bakery progress, test bakes underway, and a 🍕🗳️🎉

some fun updates & an invitation to celebrate democracy with pizza!

Good morning bread friends! 

I hope you’re all doing fantastically well so far this summer. I’ve got a few exciting updates to share with you all today. 

First… would you believe that I thought I was being SOOO conservative in February when I sent a note saying, “Hopefully it is reasonable to believe that this summer we'll be back to sharing bread together again.” 

I’m finding there are so many little pieces that have to come together to build out a bakery. Even one that is inside of a home! While the basement buildout itself is finished, and the equipment was all ordered weeks ago… I’m still waiting on a few delayed deliveries of major components of the bakery. (namely the workbench and fridge)

We’re closer than ever though! Want to see a picture?

I’ll show you the big reveal of the bakery when everything is in this room. 😉 For now, here is a glimpse at the empty bakery just before I started moving various items into the space. 

If you recall, part of the nudge that motivated me to do the buildout was when my friend Trevor (from Opus Bakehouse in Onalaska, WI) gave me his used Rofco B40 home bread oven. Well, even with my bakery space only partially complete, I realized last weekend that the space was ready for me to hook up the oven. This gives me a chance to get a jump on getting used to baking in this new oven. 

After having baked literally thousands of loaves inside of Dutch ovens, it requires building up a new set of skills for me to be baking bread directly on stone decks. 

Have you ever experienced beginner's luck? I baked my first four loaves on Monday night, and these loaves far exceeded my expectations! I’m preparing to be patient with myself as I go along… but I can’t tell you how delighted I was that I got so lucky with these first loaves turning out nicely. 

I can’t wait to do this a bunch more times! 

Next, I’ll work up to pushing the oven to its limit of 12 loaves. Hopefully, soon we’ll be rocking out some bread for sale later this summer.🤞🏽

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Final update 📣 I’m co-hosting a sourdough pizza party fundraiser on July 18th! (link to register for the party here)

You may recall that in December, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that our state legislative maps were gerrymandered to the point of being unconstitutional. As a result, Wisconsinites have new maps this year and some of us live in new legislative districts! 

I happen to live in one of those districts that has been significantly redrawn, and where no incumbent is running for reelection to represent us in the state assembly. 

A few months ago, my wife (Melissa) and I met one of the new state assembly candidates (Renuka Mayadev) when she was knocking on doors in our neighborhood. 

The first thing that stood out to Melissa was that Renuka engaged directly with our kids who came to the door with us. Melissa later remarked about how she couldn’t recall another time that a “politician” took so much time away from trying to convince her of their qualifications, and just took an interest in engaging with and learning about our family. 

As I got to know Renuka better I came to appreciate that this interaction was very consistent with her character and her passion. She is a mom of school-age kids, who has used her skills as a lawyer to build an impressive career advocating for children and families at the state level. And being a policymaker is the next way that she sees herself being able to be an advocate for kids. 

As you all know, it matters to me a great deal who represents me in public office. I’ve had the opportunity to meet all 3 of the candidates running for the 77th district where I live – and I am sincerely excited to be supporting Renuka to be my next State Representative. 

If you’ve made it this far… surely you’re looking to learn more about this pizza party we’re having next week! 

Thursday, July 18th Representative Francesca Hong and I will be hosting a a family-friendly fundraiser in support ofRenuka Mayadev for State Assembly!

Francesca is another state representative that I admire… and she is also a chef!

We’re going to have a great time making sourdough pizza together. Everyone who attends the fundraiser will also get a copy of my sourdough pizza recipe to take home.

It is going to be a fun time of eating pizza and talking about the future of Wisconsin. I hope to see some of you there! 

Cheers, 

Mo
neighborhood baker & pizza maker