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Baking Dilemma 500th and so on

Below is a question from Mark Veloso that just came in when i opened my email this morning at 7 am. Yup, had to wake up early because i am burning some DVDS on Royal Icing. I cannot count the questions i received that have the same familiar tone, different sender, same problem. I answered as soon as i can but really the only thing Mark can do now is to either get another baker (the shorter way out) or learn how to bake properly himself. The latter one is the better option, it lets you get hold of the bakery by the neck, keeps turnover much less frequent and the best thing is that you create your own product. Trump says nothing is better than building your own brand. You cannot have your own brand if you do not have a product that you can be proud of. To Mark, good luck and it is never too late to start training now. I would sacrifice closing the bakery for awhile if i could (rather than sell sub standard inconsistent bread products) and then start learning, testing etc., July 30, 2013 Greetings! My name is Mark Veloso, I'm 24 years old. After working for 2 years in chinabank makati, I went to Masbate(my hometown) to take care of my mom as she live all by herself. I opened a small bakery at the front of our house since April 2013. I found a baker to work with me but he stayed for just 3months. He missed his wife and could not work anymore. No I'm left with 12 tray oven and no idea or any background in bread making. after weeks of research and reading books, I now can make ensaymada, spanish, mamon, few cookies. But my biggest problem is the Pandesal. I wasted a lot of flour and sugar already. It cost me a lot of money. Although, sometimes, I baked it right, but the texture and the shape is not good. I dont have dough roller, I knead it manually. I hope you can help me. oooh that is a tough one to crack. You are really in a dire baking situation so here is a few tips i can share with you. First, you have to stop relying on your bakers. Learn the trade yourself. You can start by getting a copy of my ebook for STANDARDIZED FORMULA or recipes because i am sure your baker has all the recipes if not hid most of the trade secrets with him. He will never tell them to you. Not even if you pay him for the recipes. My hands on class won't start until November or January so if you can start learning now by reading everything about baking yeast doughs, that will be great. You have to start somewhere, too bad you have to realize it this way. I am sorry to tell you that there is no short cut when it comes to baking breads. You will have a long crawl before you get to that stage where you can do all by yourself, then train someone who has very little knowledge of baking. Do not get a trained baker because he will not follow your instructions and will most likely bake his own recipe not yours. Please read my website from top to bottom, you will learn a lot from it. Once you have a copy of the ebook, read it 4 times until you have almost memorized it, study the photos and maybe, maybe you can start experimenting and at least sell Pandesal, Pan de coco etc., Good luck and let me know what happens. Also, you are fine with manual kneading, you do not need a dough roller. The recipes in the ebook are not compatible with dough rollers. Sher MAKING CHEESE AND HAM STRATA CUT UP BREADS AND ADD EGGS, CHEESE AND MILK OR CREAM. MAKE SURE THE BREADS ARE SOAKED WITH THE EGG AND MILK MIXTURE. ADD DICED TOMATOES, ONIONS, GARLIC WITH MORE CHEDDAR. ADD MOZARELLA, BASIL AND FRESHLY GROUND PEPPER. BAKE AT 325 F FOR 40 MINUTES OR SO, OR UNTIL THE TOP IS GOLDEN BROWN. THE STRATA WILL SET ONCE IT COOLS DOWN.
LET THE STRATA COOL FOR ABOUT 10 MINUTES, THEN SERVE WARM WITH SALAD OR SOUP.
STRATA SERVED WITH TOMATO AND BASIL OLIVE OIL SALSA. YUM!

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