So the bakery consist of three parts in my opinion. #1 is bread. We sell bread. LOTS of bread. There are block loaves, high tin, flour, cobs, viennas, ciabattas, bagels, turkish breads, sour doughs, sticks, rolls, wholemeal (wheat for you Americans) white, country grain (my favorite!) high fibre (nope--I spelled it correctly), ultra grain and SoLo (wholemeal base with lots of yummy soft whole grains plus poppy and oats and... well LOTS of fun things!) It is what Australians call Low GI which means it is slow to breakdown into glucose and takes longer to digest into your system. Better for your blood sugar and energy levels.
It is beautiful! I pretty much have a roll and yogurt every day when I am working for my mid-morning snack. :) That is... if I don't have a bagel dog.
Now, I've described them before, but in case you missed it... A bagel dog looks and sounds like the weirdest thing... but if you just give it a chance, you'll be hooked forever. :) It is an "American" hot dog wrapped in an onion bagel blanket. Think pigs in a blanket... but it isn't piglets it is full grown, hog to market, pigs. :) I have to admit... they are quite addictive and since they typically come out of the oven about 10 to 10... I have been known to have a bagel dog as my mid-morning snack a few times a week... Since I take my break at ten, it can be really hard to resist.
Anyway, I got off subject there. The other two parts of the bakery are Sweet and Savory. There are four glass cabinets in the front of the shop and in two are the Savory things and in the other two are the Sweet stuff. :)
The savory has a bit of everything from ham and cheese danishes, to turkish pizzas and plain cheese rolls. it is hard to describe, but there is a wide range. One of the strangest things to me are the Cheese and Bacon rolls. These are just plain rolls that are covered in diced bacon bits and sprinkled with 'tasty' cheese--Australians call their cheddar 'tasty.' I tend to disagree with the tasty bit... but that is purely because I miss Tillamook cheese like you wouldn't believe! These things sell hot out of the oven to all the school kids in their uniforms. There is about 20 or so that come in at least three times a week and I see them coming in and I just bag up a cheese and bacon roll and off to school they go. I've tried them... I just don't get it. :) It is a bit like Vegemite... which we have Cheesy Mite Scrolls that are... drum roll please, cheese and vegemite rolled up like a cinnamon roll. WEIRD! Then the sweet cabinets have apricot or blueberry danishes, scones, muffins, apple scrolls (look like a cinnamon roll but with diced bits of apple in them) coffee scrolls (as close to an American cinnamon roll as you get) with icing on top, twists, fruit buns (little squarish buns that have currents and sultanas (raisins) in them with a sweet sticky wash soaked into the top), finger buns--which look like a hot dog bun, but with a sweeter dough and then have boston icing on top with hundreds and thousands (sprinkles) and a handful of other treats. There is a couple of pregnant ladies that come in almost every day to get a fruit bun or three because they say it is the only thing they can keep down when they are morning sick... Whatever makes them happy is fine by me. :)
My roll when I work during the week is to open up the shop at 6am and then help in production by making the pizzas (supreme and tropical), mediterranean scrolls (spinach, feta, semi-dried tomatoes, and kalamata olives) and the artichoke and ricotta scrolls.
Then I work on merchandising the shop while helping customers. I make room in the cabinets as hot stuff comes out of the oven and get all the signs up. All our bread is made fresh daily, so as it comes out, I have sign it and face it as I go through it during the day. I get to chat with all the regulars and catch up on community gossip. Make faces at their kids in strollers and tease the younger kids as they get their cheese and bacon rolls and head off to school. Most of the morning customers come in everyday and get pretty much the same thing. They even typically come in in the same order and I've gotten to a point that I know if they have slept in or out and about early... It is that regular. :) Most have asked me over time where I am from and what I am doing here, so they always ask me if I've heard the latest news story coming from America, if I am home sick or if I am going back to visit soon. The customers are truely beautiful. They care about the success of this shop as well as all the shops along Hamilton street because it is very much a part of their daily lives. They notice if I 'bugger' off for a few days on a trip with Matt and always ask where I've been. I am even learning most of their names which says a lot since we are cash only shop and it's not like I am learning them from the credit cards.
I've never in my life felt more at home at work before... it partly is because I am so far away from my home, friends and family and the people at the shop and the customers have welcomed me into their family but also because it is just that kind of place. Fresh baked bread, the smell, the warmth and the color are a very addictive thing. I can't say I have ever paid much attention to bakery's back home and now I will always want to be near a shop like this no matter where my life takes me. The production staff--or bakers, they like to call themselves-- are pretty much all guys anywhere from late teens to twenty's thirty's and even David, who is in his fifties. They get to work anytime between 2 and 3 in the morning to start the doughs and warm up the ovens. Then a few more come on around 4 or 5 to start shaping and tinning the dough up. The 'oven man' controls when everything goes in and when everything comes out and can either make or break the day. Some days are rough around the shop... A burnt batch of bread or savory/sweet trays can mean a few hours delay in getting that product on the shelf for the customer... No pressure there. :) and every once in awhile, someone over sleeps or has a late night and can't concentrate on their tasks. It happens. People make adjustments and everyone makes fun of them. If the oven man curses because he burnt himself... no one really feels bad and anyone who spills or drops something and makes a mess gets their photo taken and they get nominated for a Razz... The rest of the staff knows about the mistakes by the end of the week and you never quite live it down. Sharon, who helps David run the shop, always says... 'There is nothing we haven't seen.' Whether it is burning something, adding too much water and making soup out of the dough to adding the wrong flour or too much yeast or not enough or spilling an entire jug of olive oil on yourself... it has been done, it has been laughed at and it will be remembered. :)
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