The Happy Monk Baking Company offers wholesome breads and sweet baked products to the residents of Pender Island, BC. We take the whole bread baking experience into account, using organic locally sourced whole grains, mostly milled on site, and nurturing our own sourdough culture, used in everything we bake. And the bread oven …
It is the realization of one of my long-held dreams, to bake bread in a wood-fired oven. Over the summer and fall of 2018, we built the oven and (mostly) natural shelter for our baking enterprise. It is made of Pender Island clay and stone, and most of the logs and timber for the shelter came from Pender Island. Read more about the oven here.
It is a thing of pride, and every time we use it, we feel inspired to produce the best bread our hands are capable of. And the sweet things!
Why are we called the Happy Monk Baking Company. A sad monk I know needed cheering up. He’d fallen in love with a woman from the village. She was a baker. Read more about it in the blog!
Look for the Happy Monk Baking Company at the Pender Farmers Market, some time soon, and sign up for our bread subscription service.
Cheers all!
David Morton
The Happy Monk Baker
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The signature of a real wood-fired oven, written on the backside of a Salish Sourdough loaf from last week. You can see the rectangular impressions of the hearth firebricks. This is as good as a certificate of authenticity, made by Mildrith and the Happy Monk, South Pender Island!😃 you won’t see it in pan loaves, though. Look for it next time you open up a bag of HM bread!
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#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #bread #realbread #naturallyleavened #baker #bakery #bbga #artisanbread #breadhead #sourdough #sourdoughbread #penderisland #southpenderisland #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany
Sourdough Pan Loaf raised on a pedestal.
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#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #bread #realbread #naturallyleavened #baker #bakery #bbga #artisanbread #breadhead #sourdough #sourdoughbread #sandwichloaf #panloaf #penderisland #southpenderisland #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany
Olive Loaf, with a couple of Kalamatas winking at you from the crust. .
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#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #bread #realbread #naturallyleavened #baker #bakery #bbga #artisanbread #breadhead #olives #olivebread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #penderisland #southpenderisland #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany
Sometimes seems as if the bake week happens in a hypnotic trance of woodchopping, fire-building, dough-mixing, loaf-pulling (from the oven), not to mention all the “back-end” tasks like stamping bread bags, ordering and bookkeeping. Spent two hours this morning chopping and stacking wood for tomorrow morning’s bake before even starting on the dough-mix, but was thankful to stand up every now and then and listen to the amazing birdsong here on Pender Island.
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#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #woodchopping #woodchopper #firewood #bread #realbread #naturallyleavened #baker #bakery #bbga #artisanbread #breadhead #sourdough #sourdoughbread #penderisland #southpenderisland #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany #thirdmanrecords
Inside Mildrith yesterday morning, 11 Salish Sourdoughs risen and baked exuberantly to a luscious golden colour. The oven had baked two loads previously and it’s still just shy of 500ºF in there. She’s my inanimate love with a soul!
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#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #bread #realbread #naturallyleavened #baker #bakery #bbga #artisanbread #breadhead #sourdough #sourdoughbread #penderisland #southpenderisland #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakingcompany
New Blog Post: The Allure of the Tassajara Bread Book, a 1970s classic that seems to be as relevant now as it was back in the day. Also” the week’s Baker’s Choice: Whole Wheat – Spelt Sourdough Pan Loaf. [ See Link in Profile ]
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#tassajarabreadbook #tassajarazenmountaincenter #classicbreadbooks #classiccookbooks #zencooking #zenbaking #southpenderisland #penderisland #southerngulfislands #happymonkbakery #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany #bread #breadmaking #sourdoughbread #artisanbread #artisanbreadbaking
100% Rye with Currants, a happy loaf to enjoy on this day of rest. .
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#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredovenbread #sourdough #sourdoughbaking #sourdoughbread #rye #ryebread #ryebaking #ryecurrantbread #southpender #southpenderisland #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbc #penderisland #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbakery #bbga
Rye Currant Sourdough coming out of the oven ... this one worked. No curses because it’s Sunday.
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#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredbread #coboven #cobovenbaking #cobovenbread #ryebread #ryecurrantbread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #southpenderisland #southpender #penderisland #penderislandbc #southerngulfislands #happymonkbakery #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany
This time lapse from a couple of weeks ago makes it look like I really know what I’m doing. All the mistakes and pauses and curses go by so fast you miss them. Just get a load of that efficiency and intention! Just what you want to see in a baker! 🤣🤣😎
Happy Monk Blog: Sad Monk, Happy Monk - [ See link in profile ]
Einkorn ... Number one on the bread hit parade for 10,000 years! ☝️ 🤟
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#einkornsourdough #einkorn #einkornbread #woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredbread #bbga #tartinebread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #sourdoughlove #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbakery #happymonkbakery #southpender #southpenderheaven
The Happy Monk Baking Company - Baker's Choice this week: Einkorn; Blog: Rise Up Podcast for early morning listening - [ See link in profile ]
The Baker’s Life: what would you rather do at 3am waiting for the wood-fired oven to cool down? Stamp paper bags? Work on the Excel ordersheet? Write a blog? Sometimes the prow just calls me down to the water and I watch the night sky, flashing red lights on Orcas Island, listen to the water lapping against the rocks. It’s gonna get busy soon! Nice to have a little pause ...
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#orcasisland #bakerslife #happymonkbakingcompany #southpenderisland #bakery #gulfislands #gulfislandsnationalseashore
“And who are you?" she sternly spoke
To the one beneath the smoke
"Why, I'm fire, " he replied
"And I love your solitude, and I love your pride." "Well then, fire, make your body cold
I'm gonna give you mine to hold. "
And saying this, she climbed inside
To be his one, to be his only bride. .
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#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredbread #fire #bread #leonardcohen #joanofarc #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbakery
Happy Monk Tidings - Baker’s Choice: Hearty Seeded Rye Bread – Blog: Make your own yeast! [ See Link in profile ]
This Cinnamon Raisin loaf!
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#woodfired #woodfiredbread #sourdoughbread #sourdough #woodfiredoven #bread #bbga #breadlove #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbakery #southpenderisland
Seed and Salish Sourdough today ... Cinnamon Raisin Sunday. Moving to two bake days to lessen the pressure on Mildrith, the wood fired oven! She’s thanking me and I’m thanking me. No more stress trying to get enough heat out of the last load!
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#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredbread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #bread #bbga #penderisland #southpenderisland #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany
Happy Monk Tidings: Baker's Choice - Cinnamon Raisin Bread; Happy Monk Blog - Bread: The Great Leveler; New Bread Delivery schedules; FolkLife Magazine and more! [See link in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - Blog Post: The Approachable Again - News: Mildrith is Back and Beautiful [ See link in profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings: BREAD DAY SATURDAY instead of Friday; Baker's Choice: Mountain Rye Bread; Blog: Mildrith Emerged Radiant [ See link in profile ]
Day Two: A new layer of cob made from the reconstituted stuff chipped off yesterday. @jacques.marmen mixed up covering plaster made of cob, manure, rice flour paste, cattail fluff and shredded newspaper. Lots of fibre to absorb the stretch from the expanding steel door assembly. Now convalescence for Mildrith! Big sigh of relief!
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#woodfiredoven #woodfired #coboven #southpenderisland #penderislandbc #happymonkbakery #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany
Day One: If you’re a little squeamish, you’d better not look at these pictures. Graphic, some would say, gory. My Mildrith went under the knife today to repair cracks caused by the expansion of the steel door assembly. Refurbishing the thermal mass over a layer of insulation to allow some room for the steel to expand and contract without causing such big cracks on the exterior body. I was nervous, pacing the stone driveway. @jacques.marmen and me, both. It’s an experiment, a hope and a prayer, fingers crossed, we’ll see. No bread for a week!
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#woodfiredoven #woodfiredbread #woodfiredbreadoven #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany #bbga #penderisland #southpenderisland #gulfislands
Struan Bread is supposed to be the best toasting bread in the world! This version is leavened with 100% sourdough and 30% whole spelt and I would agree with the claim 130%. Bakers Choice this week!
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#struan #struanbread #peterreinhart #sourdough #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbakery
Happy Monk Tidings - Blog: The France Factor-Rhythms and Life around a small village boulangerie; Baker's Choice: Eminently Toastable Struan Bread; News: Mildrith gets an upgrade! - News: Mildrith gets an upgrade! [ See link in Profile ]