The precarious stack of filled potential in our foyer.
Last Saturday someone asked a question we should have expected, but had never been asked before.
We get asked a lot of questions about our never-status-quo bakery, but new ones are even more exciting.
Across from the front door, near the back of the beautiful old foyer at 1871, we have a century old wooden rack piled (overloaded, really) with bannetons. Little bread baskets of all shapes and sizes, that are usually covered in a dusting of flour and haphazardly-if not precariously-stacked.
“Why are all those bannetons there?”
It’s something we hadn’t given much thought, they’re presence there was born of haste and necessity. But, looking at it from another view, I can understand the question.
By the time our first guests arrive they have missed the crazy hustle of our morning bake. I think you’d have to see those moments to make any real sense of things like this. Each day at 2am we roll that empty rack to the back of the foyer, which is only a few feet from our deck ovens -a proximity that (by happy accident) allows our guests to be greeted with the wonderful smell of baking bread. And Mr. Amazing begins pulling loaves of dough from their long cold rest, turning them out onto loading boards, and sending them into hot, steam-filled decks to become bread.
Its a process that leaves him with a whole lotta bannetons.
When we began The Bakery at 1871, we set bannetons on a counter or speed rack in the kitchen as they were unloaded. But, some time ago, the counter became overwhelmed and the tall speed rack seemingly shrunk. One morning, in haste, Mr. Amazing pulled one of the bread racks from The Bakery and started shoving. After all, bread waits for neither man nor lack of space, and he’s on a schedule with an 8am deadline.
“You use all those bannetons?”
Sometimes we can’t believe it either. The funny part is, this little bakery dream gets pretty expensive and I end up ordering bannetons long after we’ve struggled through needing more. Those bannetons precariously shoved and stacked on that lovely old rack aren’t enough to get us through big days. Certainly not the Sparta Green Market.
At the end of each day, I push that lovely old wooden rack back into The Bakery and smile. Even as I have to balance the piles of empty bannetons stacked too high. It’s one of those tasks that brings me an immense amount of joy. Its a daily reminder of how incredibly lucky we are to share our passion with so many of you.
Thank you for asking questions (we absolutely love them), and for always being the best part of our bakery dream.
