At the Market June 24-26

Now that the summer heat is here, bread doesn't have as good of a shelf life, so I've switched up my baking schedule so that at least all the artisan loaves are baked fresh each market day. That means I've been up since 3 this morning, making and baking the bread. Sure smells good around here!

Though you may not find all of these items at Local Roots each day this weekend, here's the sum of what I plan to have on the shelf:

--Cheese-herb artisan bread: four varieties -- dill-cheddar, chèvre-rosemary, feta-oregano, and a new one featuring the Miami Erie Canal cheese (Swiss-style) from Canal Junction Farmstead Cheese combined with dried parsley
--Cinnamon pecan bread
--Garlic-herb baguettes
--Garlic pesto flatbread
--Light rye bread
--Maple oatmeal bread
--Pain aux noix
--Sesame thins
--Whole wheat pita (in bags of four)

New this week: cheese crackers made partly with local whole wheat flour plus creamy unsalted butter and a tangy cheddar from Ohio Farm Direct. The flavor might remind you of Cheese Thins (TM) but is so much more real and satisfying! Available in limited quantities this week (until I hear from you as to whether I should bake more!).

I'm a little undecided about this week's bakery case offering. It will be a vegetable and cheese roll like the spinach feta rolls that have been a huge hit the past few weeks. But will it continue to showcase spinach, or another vegetable that's coming into season (like broccoli)? Will the cheese change? I'll see what inspires me tomorrow and Saturday mornings. Look for this to change every few weeks as the season brings us a wider variety of fresh produce!

And perhaps tomorrow I'll be inspired to bake something else!

At the Market June 17-19

Sorry I didn't get this posted yesterday -- the day was filled with baking, a delivery, and checking inventory before making even more!

But here's what products of mine you will find at Local Roots this weekend:

--Cheese-herb artisan bread: four varieties -- dill-cheddar, chèvre-rosemary, feta-oregano, and Ludlow-sage-tarragon
--Cinnamon pecan bread
--Dried tomato flatbread
--Garlic-herb baguettes
--Light rye bread
--Maple oatmeal bread
--Pain aux noix
--Sesame thins
--Shortcakes (in packages of four)
--Whole wheat pita (in bags of four)
--Zaatar flatbread


The new bread this week is another artisan flatbread, this time topped with fresh garlic scape pesto. WOW! If you love garlic, you will go crazy for this bread. The pesto contains garlic scapes from Banzhaf Garten Organic Farm, walnuts, the brand new blue cheese from Canal Junction Farmstead Cheese, a sprinkling of freshly cracked black pepper, and lots of good extra virgin olive oil. I almost don't want to sell this, it smells so fantastic -- even the mailman thought so! (But I will, because you deserve good bread, too.)

I'll keep my corner of the pastry case filled this weekend, too:

--On Friday you'll find the spinach-feta rolls as well as a new blueberry-lavender cake with homegrown lavender.

--On Saturday I'll bring in more spinach-feta rolls along with pains au chocolat (chocolate-filled croissants), a customer favorite from earlier this year.

Come to Local Roots this weekend and find your new favorite!

Spinach-Feta Rolls

After last week's rapid disappearance of the spinach-feta rolls from the bakery case at Local Roots, I figured I'd better make more this week. This time, I actually remembered to catch them for a photo while they cooled!

So here they are: a little crusty on the outside, tender artisan bread on the inside, rolled around a filling of sauteed green onion (from my garden) and spinach (from Adonai Acres) pureed with goat's milk feta cheese from Lucky Penny Creamery. These are substantial rolls, big enough to be a sandwich on their own, so you might want to try them for lunch today or tomorrow.

These may well become a weekly item in the bakery case -- with changes in filling based on what vegetables are in season -- so if you like them, let me know!

Dried Tomato Flatbread is Back

I'm finishing the baking this morning with spinach-feta rolls and the last bread: a dried tomato flatbread that I introduced at Local Roots a couple of weeks ago. It uses the same basic artisan bread recipe, with a little local whole wheat flour added, and the flat round loaves enjoy a speckling of soaked home-dried cherry tomatoes and fresh rosemary.

Think of it as an outside-in pizza, and serve with salad or soup on a day when you don't feel much like cooking!

At the Market June 10-12

Summer is coming! But the warm weather doesn't stop The Grain Maker's oven from churning out delicious, wholesome breads for market. Here's what you'll find at Local Roots this weekend (starred varieties available Thursday, some in limited quantities):

**Cheese-herb artisan bread: four varieties -- dill-cheddar, chèvre-rosemary, feta-oregano, and Ludlow-sage-tarragon
**Cinnamon pecan bread
--Garlic-herb baguettes
--Light rye bread (no caraway seeds this week)
**Maple oatmeal bread
**Pain aux noix
**Sesame thins
--Shortcakes (in packages of four)
**Whole wheat pita (in bags of four)

Time permitting, I may also make the dried tomato flatbread again, so stay tuned.

For the bakery case, I'll have two customer favorites:
--Espresso chip shortbread
--Spinach-feta rolls (am planning to have a small batch at the market Friday and another Saturday)

But for now, it's back to the kitchen for me -- I'm not done baking yet!

Quick News

Just a couple of quick items:

First, BIG THANKS to the Friday crowd at Local Roots! I discovered this morning that thanks to you, I had sold out early of cinnamon pecan bread (not a surprise) as well as the new spinach feta rolls. I take it that's something I should bake more often?

Second, after putting it off repeatedly, I've finally set up a page for The Grain Maker on Facebook. If you're on Facebook, do become a fan and join in the conversation!

Thanks for your support!

More For This Week

As promised, there will be more new items from The Grain Maker at Local Roots this week:


When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade, right? So when a couple of garlic-herb baguettes didn't sell last week, I decided to turn them into herbed bread crumbs, with a little added garlic powder, dried oregano, and dried basil to punch up the flavor a little. These would be perfect for dredging slices of eggplant or zucchini -- or even chicken breasts -- for making these dishes alla parmigiana, or you could use them to top casseroles or vegetable side dishes.

My offerings in the bakery case this week will include two new items:

--hazelnut shortbread: wedges of buttery, half-whole wheat shortbread studded with tasty local hazelnuts and sweetened with Gortner's Maple Syrup
--spinach-feta rolls: take the usual artisan bread dough and wrap it around a savory filling of sauteed local spinach (from Adonai Acres), homegrown green onions, and tangy goat-milk feta cheese from Lucky Penny Creamery -- then bake to golden brown perfection; these will be available starting Friday at lunch

As always, let me know if you like what's new!

At the Market June 3-5

I've spread out the baking this week, so I won't have everything at Local Roots all at once today -- it will trickle into the market over the next day or two. But I plan to have plenty of good things available for you (starred varieties available Thursday):

**Cheese-herb artisan bread: three varieties -- dill-cheddar, chèvre-rosemary, and feta-oregano
--Cinnamon pecan bread
**Garlic-herb baguettes


**Light rye bread (with a little more oomph this week: a touch more rye flour, some whole wheat flour, and caraway seeds)
--Maple oatmeal bread
--Pain aux noix
**Sesame thins
--Shortcakes (in packages of four)
**Whole wheat pita (in bags of four)
--Zaatar flatbread

I have a couple of new items planned for the bakery case this week, but until I get them made, I'll wait to post information about them.

Stay tuned for more details!