"bakery" news and stories

We've all had that dream. We're sitting on hour 14 of our work day, slumped down in our non-ergonomic chair, staring at the spreadsheets on our screen, ignoring the phone that's been ringing off the hook for the last 12 minutes, dreaming about leaving it all behind to...open a bakery.

The idea of waking up every morning and heading to the kitchen instead of a cubicle deep within the confines of a concrete and glass office building is warm and inviting, is it not? Sure, if you happen to not care about actually making money from your bakery. According to Forbes, the bakery business is in the Top 10 LEAST profitable businesses to start. In fact, the average pre-tax profit of a bakery is negative - you lose money.

So our advice to you when you stress out at work and want to march right out of your office to bake bread? Do it, but bake a loaf at home, then go back to work the next day.

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I have a radio in my bathroom that is plugged into an outlet in the light fixture. This means that every time you turn the light on, the radio comes on as well. My friends know this about my apartment and so don't get startled when they go into use my bathroom. However, it tends to freak strangers out. This evening I went in to wash my hands and found myself standing there a full ten minutes later, although I had needed but 30 seconds to finish the task at hand.

The reason I got stuck in the bathroom? This story, playing on NPR's All Things Considered about the Great Harvest Bread Company and the people who own the franchises of the company. The main company encourages their franchises to be creative and innovation in their stores and in turn, the store owners seemed to find great satisfaction in the work that they did. If you have a few minutes, it is definitely worth a listen.

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It's no surprise that the Cupcakes take the cake girls want you to say it with cupcakes this Valentine's Day. They have put together a list of some of the cupcakeries around the country that are offering V-day specials, whether they're flavors, prices or events that have been arranged in honor of the holiday. Their list reads like a who's who of bakeries: Cupcake Royale in Seattle, WA, Sprinkles in Beverly Hills, CA, Best Buns in Arlington, Virginia, Frosted Cupcakery in Long Beach, CA, Cake and Art in Los Angeles, CA, Leda's Bake Shop in Sherman Oaks, CA and The Cookie Jar Bakery in Houston, TX. Sprinkle's "I love you" cupcake assortment, which includes chocolate marshmallow, red hot velvet, and vanilla cupcakes packed in an XOX box, is pictured above.

Remember that some bakeries will not advertise their specials anywhere other than in-store, but just about every single one is going to have some kind of Valentine's cupcake in stock, so it's worth dropping by your favorite bakery to check out their offerings if you're not planning on baking yourself.

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Every year, Eleni's NYC cookie bakery puts out a series of Hollywood-themed cookies in honor of the Academy Awards. This year, for the 79th annual Oscars, Eleni's is offering four different sets of their signature cookies:

• Famous Hollywood Quotes - ($45)includes 9 sugar cookies with one director's slate, three Hollywood stars and five famous quotes: "Show me the money", "I see dead people", "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn", "Life is like a box of chocolates" and "Supercalifrajalisticexpialidocious"
• Best Actor– ($58.50) 16 cookies include 3 each of Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, Peter O'Toole, Will Smith and Forest Whitaker and one sealed envelope cookie
• Best Actress – ($58.50) 16 cookies include 3 each of Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet, and another
• Best Picture – ($65) includes 18 cookies decorated with signature items from Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen.

The cookies are hand-iced and have a remarkable amount of detail on each - to the point where it is almost difficult to eat them. Almost, of course, because once you bite into one and realize how tasty they are, you won't feel quite as bad about indulging in a few bites of the best picture nominee or your favorite "best actor" candidate.

Cook and Eat's latest posting of Honey Orange Bread Pudding looks like it is the perfect combination of bright, seasonal citrus and the custardy comfort of regular bread pudding. In short, it might just very well be one of the most appealing winter desserts that we've seen all season - especially because the orange used in the recipe was blood orange. The recipe is a take on one of Macrina Bakery's offerings, which uses lemon instead of orange. It is a restaurant style bread pudding, which means that instead of being baked in a casserole dish and scooped out for serving, as so many homemade bread puddings are, it is baked in a loaf pan and simply sliced into portions when it has come out of the oven and set up. C&E used mini loaf pans and baked the bread puddings in a waterbath very slowly, ensuring a creamy and delicious result.

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