The Happy Monk Baking Company has been in full throttle for a month, now. Our orders grow each week, the praise continues to come in. It has been a month of hard, happy work, and a month of discovery!
Here’s one thing: when the bread is out of the oven, there’s still half a day’s work ahead: packaging and delivering. At this point, I’m bleary-eyed from being up since earliest morning stoking Mildrith’s fire, baking and trying to stay ahead of the chaos in the kitchen. But the promise of these last few steps is enough to keep me inspired.
Packaging and delivering the bread is the final act of presentation. It’s the moment when I hand it over to a customer, packaged in a crisp brown bag, stamped with the Happy Monk logo. It’s a completion and a moment of truth. A fulfillment of the customer’s expectation. The anticipation of breaking into a fresh loaf of bread. A little salivation (and perhaps a little salvation). A happy customer retreating to the kitchen. And the Happy Monk, driving off to the next destination.
Aha! So You’re the Baker!
Many customers are old friends; some, I’ve never met. Others are people I might have chatted with, but long forgotten their names. And as I approach the front door, we both might experience moment of recognition: “Aha! So you’re the baker!” … “Oh, yes, you’re the actor I saw in that play a few months back!”
Delivering bread has led me along Pender Island roads I’ve never been on. It has taken me into driveways I would never have noticed, driving by. I’d never been more than a hundred yards along Hooson Road, but I now know its open farm lands and forested roads. One meandering driveway led me down to the waterfront and a house with one of the most exquisite views of Saturna Island and the Salish Sea.
Another time, I had some trouble finding a customer on Pirates Road. I stopped to ask a pedestrian where the address was.
“Oh, that’s down the road, where the rich people live!”
I found it, eventually, another meandering gravel driveway through the woods to a smallish house looking out onto Bedwell Harbour. Well, my conception of Bedwell is from the heights of Mount Norman, or looking north from Poet’s Cove, or south from Medicine Beach. It was a surprise to find myself looking east across the harbour to another forested landscape. My view of a familiar Pender spot, turned upside down.
We are all rich, when you think about it. This island gives us natural splendour, a place to discover who we really are … to ourselves, to others. Some of us find something we love, and some of us at least have a good chance at finding it, if we really look. The baker’s life has brought me closer to Pender Island. What a surprise, what a discovery, what a blessing!
![Happy Monk Tidings - October 27, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice this week: Mountain Rye; Blog: Colossal Roughhousing on Boundary Pass [ See link in profile ]](https://i0.wp.com/happymonkbaking.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png?w=980&ssl=1)
Happy Monk Tidings - October 27, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice this week: Mountain Rye; Blog: Colossal Roughhousing on Boundary Pass [ See link in profile ]
The good earth! We survive the big storm! Been inside all day so I’m going swimming and the hot tub awaits. .
.
.
.
.
.
.
#coldwaterswimming #coldwaterswim #coldwatertherapy #penderisland #southpenderisland
Happy Monk Tidings - October 20, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Sprouted Purple Barley Sourdough; Blog: To All the Bakers: Past, Present, Future and Imaginary! [ See Link in Profile ]
Celebrating the season of apples on Pender Island, we made a full-on Pender Apple bread with a selection of apples from Black Rabbit Farms and Old Growth apple cider from our own Twin Island Cider (with a little Perry) @twinislandcider. Dehydrated the apples and folded them into the dough part way through fermentation. Beautiful droplets of sweetness from the dried apples and a heady note of cider surrounded by the gentle sourdough tang. Pender Island forever! Long live Pender!
.
.
.
.
.
#apples #apple #applebread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #woodfiredbread #coboven #bread #breadhead #breadlove #baker #bbga #happymonkbaker #happymonkbaking #naturallyleavened #artisanbread #realbread #rusticbread #penderisland #southpenderisland #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbc
Happy Monk Tidings - October 15, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Pender Island Apple Bread; Blog: Happy Monk Bread Teachers: Francis Olive [ See Link in Profile ]
It snowed Sesame Wheat Sourdough in the kitchen this morning, up to our knees in loaves. This one was so sesame forward and umami, it was addictive and I couldn’t stop slicing and buttering and stuffing down my gullet. Inspired by the Sesame Bread from our friends at @workingculturebread in Victoria, whose Sesame loaf is sublime. I came home from a visit last month and set to making a Happy Monk version, super-charged with lots of whole wheat and a ton of sesame seeds. Still some refinements but heading in the right direction!
.
.
.
.
#sesame #sesamebread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #woodfiredbread #coboven #bread #breadhead #breadlove #baker #bbga #happymonkbaker #happymonkbaking #naturallyleavened #artisanbread #realbread #rusticbread #penderisland #southpenderisland
Happy Monk Tidings - October 6, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Sesame-Wheat Sourdough; Blog: Making Your Own Bread - You've Got This; Video: Bake Day with the Happy Monk [See Link in Profile ]
Bake Day with the Happy Monk. The amazing @jomosenpai (my son) came over to Pender last summer on a bake day. Was in my face all the time, taking pictures, shooting video. It was so great having him around, and I’m amazed the bread (Polenta Rosemary Sourdough) turned out so well. This video he made turned out very well, too!
.
.
.
.
.
#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #bread #realbread #naturallyleavened #baker #bakery #bbga #artisanbread #breadhead #breadmaking #breadmaking🍞 #sourdough #sourdoughbread #polenta #polentabread #coboven #earthoven #earthenoven #penderisland #southpenderisland #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbakers #southerngulfislandsbakeries #penderisland
Happy Monk Tidings - September 22, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Harvest Bread; Blog: Sourdough September and the Real Bread Campaign [ See link in profile ]
A horizontal world, an endless beach with long rollers, sandwiched beneath a low sky ceiling … and hundreds of surfers. Chesterman’s Beach, Tofino.
Arise, ye loaves from your slumber!
Arise, ye taste buds of want.
For reason in eating now thunders,
And at last ends of the age of cant!
.
.
.
.
.
#internationale #woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #seedbread #seedfeast #rusticbread #rusticbreads #firewood #bread #realbread #naturallyleavened #baker #bakery #artisanbread #breadhead #sourdough #sourdoughbread #penderisland #southpenderisland #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany
Post to The Happy Monk Baking Company
Happy Monk Tidings - September 1, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Sprouted Rye and Seed Bread; Blog: We're all rich when you think about it; South Pender Growers and Makers and Heritage Market; The Happy Monk Holidays - [ Link in profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - August 25, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Cinnamon-Raisin Bread; Blog: Marriage, Laurie Anderson and the Weddings of Pender; and more! [ See links in profile ]
300 hamburger buns for friends’ wedding, Aug. 21. A great honour to be asked to do this and be part of the feeding of the guests. The buns were used not for hamburgers, but spit-roasted pulled pork. The reception was glorious, held at the far end of Pender Island’s retired airstrip, now a farm, in all its rural splendour. I was too tired to stay, but enjoyed a glass of wine, talking to the mother of the bride and a few of the happy guests. Marriages are good news stories!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#woodfired #woodfiredoven #coboven #earthoven #Mildrith #Mildriththeoven #woodfiredovenbread #buns #bunstagram #bunsbunsbuns #hamburgerbuns #bread #realbread #naturallyleavened #baker #bakersofinstagram #bakery #artisanbread #breadhead #sourdough #sourdoughbread #sourdoughbaking #weddingfeasts #penderisland #southpenderislands #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany
Happy Monk Tidings - August 18, 2021 🍞 - This week's Baker's Choice: The Approachable Loaf; Blog: A Benediction on Mount Norman. [ See links in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - August 11, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Polenta and Rosemary Sourdough; Blog: Here's to the Homely Loaves! [ See Linktree in Profile ]
Lo! The mighty Seed Feast! Favoured by Happy Monk customers the Pender Islands over! These loaves, just rolled out of Mildrith, are hot and fragrant with seeds, nuttiness and bready wholesome-ness. O for a steamy slice and a schmear of butter! That I may eat “and leave the world unseen, and with thee fade away into the forest dim.” (Apologies to the ghost of John Keats).
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#seedfeastbread #seedbread #seedybread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #woodfiredbread #coboven #earth.oven #bread #breadlove #baker #bbga #happymonkbaker #happymonkbaking #naturallyleavened #artisanbread #realbread #breadpoetry #rusticbread #penderisland #southpenderisland
Happy Monk Tidings - August 4, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Volkornbrot (German Rye) with Sunflower Seeds; also Seed Feast; Blog: Why Eat Ancient and Heritage Grains?; Goin' Fishin' Soon! [ See Linktree in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - July 28, 2021 🍞- Baker's Choice: Sprouted Kamut; Blog: Mildrith's Body of Miracles; Goin' Fishin' - [ See Link in Profile ]
This is as dark as these loaves are gonna get in the falling heat of Mildrith, the wood-fired cob oven. They’re good enough for me. She’s already baked 53 loaves throughout the morning, and this will be her last labour of the day. Right now, the clay walls are about 420ºF, not enough heat for another load. If I were more organized and more energetic, I’d have a bunch of cookies lined up to bake or, better yet, a few pan loaves of dark rye bread that could bake the rest of the day. She’s a miracle, Mildrith is, and she’s helped feed hundreds of Pender Island residents over the past two-and-a-half years. Saturday is a rest day for the Happy Monk baker and a day of gratitude. And this Saturday, I’m directing my gratitude at Mildrith, the wood-fired oven!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredbaking #woodfiredbread #clayoven #clayovenbaking #coboven #cobovenbaking #sourdoughbread #sourdoughbaking #breadmaking #breadbaking #breadlove #bread #seedbread #bakersofinstagram #bakerslife #penderisland #southpenderisland #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbc #happymonk #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbakery
Moonset and high tide, South Pender Island at 3:50 a.m.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredbaking #woodfiredbread #clayoven #clayovenbaking #coboven #cobovenbaking #sourdoughbread #sourdoughbaking #breadmaking #breadbaking #breadlove #bread #bakersofinstagram #bakerslife #penderisland #southpenderisland #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbc #happymonk #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbakery
Happy Monk Tidings - July 21, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Bird Seed Bread; Blog: Rye Bread: The Agony and the Ecstasy [ See link in profile ]
Whole Rye and Spelt Sourdough with generous scoops of seeds and great texture. Mildrith loves these rye loaves … I wish we had smell-o-vision to smell you what I mean.
.
.
.
.
.
#ryebread #wholegrain #wholegrainbread #speltbread #woodfired #woodfiredoven #clayoven #clayovenbakery #clayovenbread #woodfiredbaking #woodfiredbread #sourdoughbread #sourdoughbaking #breadmaking #breadbaking #breadlove #bread #bakersofinstagram #bakerslife #penderisland #southpenderisland #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbc #happymonk #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbakery
In the early light of dawn, Mildrith oven-springs sourdough, caramelizes crusts gold and brown and leaves heavenly smells as evidence. Inside her hot clay dome, 12 boules of Salish Sourdough are on the final stage of their journey. Behold the steam rising out of the chimney!
.
.
.
.
.
.
#woodfired #woodfiredoven #clayoven #clayovenbakery #clayovenbread #woodfiredbaking #woodfiredbread #sourdoughbread #sourdoughbaking #breadmaking #breadbaking #breadlove #bread #bakersofinstagram #bakerslife #penderisland #southpenderisland #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbc #happymonk #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbakery