holy $hit that was the most ever

mother effer i gotta just say – SO TOTALLY TOTALLY AWESOME I WANNA KISS YOU ALL ON YOUR BREADCRUMB COVERED FACES. this week saw 320 loaves come and go. holy $hit. that’s the most ever. i can’t really believe it.

anyway, enough about all this bread… bread’s boring. which is why i’m here to announce that i’m quitting.

i’m quitting to join the circus so i can practice backflips like this one (which i’ll be the first to admit could use some work):

DON’T BE SILLY I’M NOT QUITTING! i’m just getting started. i wouldn’t do that to you, no no NO.

but for real, i’m getting close to my limit for the amount of bread i can bake in a week. what will i do once i get there? that’s a very good question!

my plan is to just keep doing my thing, making all the bread by my lonesome, and when i can’t bake anymore, i can’t bake anymore.

but “by my lonesome” is perhaps a bit misleading these days… i have the occasional helpful hand of my buddy Sophie at Mission Pie who knows way more about bread than i do:

and also my main man Alex who has been helping out with sales at MP:

these cats are killer, so if you see them around give them a loud slap high five (and then maybe a little pat on their heinie).

for the time being, i feel like the luckiest baker boy there ever was.

til soon cutie pies

❤ josey

bread & circuses

my lord, i’m so totally honored to be a part of the bay area’s awesome community of bakers, as well as a part of isis’ wonderfully thoughtful article about said community, featured on SFBlotter. thank you isis. check out some excerpts below, as well as a link to the whole thing…

~~~

There is a bustling, flour-dusted community of the wee morning hours, tucked away into glowing kitchens. From re-purposed turn of the century storefronts on the East Bay to barns in Sonoma to back yard cottages on the tip of Marin, all across the region, the Bay Area’s hearth-fires burn.

… there is another sort of baker, the child of the hybrid digital-DIY age. One such man is Josey Baker, the audacious fellow behind Josey Baker Bread. As his blog informs us, Josey is a self-taught, ad hoc baker who, through trial, error, and long hours with Chad’s bread bible Tartine Bread, has come to produce one of San Francisco’s most prized homegrown loaves…

{read on, curious reader…}

double drop kick right where it counts

man o man, i’m all wide eyed and smiley over here, cuz this is a big week for me. i’m going for a double drop kick right in life’s balls this time, if ya know what i mean.

… ummm, no, actually i don’t know what you mean… “double drop kick in life’s balls?” who are you?

just a silly baker boy who can’t stop baking bread, that’s who.

before i explain what in the heck i’m talking about, i want to give a shout out to a rad man from the Bi Rite crew. for real – he’s been the sweetest, coolest, most supportive guy on the block. he’s what i like to call a heartbrother. throughout every conversation we’ve had, he’s been super encouraging and always willing and able to think up creative solutions and it’s shown me yet another reason why Bi Rite is such a rad place. his name’s Raph, and this is what he looks like:

so, i have a favor to ask of you – if you see him around Bi Rite, blow him a kiss, and tell him josey baker sent you.

now back to that double drop kick talk… this wednesday and thursday @ 5pm there’ll be a new bread on the shelves of Bi Rite. (it’s mine!!!) there’s a wee buzz in the air about this launch, so please o please, if you wanna be sure to get the bread, get there as close to 5pm as ya can. it pains my heart when folks are denied their daily bread, so save me some heartache and zip on over there to pick up your loaf.

HEY josey baker, you mentioned some sort of “secret special treat” for people who bought these first Bi Rite breads… what in the heck are you talking about???

well, that sure would be boring if i told you all the details, now wouldn’t it? if’n you wanna find out, you know what to do. you’ll be able to redeem a little coupon from the Bi Rite bread with me at Mission Pie, any W or Th from 5-9pm.

happy sunday honey pies.

❤ josey

Josey Baker Bread in BI RITE ! ! !

THE CAT IS OUTTA THE BAG THE TRAIN HAS LEFT THE STATION THE WOLVES HAVE BROKEN INTO THE HENHOUSE WAAAAHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

um, excuse me josey baker, what are you freakin out about???

OH NOTHING JUST THAT I’M GOING TO START SELLING MY BREAD AT A LITTLE PLACE CALLED BI RITE MARKET MOTHEREFFER YEESSSSSSSSSS! ! !

oh wow! now i see why you’ve been freakin out. good for you dude!

I KNOW RIGHT TOTALLY TOTALLY RIP ROARING AWESOME I AM FEELING LIKE I JUST MASTERED A TRIPLE BACK FLIP TWIST OFF A ROCKCLIFF THROUGH A HUGE WATERFALL OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN

well that’s pretty amazing (and a little weird) and i’m wondering if you could calm down and actually tell me some of the details? maybe stop writing in all caps even?

STOP WRITING IN ALL CAPS WHY IN THE HECK WOULD I WANNA DO THAT I’M GONNA BE IN BI RITE WWWAAAAAHHHOOOOOOO

josey…

FINE.

starting in a week and a half, on Wednesday, May 25, my bread will be in Bi-Rite every Wednesday & Thursday evening @ 5pm. i’m working with SF bike messenger company TCB Courier, who are super duper cool, to bike the bread from Mission Pie hot outta the oven. in case ya don’t know, Bi-Rite is on 18th St b/w Guerrero & Dolores.

the Bi-Rite bread schedule for now:

Wednesday, 5-9pm

• black pepper parmesan
• seed feast

Thursday, 5-9pm

• walnut levain
• whole wheat levain

and check this out – there are special treats in store for those who buy these first Bi-Rite breads… you’ll be able to take the bread bag from Bi-Rite and bring it to Mission Pie, where i will trade you for secret treats. will tell you more about this soon.

but remember – this won’t start for another week and a half. but get ready. and tell your friends. and your enemies. this is going to be awesome.

in case you couldn’t tell, this is really big news for me, so again, as always, THANK YOU for your support. it makes me feel very special.

hearts & rainbows,

josey

bread needs vacation too

holy gosh darn moly, i am L*O*V*I*N*G these super sunny days these days. are you? (if not, you need to get your noggin right outta your bum, cuz this is rad)

this past weekend i rode my new bicycle:

down to half moon bay and slept on the beach with my main man rafi. when we got to pacifica we rode on the old highway 1, otherwise known as “planet of the apes.” amazing!

this section of overgrown and broken down concrete winds its way up a ridge, curling away from the ocean, and then spitting you out on top where you can stare off into the distance and be blown away by how mothereffing gorgeous california is while also catching your breath before your head explodes.

you can also stop to play toss with a loaf of country levain…

can you spot the loaf of bread? look closely! its in there… scroll down the bottom of post to see.

we rode down a very rutted out dirt path, only to find that a big fence was trying to stop us from getting back on to the new highway 1. oh no you don’t fence! we’ll climb you right quick and then laugh in your stupid fence face!

raf and i jumped the fence with cat-like agility:

but the fence got pissed and laid the smack down on my new bike:

anyway – we rode on and on, ate delicious hamburgers, i slept til 11 the next morning (what?!?), laughed uncontrollably for hours, and made it back in time to go to Mission Chinese for dinner Saturday night.

i love california.

check ya soon doggies

❤ josey

here’s a close up of the bread in mid flight:

yes, we are playing toss and catch with a loaf of country levain. so what? bread needs to have fun too.

i be eatin with abs

abigail wick reached out to me a few weeks ago, asking if i’d be interested in being a guest columnist on her blog, Eating With Abs.

a guest columnist?!? ME??? heck yes i’m interested. (i’d never done such a thing, nor had i ever envisioned doing such a thing, but ya just never know where you’re gonna end up now, do ya?)

so… i whipped up a few words about my breadjourney thus far, and i’ll be damned, she just posted that whole darn thing, right up there.

if’n you’re looking for something to do (other than tell your mother how much you love and miss her) then give it a look see.

i’m off to tell my mother and stepmother how much i love and miss them.

❤ josey

what happens when you’re sleeping

hopefully you were having sweet sweet summertime dreams this morning.

me? what was i doing, you query? no sleep, no way. it’s boring.

but check out what i WAS doin…

i require something with a little more kick (name that awesome 80’s flick [this one is for you brother]):

and then i went like this, cuz it’s what feist makes me do (but only when nobody is around… yea right i wish i was in front of a million people doing this):

and look what i made! holy crap, every time i can’t believe that the magic happens! YES YES YES!!!

rock hard this weekend kiddies. i’m out for a bike camp adventure with my boy rafi ON BICYCLES HE BUILT WITH HIS MAN HANDS.

friggin a right, here’s to makers of all shapes and sizes.

❤ josey

don’t worry, i will keep these people away from your bread

(every dough is special in its own special way)

special thanks to my bud Jamie out in NYC for snapping and sending this one along.

just in case you were wondering: the act of “retarding” dough is a common practice in baking in which you place dough in a cooler environment (somewhere around 40-60F), thereby slowing the whole process down. ya see, yeasties get all hyped up in warmer temps – produce gas faster – so if you stick some dough in what is essentially a fridge (dough retarders also have humidity control), you can slow down the fermentation, and then take a nap while the dough gets retarded. while retarding may have negative connotations in certain social circles with regard to humans, retarding dough is widely accepted in baking circles as increasing favorable characteristics of bread, especially sourdough bread.

love ya cuties

❤ josey

people are putting bacon in everything

there’s bacon donuts, bacon muffins, bacon coffee, bacon salt…

and now, emmer-effers, there’s bacon bread.

and not just bacon bread mind you, MAPLE BACON LEVAIN.

holy effing crap josey baker, you are one wild S O B! where o where can i get this wacky and delicious sounding creation of yours?!?

wednesday night at Mission Pie, you little piggy.

see you soon

❤ josey

p.s. i made some french toast in the manner described by Mr. Chad Robertson in Tartine Bread. totally awesome. you should do it too.

it’ll make you look like this: