New website is up!

Well, well, well.  It's been a long time coming, but thanks to one of our talented customers, our website has been revamped, and has just gone live.  IT now includes our Twitter feed, as well as our most recent blog posts.  Our blog has had to move over to WordPress, so this one won't see much action any more.  Come check out the new site, and don't forget to follow us on Twitter, and the new blog.

market season once again...

I know I haven't posted much lately, but we've just been working our way through the winter.  We've tried a few new things, and changed the way we do a few others.  Bagels have been a big hit, but they are so time consuming, we're having issues finding the time to fit them in.

As usual, spring finds us gearing up for Farmer's Market season, and this year you'll be able to visit us at your choice of THREE.  Starting May 12th, from 4-6:30pm, we'll be at the Bowen Road Farmer's Market (at the VIEX grounds behind Beban Park Arena).  Then, starting on May 14th, from 10am-2pm, we'll be at the Nanaimo Downtown Farmer's Market (in the plaza at the harbour).  And last but not least, beginning on May 22, from 10am-12pm, we'll be at home at the Gabriola Farmer's Market (at the Agi Hall).

We are looking forward to seeing all our past and present customers again, as well as many new faces.
See you at the markets!

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:

the day has arrived

Tomorrow is another big day - our products will finally be available at retail outlets in Nanaimo and Lantzville! Come and check us out at the Black Dog Cafe and Island Natural Market.

find us in Nanaimo!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. It has been a very busy summer, and our market season has just ended. Baking six days a week, including 2 farmers' markets every week is tiring, but it has been a great summer.

We will be doing some maintenance work on the the oven in a week or so, and then settle in for the winter. We will continue to supply the grocery store on Gabriola, and in addition we are going to make our products available at a couple of locations in Nanaimo. The Black Dog Cafe in the heart of Lantzville will be selling and using our breads, and Island Natural Market, near Woodgrove Mall will be receiving deliveries about 3 times per week.

So never fear, you don't need to come to Gabriola to find our bread through the winter.

update

OK, so once again it has been quite a while since my last post. I finally managed to grab the camera and get a few shots of the bakery this evening. We were busy firing the oven to get it up to a nice stable temperature for tomorrow morning, making starters, etc. Today turned out to be lovely and sunny, and tomorrow is supposed to be just as warm, but with a chance of showers.

We have been busy (and so have friends of ours), and we will soon have a great new logo printed on our bread bags, and various other things. We also have a new domain (www.slowrisebakery.ca), with a web site coming soon. You can check periodically, or wait for me to post when the web site is up and running.

Have a great weekend, and I'll try to post more frequently.

a month already?

I can't believe it has already been a month since we started moving into the bakery! I just looked at the blog and realized it has been a long time since the last post. Things are going very well, and we are checking things off our list in terms of finishing little things. We are still figuring out the oven, but we seem to have a nice, consistent product. Things are picking up, and we are starting to prep for the Farmer's Market which starts in May. I will try to post some more photos soon.

set to move in!

Well, the day we were beginning to think would never arrive has come! We are planning to move into the new bakery two days from now. Our fantastic group of cobbers (seen below: Dimitri, Margo, Kevin, Paulin, Lisa, and Paul), was here this afternoon to finish off the last bit of cob to go on the dome. Once the cob has dried fully, we will still need to trim it, then put a layer of plaster on, but that will come in 2-3 weeks time.

We also put the concrete sealer on the floor over the last 3 days, so the floor now looks darker, shinier, and help reflect the light around the bakery.

Now to move the mixers and other equipment in...

growing cob

Well, the oven is finally looking like it will be done soon. We've been piling cob on the damn thing for what seems like ages, but over the last couple of days, it has really started to look great. We figure we have less than two more days of cobbing to go before it is done. Then we need to let it dry thoroughly before applying a final plaster coat of some kind.

On to more important matters... our beer fridge has moved in, the tap has been installed, and beer is flowing.