Everyone sharpen your pencils, it’s contest time! The first Aurora Bakery contest is about to begin.
Based on the overwhelming sales of the cranberry-walnut brioche braid, it’s obvious that I don’t have a clue what bread is actually going to sell well. Even though it’s the most expensive bread on the menu, I’ve sold five loaves in the week after I introduced this new bread, which is the best showing for a single type of bread yet.
So the contest open to all readers is to recommend a new bread to be added to the menu that you think would be a best-seller. What would be a bread you’d go out of your way to buy? Something special for a weekend brunch? A daily rustic loaf? Something sweet, something with cheese?
The prize is one of any type of bread on the menu, shipped priority right to your home. The contest will be open for one week, with the final selection made next Friday, November 20th at the end of the day. The rules are simple: post your bread idea in the comments section. Watch the comments board and give your support to the idea you like most. The bread with the most votes wins, and the person who nominated that bread gets the prize. If everybody submits one idea and there is a tie, I’ll pick what I think has the most potential.
[whistle blows]
BEGIN!
Writer, architect, father, husband.
I've uploaded the most recent menu so you can see what's already available. The contest winner gets to pick anything from the menu as their prize!
Pão de Passas e Nozes
Farinha Branca Leve, Passas Douradas, Nozes e Caju quebrados aos pedaços para recheio, Sementes de Sesamo para cobertura. Pincelar com mel a cobertura bem tostada enquanto o pão está quente.
Pão em forma de bola de rugby achatada.
Bread Raisins and Nuts
Flour White Light, Golden Raisins, Nuts and Cashews broken into pieces for filling, sesame seeds to cover. Brush with honey at toasted coverage while the bread is hot.
Bread in the shape of rugby ball flat.
1) Smurf.2) Asiago sun-dried tomato3) Walnut, truffle, and porcini4) Guinness and goat cheese5) Caramelized onions and brie
For the fall season, think something that will be warm, filling, robust, hearty, etc. All of these things can be found in something like a Swedish rye or a pumpernickel, but by starting off with a boule, and incorporating whole grain, unbleached, unbromated, (etc. etc.) flour, oats, cracked wheat, raisins, and any kind of seed (flax, sesame), the result will be something that people want to eat for the colder months.At the grocery store, there's always the shift to whole grain, or sprouted breads. Personally, I don't deal with the sprouted stuff. It's too difficult, if I make it, to get the germination of the sprouts to yield an end result that blends with the yeast. There's a 9 Grain, a 15 grain, and a 21 grain. Tasty, but far too busy for me to attempt as a home baker. With that in mind, Try a simple swedish rye with pecans, molasses, and either pumpkin or sweet potato. For even more Holiday flair, incorporate the cranberry and orange peel. For the winter months, raisins are the key. It lightens up a darker bread with a bit of sweetness. Also, at the bakery, the seeded demi baguettes have caught my eye, and they seem to be simple enough to give a rustic turn to the plain soup soakers that I usually get. Simple- Just use the baguette recipe (plain french) or a sourdough batard if you want to put your starter to good use, and seed it with poppy, sesame, flax, black sesame, and any other seeds that
I may have forgotten that you might care to add. Cheese is a
tricky one. I've seen great cheese breads, and I've seen awful ones.
The best selling bread I've ever seen was a bland, simple white with no
crumb and gaping holes filled with bricks of melted cheddar cheese and
canned jalapenos. The only reason it sold so well was because it was
hot. If you're going with a loaf of cheese bread, get a good hard-rind
aged cheese, along the lines of a comte or gruyere, and minimally
incorporate it into the dough, along with cracked black pepper. Finish
in the way they do all the bagels, with the art sprinkle on top over a
couple of slashes. The crazy idea? Mid-grade darkness on the
pumpernickel with bitter chocolate, roasted chestnuts and Fleur de Sel
crust. On the chocolate, 80% or higher is the easiest to work with,
because it'll compliment the richness of the flour, work well with
salt, and have the lowest levels of paraffin. Valhrona and El Rey are
the two I've found that work best. Callebaut and Ghirardelli have far
too much sugar and wax, and they actually melt. I used what I had left
of my Lindt 87% bar to make chocolate chip cookies, and the result was
distinct, distinguished, and quite pleasing. The chocolate holds
together for heat, and still has a crackle when it is sliced. That
bread would be best paired with a spiced Ginger Peach butter, or any
manner of holiday spreads or jams that people want to have on hand for
the parties and relatives.
Pannetone would be nice, and a big seller, but it may be both time and
cost prohibitive. For at least one or two weeks, though, you can try
it, and charge exorbitant prices ($20 per loaf is not too much to ask)
plus delivery. People will pay a premium price for a handmade loaf that
looks like a delicious treat. The chestnuts can be utilized for both
the dark pumpernickel or a pannetone. If this is your holiday treat,
start candying the orange and lemon peels now, and get only the finest
candied (or brandied) fruit.
I, for one might be very partial to a rosemary, calamata olive sourdough. Yum!
Jesus, Tim.
I vote for Smurf. No, Helsinki.
To capitalize on Seth's idea even more:
1) A Guinness pumpernickel with goat cheese and walnuts
2) Butternut squash and sage sourdough
3) Granny smith apple and sage sourdough
4) Ginger orange brioche with crystallized ginger
My votes go to (in addition to my own…) Mom's rosemary calamata sourdough and Seth's asiago sun dried tomato. Or smurf. Good god I am starving, this was not a good idea to read after two days of juice fasting…
That Smurf bread is going to look a pillock.
I can't decide between 1) ricotta and orange zest2) goat cheese, fig and thyme
Did i already tell you I can't open your menu? Do other people have this problem??
Cranberry-walnut sells very well up here (Bay Area). As do all the herb/olive/whole grain varieties, marbled pumpernickel, cheddar-jalapeno, etc. It's true, in the winter people eat alot of soup and like a substantial bread that stands up to soaking, like herbed-oatmeal.