1, 2, oh my underground farmer’s WhAt?!?

laaaa laaaa laaaaaaaaaa

duders – saturday (feb 5) i’m slangin mad bread at the underground farmer’s market. it’s at SomArts, at 934 Brannan St @ 8th. (you gotta sign up here in order to attend – don’t worry it doesn’t cost and is no obligation, it’s just so we don’t get arrested.) so if you’re headed that a way, then stop on by and say hi. i’ll be there in the day time, during the “take-home-ables” portion. but there’s rad stuff at night too, so it’s all good, i won’t feel bad if next time i see you, you’re all like, “man that underground farmers market was totally awesome!” and i say, “oh yeah, how come you didn’t come and say hi??” and you say, “well, cuz i went at night, and you weren’t there.” and i say, “oh. right. that’s cool. i totally understand.” then i start quietly sobbing.

im kidding, i wouldn’t do that.

i’d sob real loud so you’d feel bad.

oh stop it.

no, you stop it!

for real tho, hope to see you there.

(if you go at night you should really really really get pizza from the PizzaHacker, aka jeff “studliest pizzaiolo in sf” krupman. it’ll be the best pizza you’ve ever had. i double dog dare you to prove me wrong.)

{now i’m reading your mind…}

and josey – what in the frik is going on with this freebreadparty you keep talking about?!?

yes yes YES, it’s going down on Wednesday, February 23, from 5:00-8:00 PM at Mission Pie. scribble that into your iCals or Blackberries or what the heck evers kiddies… and don’t you worry, i’ll be giving you a proper announcement right soon.

and HEY – just want to say thanks to all ya’ll who’ve been telling me that you like reading this thing. in case you were wondering, that makes me feel real good, and you should keep telling me it. as long as it’s true.

which makes me remember something funny – this friday night i was all excited and attending a party up in the headlands. i may have drank a wee bit too much whiskey, just maybe, but my roommate brendan reminded me that there was an awesome wood fired oven (built by radical oven building master alan scott) up there, and that maybe, just maybe there were people baking bread at that very moment! so, in all my excited drunken baker courage, i walked right in to that bakery, and blabbed some gibberish about bread with eduardo of morell’s bread. he was very kind to me, even though i’d have to imagine i was not on the top of his “want to see at 11:00 on a friday night while i’m in the middle of a huge bake” list. i bought a loaf of sesame sunflower bread, and it was very delicious, although i do wish i could remember more clearly. i will go back sometime when i have my wits, and perhaps i will be able to give you a more detailed account of his breads. or at the least, i could report on what we discussed. (you only quit your first-job-out-of-college-that-you-have-for-five-years-and-then-quit-to-be-a-baker once, alright, cut me some slack.)

smoochieboochies

p.s. tomorrow is my REAL last day of work and i’m peeing my pants i’m so excited.

the truth about josey baker

what in the frik are you doing josey???

oh ya know, just shooting a pellet gun in my mom’s basement in vermont with my step dad… what else are ya gonna do in that green mtn state?

anyway.

one of my bread customers asked me the other day what my day job was. i jokingly said that i’d been hunting caribou for the past five years. then i jokingly said that i’d been building windmills. then i said (for real) that i’d been working in berkeley for the past five years designing activities to teach kids science.

but ladies and gentle men, the time has come to tell the truth.

(that’s me, about to tell you the truth.)

the truth is that i’ve been working for cirque du soleil, training lions. this has been a highly illegal trade, so i’ve been sworn to secrecy until my tenure ended. now that i’m so close to moving on, i’ve gained some courage, lost some fear, and want to let the world know what is REALLY going on behind the scenes.

i will not be silenced any longer, as i transition from taming wild beasts to taming wild yeasts.

i feel so much better now that i’ve got that off my chest.

in other super good news – chances are very high that we’re going to have a freebreadparty at Mission Pie in mid-late February. this is going to be totally awesome. the basic gist: i’m going to give away a whooooole bunch of bread, and make the suggestion that ya’ll share the bread with your friends, family, lovers, enemies, strangers, bosses, whoevers. stay tuned for details.

i (half) jokingly told a very dear friend of mine who is rapidly becoming famous that i was going to piggyback his rise to fame by mentioning him in every one of my blogposts from here on out. i’m not going to do that, that was a joke.

but i am going to post this amazing photo i took of him taking a shower, with my two heart brothers rafi and nat keeping him company. he’s taking a shower because i gave him a little haircut, and come on, who wants to spend the night with all that itchy hair in your shirt?

just a couple of dudes spending qt together. doesn’t get much better than this.

see ya round town buddies

big changes are afoot friends… !

check out these sexy shots of a loaf i baked while home in vermont. oh baby baby baby

some awesome news to share with you sexy peoples –

• bye bye, day job
• wednesday? more like breadnesday
• tdays are wood fired
• make bread w/ me

what what what are you talking about josey baker???

hold your sweet sweet horses and let me tell you…

i’ve been working with a totally rad group of folks in berkeley for the past 5 yrs, designing activities to teach kids science. i’ve learned so much, and i love those people so so hard, but the time has come to move on. alas, january 31 is my last day of work. (get this – the next day my sweet sweet lady Cathy is taking me up in a plane and i’m going to get to FLY THE PLANE! holy crap!!) i’m a little sad and a little scared to be leaving this job, but i am also SO EXCITED to be making moves on to the next big thing. which brings me to my next bit of news…

starting in february i will be opening up a whole bunch of new subscription spots for wednesday evenings. and where, o where will i be baking this bread, you wonder? thank you for asking! the wonderful people at Mission Pie, at 25th & Mission, are generously allowing me to bake in their super awesome oven on Wednesday afternoons. so folks can come in and pick up bread Wednesdays, from 5:00-8:00 pm. this bread is gonna be on a different level, trust me. the oven is going to make a huge difference. if you’re curious, just come by some wednesday starting in february and i will let you try some.

(also, this hasn’t landed yet, but i’m going to throw a freebreadparty at Mission Pie to celebrate this new chapter in my bread baking life. stay tuned for details.)

and MORE EXCITING NEWS! there’s this rad little restaurant in oakland called Pizzaiolo, with this incredible wood fired oven… and i’m going to be baking there tuesday and thursday mornings! all this means is that the tuesday and thursday bread is going to be super kick ass as well, and there will be more of it to go around. so don’t be shy kiddies – tell your friends.

and finally – if you wanna come hang out and learn how to make bread the way i do, sign up for my class at 18 Reasons – Taming the Wild Yeast: How to Make Yummy Sourdough Bread at Home. (you can’t sign up just yet, but it’s gonna be on Monday, Jan 24 in the evening.) i’m real real excited to be doing this, and would love to see some of you there. folks, for real – it’s not that hard to make good bread at home. just come and let me show you.

that’s it dudes. love you.