The Bakery Chronicles

Work has been going well, and I'm slowly but surely learning more and getting better at dealing in large quantities. Today's installment about life in a bakery is really just three little vignettes. Enjoy!

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A couple of weeks ago, I came to the end of my shift and discovered that I was missing one earring. I looked all around my work station, the floor, and I checked the jacket I wore when I was working in the freezer. No dice.


The next morning, the first thing the other baker asked me when I walked into the kitchen was "did you lose an earring?" He found it sitting on a tray full of bread. Luckily, he found it a) not actually in any bread or cookies, etc. and b) before it went in the oven.

I haven't worn backless earrings since.

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One of the great things about summer is the abundance and size of fruit. Makes for more delicious eating, right? Well, it turns out that it's actually somewhat of a challenge in a bakery sometimes. On Saturday, I made mini fruit tarts. They're very cute and quite popular. We use mini shells, a creamy filling, and fresh mango, kiwi, and berries. I cut up the mango and kiwi and placed them as usual. The trouble started when I began adding berries. In the last month or so, the raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries we use have all gotten big enough that it was kind of a tricky to fit all that fruit into one little tart. I actually had to pick through our containers of raspberries looking for the smallest ones. Until this weekend, I have never, ever thought that my raspberries were too big. crazytown.

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Finally, also on Saturday, a customer asked one of the new girls at the counter if we had any low- or non-fat baked goods. My coworker in turn asked me. So I mentioned that we had a couple kinds of scones, a muffin, and one cookie variety I could think of that were specifically billed as low fat. But if she was looking for more of an actual dessert, my best guess for low-fat would be one of our fruit galettes. The filling is all fruit, and while the crust has butter, it's only one crust, rather than a double crusted pie. Makes sense, yes?

The customer listened intently and then picked out a cheesecake.