Tuesday, December 28, 2010

do what works, not what's been done


whoa whoa WHOA dudes




i met some super duper rad folks today doing things in a supremely awesome way.

they're blair and andrew of elmore mountain bread and they are not effing around.



and this is the real elmore mountain:




here is where blair and andrew live:






and they have a killer humongous custom built wood fired oven that they bake hundreds of loaves in a day, and a new fandangled custom built conveyor belt loader:




dudes - folks don't use conveyor belt loaders on wood-fired ovens. why? because they ain't as badass as these two, that's why. but for real, because most wood-fired ovens aren't built to work with conveyor belts - they typically have a single small opening in the front, and you'd be damned if you tried to get a conveyor belt in there. so they just designed their own oven, and designed their own conveyor belt. what the hell, right?

cuz if it ain't broke don't fix it... but if it might as well be broke then you better damn well build a new one that kicks ass.

oh yeah, and it's just the two of them. no big whoop.

BIG WHOOP.

i woke up about 8, showered and coffeed myself, and drove out past lake elmore to "the only red mailbox" on hardwood flats. i showed up about 9 o clock, and they were scaling and shaping dough:




very warm and welcoming they were. i watched them shape the loaves, we chatted while the loaves proofed, then blair slashed the hell out hundreds of loaves:




and then they loaded those puppies in, 24 at a time:



they were so warm and welcoming that i couldn't leave really, and ended up staying a while... for about 5 hours to be exact. they gave me coffee and a sh*t ton of A M A Z I N G honey oat bread:





they also shared their awesome opinions and experiences running their bread bakery, and then andrew disappeared for a bit and returned with turkey, avocado, bacon sandwiches on their focaccia bread:



are you kidding me???

nope, no kidding here ya'll, just straight up old fashioned heinie kicking.

their bakery is filled with custom built tools and methods they've devised to bake more bread in less time. they figure out a problem, think of the best solution (which oftentimes means making it up, with inspiration from here and there), and make it happen.

they are free-thinking, do-it-yourself, badass emmer effers. and their bread beats the $hit out of you.

blair and andrew, i salute you.

<3josey

1 comment:

  1. tell me about it. i grew up with blair and know i live in SLC. on a recent trip to VT i reconnected with her and her hubby and visited their bakery. awesome. period. i was home for 5 days and went through 7 loaves of their bread, with another half one on the damn plane back to SLC. now if they can only invent a freshness parcel to send me bread cross country.

    -paul

    ReplyDelete