Up Early With the Bread Man...

Last week I spent the morning, very early in the morning, with the bread man. Gordon Hayes just opened a bakery making fresh hand-made artisan breads. So for my photo column I went to hang out with him Thursday morning. Now, anyone who knows me, knows I'm NOT a morning person. In fact, I think I've gone to bed at 5am more times in my life than I've woke up that early, so this was not something I was excited about. However, I was excited about the story.

So, when my alarm went off bright and early at 4:45 I popped out of bed (ok that's a lie, I hit the snooze button, then slowly rolled out) and headed to the bakery. Now, being a fan of eating, especially fresh bread, as well as a cooking show junkie, I really was excited about shooting this once the cold air of the morning hit me in the face. Stories like this are one of the many reasons I love my job so much! I get to learn about all kinds of interesting jobs.

After about and hour of watching Hayes kneading dough and loading it on to bread pans and into the proof box for further rising it went in the oven. About 15 minutes after that, the smell of fresh-baked bread was wafting through the air. I love the smell of fresh bread and for the next couple hours as the different types of breads baked in the oven the place smelled incredible!

Well, over the course of a few hours I learned a lot about baking bread, including how difficult of a process it is. I think instead of baking my own, I will just head to see Gordon and buy his bread. It tasted delicious and a couple of friends and co-workers who have been there have said the same.