for your patience.

Bagels

Well, on Halloween we made our first attempt at baking bagels. If we can trust all our guinea pigs, they turned out pretty well! We'll keep messing around with them, and hopefully we'll have them available in the stores soon.

Weekend Workshop

We will be taking part in a weekend workshop focusing on baking with wood-fired ovens this coming weekend. The workshop is hosted by Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo campus, and there will be an optional trip to our bakery on Sunday morning. Contact the university if you are interested in attending. Maybe we'll see you there!

Follow us on Twitter?

I have started posting on twitter. Mainly about what tomorrows products will be, but you never know what else might come up. Check out Slow Rise Bakery on Twitter.

finished oven

Here is the finished oven after it had a bit of time to dry. Here too is the first major firing after the cobbing and repairs to the fire box.

the oven's new clothes

Thanks to the dedication of our cobbing team, our oven is finally sporting some new duds. After a long day of mixing plaster and spreading, poking, and smoothing, it looks fabulous. It is amazing how much can change in a few hours. Since we had to shut down briefly for the cobbing, we decided to close for an extra day or two and do some necessary maintenance on the fire box. The protective layer of fire bricks had partially collapsed, so we pulled off the doors, and cleaned out many of the old bricks. Tomorrow we'll start laying a new (and more substantial) wall of fire bricks to protect the insulating bricks. We'll be back up and baking on Friday morning. It is hard to believe that its been over a year since we put the cob on the oven. Many thanks to our friends and cobbing experts - Pollen, Lisa, Kevin, and Margo.

Before:

After: