A noisy Artisan Bakery

We’re a noisy bunch, I get it. I’ve been struggling to figure out if all the endless chatter about what we do (usually from me) really had, or has any purpose to the business whatsoever. I mean, wholesale customers don’t sign up in droves because of a healthy 275 tweets a week, nor do numbers in the Cafe skyrocket everytime there’s a new entry on the blog.

I’ve kept my head down as of late namely due to that internal struggle of finding a purpose to what I say online, and also because we’ve been busy as bees working on an overflowing honeypot of projects. But overflowing doesn’t mean ‘in over our heads’ – the atmosphere in here is positively brimming with anticipation, a real sense of ‘All Systems Go’.

With our wholesale side going strong, 2009 and our tentative foray into fostering our retail community through the Café, Training School, Markets, and online started by chattering our heads off really. To chatter is to create ‘buzz’, which was one thing I found, but this year, 2010, is one that has to be filled with purpose, in all our chatter both in and out of the Bakery. Chatter with purpose, which I suppose constitutes ‘dialogue‘. It has to create a dialogue amongst audience, customers and fans who are part of a Brasserie Bread community that is relevant, fun, interesting and connected by trust.

Yes, we are an Artisan Bakery, and yes, we make and bake hand-made bread, pastries and cakes. We haven’t lost the point of it all, we are a Bakery. But we also have a multitude of stories to tell. From the hands that mould and mix, to the tried-and-tested recipes; from the daily hustle of packing and delivering your bread in time for breakfast, to the many-a-failed loaves; from the painstakingly-refined techniques to yield that distinctive taste, to the sometimes laborious process of poaching an Artisan Baker from Production to take a children’s baking class because we don’t short-sell the ‘Artisan’ ideal of our Baking Classes. Neither do we take children (nor parents and teachers) for idiots by having an untrained, unskilled teacher take them along for a ride. Let’s face it, pizza is delicious and THE all-time favourite, but how do you make pizza dough? What’s the best way to mould that dough with your hands? And hey, let’s try shaping it a little differently: we’ll teach you the technique, and you sprinkle some imagination into it

Frank's astronaut. need I say more?

At Brasserie Bread, you see what you get, and you learn from the best. Want to try some of that Sour Cherry? Here, take a handful! Savour it, take your time, and if you like it, buy a loaf. Show your kids the Bakers feeding our 15-year Starter (or having flour fights), and at the same time, let the Bakers appreciate who’s coming in every day at the same time to buy that Rye they shaped for 2 hours yesterday. Or how about the regular who comes in to place an order with our Café staff (who know he likes his Corned Beef sandwich with no watercress), made on the French Mountain Bread pulled out the ovens yesterday.

And no, that’s not stale bread either

 This isn’t so much a proclamation (or perhaps even a declaration) to our critics, as it is a call to action for me. Sometimes I struggle with justifying what I do, am I creating too much useless noise with this blog, or Twitter, am I damaging any notion of ‘exclusivity’ or ‘artisan’ with this much chatter, or is there a direction in which I need to focus on in my writing and dealings with fans, customers, potential partnerships. Sometimes, even sincerity is called into question – I’m not a baker, neither am I an owner, yet I tweet on account of Brasserie. I deal with stories, and I deal with the people behind this excellent product. So yes, I do think that qualifies as a good-enough platform to vocalise the genuine passion of the people who do the real back-breaking work here. And everything we make here tastes good and is made with nothing but raw passion and good intention– so isn’t that reason enough to shout it out from every rooftop so that everyone has the chance to hear about it and try it for themselves? I suppose this is where chatter serves its purpose.

And listen, if you don’t like what you hear, if you don’t like what you taste, join the dialogue - let’s have a conversation

Hello 2010!

A big Hello and Happy New Year to everyone!

I have to apologise for the long silence on our Brasserie Bread blog. First of all – December fried our brains, depleted our energy levels, and cleaned the Bakery out. Our amazing Artisan Bakers, Pastry Chefs, Packers, Cleaners and Drivers worked through the Holiday period, baking and delivering to customers who stayed open with steely resolve, while our lovely Cafe staff got a much-deserved 2 week break. Meanwhile, our Customer Service team popped in and out, weaving around public holidays to tend to the usual administration matters with our Wholesale Customers who stayed open through the Holiday period. We all returned at the start of January in planning mode (a week before the Cafe opened), ready for a slow, steady start to the New Year. What we didn’t expect was a healthy, robust return to an almost December-like atmosphere, with calls rolling in about when the Cafe would be open again, School Holiday Baking enrolments by the minute, Christmas Gift Certificate recipients calling up for Artisan Baking Workshops, Wholesale Customers keen to get a start on trying new products and recipe ideas, people driving up to our doors in droves checking to see if they could get their coffees and daily bread.

We’ve got so many exciting developments in the works for 2010 – When I got back, I had so much renewed inspiration and energy to get stuck into it all. I did research into new story content for the blog, tapping into our extensive BB library, a collection of baking and recipe books amassed over the years by Michael and David (even managed to uncover a copy of Bourdain’s ‘Kitchen Confidential’ for some nighttime reading I could spend hours sitting on the floor looking through some of the amazing books on that bookshelf, drinking in the beautiful images of Parisian bread shops shelves lined with crusty croissants and loaves in Gourmet Shops of Paris, or discovering what type of vodka goes with Russian breads in Dan Lepard’s The Handmade Loaf. Going through these books really gives you a whole different sense of where the inspiration behind our loaves and baking processes come from, also shedding light on reasons behind the manner in which Michael and David conduct the Brasserie Bread ‘way of life’ . It also gives me ideas about travelling – tracking Brasserie Bread’s journey back to where it all began. But I digress, here I am getting on the express train to the land of the ‘the tangent’, high hopes and aspirations to be covered when I have time (and perhaps not on the company blog).

Gourmet Shops of Paris, by Pierre Rival & Christian Sarramon. Published by Flammarion, 2004

The Handmade Loaf, by Dan Lepard. Published by Mitchell Beazley, 2004

Attended my first Coffee Mornings for 2010 at Le Pain Quotidien, Surry Hills last Friday, where a mini-brainstorm with the brilliant minds of Kristin Rohan and Gavin Heaton also sparked some inventive ideas around getting the word out about a new online (ad)venture we’re about to dive headfirst into. As with every third person I’ve met in January that has uttered these words ‘I’m not allowed to say what it is yet, but it is very exciting’ – DITTO. But all will be revealed soon

We’ve also been relatively quiet on our Twitter/Facebook front due to the start of our Summer Holiday School Program 2010.

picking the apples for our new Apple & Honey bread kids recipe

Freshly baked Apple & Honey bread

Matt dishing out the goods

It has been such a pleasure seeing familiar faces return for the baking classes – a few of our favourites have returned albeit having grown a head taller from the last time I’ve seen them, and bringing along cousins or friends with them to bake together. What really gives us satisfaction from the Training School (especially with kids), is when they return eager to learn more. Two of our Training School fans, Eric and Emanuel returned for the classes, along with their cousins. Right before the class, I overheard Eric chatting excitedly at about a 100 miles an hour to his cousin, giving a blow-by-blow account of what they were about to do (So, first you crack an egg into the bowl, and then you start mixing…) and yesterday, Charlie (as quoted by Matt from the ‘Networks Coy on copying Masterchef Format’, Sydney Morning Herald 18 July 2009  article as one of the children from our Winter Holiday Program) asked for some of our yeast to take home and experiment with in his baking, after the class. I’d happily give him a tub if I could, but just for now, he had to make do with a chinese take-away container full. But see, that’s what keeps us going, and that’s what makes our Baking Classes fill up everytime. If just one child could ask me what Charlie asked me yesterday, it’s instant gratification and a spring in my step for that day all in one. (If you’re interested, you can also read our latest published articles on what we’ve been up to lately)

Ok enough gushing about the Training School. Some other exciting projects include working with the intelligent and resourceful Denea Buckingham, or otherwise more widely known as GourmetRabbit to provide some content for her new print and online publication GourmetRabbit (the link follows through to the blog at the moment, the official website of the publication is under construction and due to launch soon). GourmetRabbit focuses on the best of food and wine, and also provides a peephole into the reality of working within all things culinary in Sydney (to start with). A number of  respected Australian food personalities are being involved with the project, and we’re feeling pretty honoured to be asked to participate along with them. More information to be published on that soon.

Also, within BB walls - I’m working on a system to incorporate all Brasserie Bread employee internal communications. A big project, I know, but something that the bosses believe has to be done thanks to the rate at which we’ve grown (or more like, exploded, but in a good way If anyone has tips, ideas, suggestions (i.e. can anyone tell me how to figure out Yammer?!?! )

On the Cafe and Retail side of things, the Cafe is now open for 2010! Serving up a fresh new Summer menu, I highly recommend the Salami & Provolone sandwich on Schiaciatta with Capsicum Jam. Simply LIP-SMACKINGLY DELICIOUS! Although on Tuesday, the cheese people delivered the wrong Provolone (the really AGED smelly but still yummy type), and WHOA, let’s just say everyone who had it in the office had some breath on them! But they got it right yesterday, the beautifully light and melty provolone complements the bite of the spicy Calabrese Salami to a ‘T’. Salivate now.

I’ll leave it here at the moment – I’ve spent way too much time writing up this post, and there are ideas to be locked into reality, baking classes to be prepped for, calls to be made and salami sandwiches to be had. Until the next post!

Here’s to 2010!

Mei

Bite-sized post: slideshows!

To celebrate the end of the noughties, and just for ‘mini end-of-the-work-year-and-the-year-in-general’ kicks, here are some PowerPoint slideshows!  So grab your  festive snack and revel in this poweful display of technology for the next 2 minutes.

Week of Tastes – Paddington Public’s Excursion to BB documented below

 SME Tech – David’s presentation on social media and the Bakery

SME Tech Summit Brasserie Bread David James Presentation

View more presentations from Beth Etling.

[via Beth Etling]

Too much merry in the air

A word of warning to everyone who ventures close to this Bakery, or who are even minutely involved with our activities: Forget about escaping with an empty stomach, or an intact diet plan.

From making it, to sharing it – it is virtually impossible not to be munching, nibbling on, or scoffing down something while at work (or even out of work). Elise (from Café Conversations) is always baking some kind of sinful, delicious treat in the Training Room, a prominent high-traffic channel from the Bakery and Office through to the Café. Today, it was gloriously rich mini fudge chocolate cakes.

While Gingerbread Baking was an ominous sign of the approaching gluttony, the real slippery slope downward began with Tweetbake 2. This time, it was Baking with Grains & Seeds on Wednesday 9 December. Minh from the ever-popular Eat Show and Tell  food blog along with her colleagues from Red Balloon, Duncan and Elliot booked in as a pre-Holiday company present, while Ashley and Alex (@ashleybartlett @xragon) bravely attempted to keep up the live tweeting while simultaneously shaping their baguettes. We even had Greg from another bakery book in for some extra instruction on bread making. Ok, less talk, pictures below.

rolling baguettes

Shaping the EPI

enjoying some freshly baked petit pain

showing off his creation

As always, the dough pillow was the subject of intense fascination…

Don and the dough pillow

marvelling at the dough pillow

oh dough pillow, how soft you are to the touch

(Read Minh’s post on our Grains & Seeds Baking Class. )

From getting the adults excited about baking, to getting the kids to provide the finishing touches. Our first Gingerbread Decorating Day was held on Sunday and it went perfectly. We couldn’t have asked for more -  energy levels were buzzing in the Café and Training Room, all the kids and parents were excited to be there, and the weather was absolutely fantastic.

with her little brother looking on

aspiring pastry chef Nathan

the class in session

Owen's masterpiece

All done!

And let me tell you, the silent intensity of kids concentrating on their decorations in that room was electric.

They were all focusing so hard on their creations, it felt like an exam hall, with kids peering up at the clock every 10 minutes or so to check how much time they had left. Instead of resembling the circus ringmaster that he usually is, Yudha was a sage – still and perched in the middle of the room, watching over his kingdom of calm.

Snaps for the Gingerbread Decorating Session (Sunday 13 Dec) can be viewed here.

 Our second, and Final Gingerbread Decorating Day for the year will be held this Sunday 20 December.

Now from making it, to sharing it: following the Gingerbread Decorating Day on Sunday, I had the privilege of attending the Food Blogger’s Christmas Picnic in Hyde Park. Organised by one of Sydney’s top food bloggers and a recent SBS Featured foodie, Helen from Grab Your Fork, and Susan from Chocolatesuze (does the most amazing pear & cardamom biscotti, at Eveleigh Markets), the spread was absolutely fantastic – and when you’re invited to a Food Blogger’s picnic, you’d think it’s only human nature to starve yourself for 3 days in preparation for it. But stupidly enough, I had lunch beforehand. So now, I weep when I look at the pictures, all that food I could’ve enjoyed that much more if I hadn’t had that damned sushi.

*See that Brasserie Bread bag in the middle? Minh from Eat Show and Tell had actually brought along her grain loaf from the Tweetbake class to share at the picnic. It tasted awesome

the spread

the turnout

the star attraction

(pictured above: Billy from A Table for Two’s beautiful King Charles Cavelier)

So that’s all for now – one more week to Christmas! Can you believe it?!?

Eat well and see you in the Bakery!

Mei

Christmas Covered at Brasserie Bread

No reason, I just like this image

Welcome to December. Since we hit 1/12, the phones haven’t stopped ringing, our server broke not once, but TWICE, fruit mince pie orders are rolling in on a daily basis in various ways, shapes and forms (written on napkins, namecards, you name it) , and every other phone call I get is about Baking Class Gift Certificates.

As much as we hate to admit, Christmas is a season of stress. Really,  relief only comes on Christmas Day, in the form of  ripping open presents under the Christmas tree. But right up to Christmas Eve, everyone’s scuttling around for last minute presents and groceries. Warm and fuzzy don’t cut it till Christmas Lunch. At Brasserie Bread though, we’re all about the warm and fuzzies, and we’re doing what we can to make sure we’ve got you covered for the season with customised Christmas Gift Packs, sweet treats, kids gingerbread classes, breads for your Christmas parties, or even just an hour of escape from the whirlpool of hectic merry-making.

First of all, the baking in here hasn’t stopped. Not only are wholesale customers ramping up their orders for the festive season rush, we’ve stepped up the baking for the Cafe and Training School. Currently, we’re up to our ears in Gingerbread. Those tasty suckers are everywhere.

lined up in military precision rows

hanging from the windows

chilling in a basket

loitering among the flowers

watching you buy bread

being reborn into a new batch

 Of course, hundreds more are being baked for our Kids Gingerbread Decorating Days, of which most sessions have completely booked out now.

Second: We’ve got you sorted for presents - Who doesn’t want Jared Ingersoll covered in Olive Oil for Christmas?

Gifts sorted

Ok, more like a copy of Jared’s Danks St Depot or Sharing Plates with a mini bottle of Alto Olive Oil. But that’ll do, no?

Third: If you’re having a Christmas party and require much delicious breads, patisseries and Fruit Mince Pies, you can place your Christmas order with us and we’ll have it ready for pick up on the day of your choosing, right up till Christmas Eve. Simply fill out our Christmas Fax Order form (Download the Form) and fax it back to us. Or you could ring us up and we’ll email the form over to you pronto.

Our Cafe and Retail Shop will be open right up to Christmas Eve (7am – 3pm), and the Training School’s got a busy Holiday season coming up with Artisan Baking Workshops, Tweetbake 2, Gingerbread Decorating Days, and who can forget, the Summer Holiday Baking Program !(which can be purchased as a Gift Certificate as well) But more on that next time..

Watch this space for updates!

Mei

Kids & food: It’s more than ‘eat your vegies or else!’

I am a fan of Helen Campbell, and her Week of Tastes program. I admit, if I were a kid, I’d be jumping up and down just to have a week dedicated to EATING with my friends, having chefs come in and cook for us a delicious spread of their most famous dishes, perhaps even designing my very own menu! And that was exactly what some of the kids who participated in the program got to do:

Here’s Kylie Kwong cooking up a storm at St Francis Paddington;

The Bourke St boys threw down some dough on the table and got the Bourke St Public kids shaping and baking

Chef Tom Kime took some lucky ones on a Taste Trail through Eveleigh Markets

While Colin Fassnidge from Four in Hand dished it out to Clovelly Primary

Let’s not forget our very own Artisan Bakers getting in the dough with Malabar Primary

(Week of Tastes via Helen Campbell)

And Paddington Public Year 4s got to design their very own restaurant menus, complete with photos of them (in all their messy splendour) preparing and cooking their various entrees, mains and desserts.

 Cut to having my regular Training meeting with Michael in the café, throwing around ideas over a new kids baking course, as opposed to a single new class option. I admit, I was in a little bit of a rut with the Summer School Holiday Baking Program. Yes, Kids in the Kitchen was all the rage over Winter, Masterchef was the new phenomenon storming the minds of children and adults. Spring brought with it the excitement and flavours of the Sydney International Food Festival. But what about Summer? A good number of families escape the Sydney heat in January, and outdoor activities rule the roost when it comes to children’s holiday programs. Kids aren’t meant to be in the Kitchen; they’re meant to be running around, working up a sweat, lazing under trees, jumping into pools with plenty of floaty devices on hand.

 If anything, this Summer problem made me realise the cheap way of relying on seasonality for promoting our baking programs, just as I can’t rely on the novelty of kids cooking and eating their own food to sell itself forever. If anything, the last few months of Baking Classes and Excursions, along with the Week of Tastes program have really hit home the importance of the fun element and taking their opinions seriously when it comes to kids and their food. The foodie scene isn’t just a niche space hoarded by food editors or bloggers anymore; it’s grown to be quite a substantial part of what it means to be a ‘Sydney-sider’. Point is, to show our kids we take them seriously, we can’t just be hawking the same class and tweaking descriptions – we should be tweaking the program!

Process and growth, that’s what I’ve been trying to get at in my usual roundabout, ‘take-a-left-turn-and-continue-along-tangent’ fashion. Sustaining a passion and lively interest in food is a process. Growing that interest isn’t just simply achieved after the first discovery, just as growing healthy eating habits for life isn’t achieved after one baking class, or one excursion.

 It’s all about maintaining the search and discovery for something new, and keeping it fresh, intriguing and entertaining. Kids cooking their own food gives them a sense of ownership over their own actions and body, and clearly demonstrated by the Paddo Public kids who, by devising their own menu, sourcing their own ingredients, then documenting their own process of creating it, they are in control, what they create counts for something. It’s not yours, if you don’t ‘own’ the process!

Cafe Conversations

Characters, Brasserie Bread’s full of ‘em. I thought it natural to dedicate an entry to some of the people you meet on a regular basis. Here are some of our weekday regulars who define your Brasserie Bread Café experience. Dragging them out of the 2.30pm lull on a Thursday afternoon, we chatted about customers, the crowd and what it’s like being in the frontline of Brasserie Bread. Note: Decoding the rambles and many ridiculous tangents in the transcript was what delayed me from pushing this post from a Thursday afternoon to Monday morning. Delving into what makes them tick and getting them to stay on track with the topic is harder than you think! But I suppose that’s what makes the many trips down for non-essential coffees an essential part of my working day 

Freddy, Manager

Well, you’ve pretty much got your Monday to Thursday, no, Monday to Wednesday regulars, then your Thursday and Friday regulars who come in along with everybody else who pretty much brings their lunch in from home Monday to Wednesday. They all come in Thursday and Friday to indulge and splash out because they’re sick of looking at tuna, MacDonalds or a squashed tomato and cheese sandwich in their bag.

 Mate, I’m watching everybody. I even know what everybody eats, what everybody drinks, what everybody drives. Even one of my customers by coincidence, I found out where he lived the other day! I saw his truck in the driveway…

 A lot of different moods in this café, you gotta make sure the ambience, the music, the climate control is right. Gotta thank Alex (from merchandising), he really put some tunes on the ipod for us, the customers are a lot more happier. You can see them bopping their heads every now and then through the café…it’s important, because you can’t have a sandwich without rhythm can you?

Siobhan, café all-rounder

 I like talking to people and finding out what they do for a living. And working out that people do all this cool stuff. We had the mother’s club in the other day, then across from the Mother’s club were the InStyle girls who were having a meeting with the Christian Dior people. They gave me free magazines! Then there’s the cyclists on Sunday mornings, and the Brasserie Bread Kid Noah, he’s so cute…I love Noah. You just can’t pin the crowd down here.

Juliet, barista

It’s nice when you’re busy, you have a constant flow. It’s gotta be organised, yeah, because you can’t just make on coffee, you’ve got to make five coffees at once. Regulars are always good, they make the job fun.

Elise, barista, cafe all-rounder and part-time Kids Trainer

I’ve been in hospitality for 15 years, so cooking and making coffee, bit of consultancy, bits and bobs. I love making coffee. I think it’s very creative. It’s like chefs, like chefs with food constantly reinventing things and keeping your heart in it. Coffee making is the same. There’s only one way to make a latte, you can’t reinvent that. But you’re making sure the grind’s perfect, you’re making sure the glass is the right temperature, you’re being aware of what’s happening around you. I think that everything really comes down to relationships and building good relationships with people.

Barbara, retail and café all-rounder

My Thursday was good, a little bit warm-ish, but it was nice. Yeah, I get a lot more contact with customers, you get a lot more chances to say hi when they come in, to chat. [With regulars] before they come in, I’m already slicing their bread, or getting their cakes ready. It’s nice especially in the morning; [customers] don’t have a ‘mood’ in the morning, they always come in very happy and ‘wow!’

 They always ask you what you think is the best. I definitely tell them what I like the best, and I definitely like it when they give feedback. And I have some customers who are already addicted to the white chocolate éclairs*…addicted! They come and buy it every time.

 They all say they’re on a diet and go ‘oh I can’t buy too many cakes, oh how can you work here?!’,They think I eat cakes all day. Not all day, but I have one a day…

 People need a lot of advice, they have a lot of questions here in retail. And they’re right, because for a lot of products here, they can’t get anywhere else so you need to know, and that’s why I have to eat the cakes, so I know. And, I’m from Belgium, so apparently I know everything about chocolate…and the butter!

 

 

Brasserie Bread Café Staff Roll-call: Freddy, Barbara, Siobhan, Juliet, Ana, Jaci,, Yudha, Elise, Jimmy, John (chef), Josh, Sonia, Reesha

*white chocolate éclairs: new retail product, available now in Brasserie Bread Café and Retail

 Until next time!

 Mei

Picnic in the Park II: Wynyard, 06.11.09

 Why does it always (almost) rain on me?

This time, the sun pulled through and it was all-systems go for our second Picnic in the Park, right in the heart of the Sydney CBD. After getting the nod from David and Michael, it was decided that Tuna & Egg Salad on a 6-seed Sandwich roll would be on the menu, followed by a little pre-Christmas cheer of fresh Fruit Mince Tarts. BB Café and Pastry were roped in to make the goodies, while I pulled up weather reports on my screen every 5 minutes and hissed at passing clouds.

Having decided to go ahead with the Picnic, I got explicit permission to drive our new nifty Brasserie Bread Caddy right into the city, which was a big win for me. Up until Friday, it was all ‘don’t let her behind the wheel’, but this time there was no avoiding it; no one else had time to drive me or indulge in some out-of-office activities. David had to pick his mother up for the picnic(she was visiting from the UK). Bill, who runs our promotional samplings regularly at Thomas Dux all over Sydney, kindly volunteered his help so after loading the van, we hightailed it over to Wynyard.  

See, I thought we got there early but Rachel (@beaney) was already perched like a beacon in the middle of the grassy field with her laptop, chilling and awaiting our arrival.

Opening the box of fruit mince tarts was like setting off a smoke signal, because the next thing we knew, a small crowd had gathered round.

the cupcake hoarder

It was great because not only did our tweetheads attend (roll-call below!), Simon from the Heart of Food was also taking marvellous pictures, and we had CBD fans who read about it in our Roll-Call e-newsletter and decide to meet us there (view the newsletter or sign up to receive it).

Thanks to everyone who showed up, and watch out for the third Picnic in the Park coming soon! (do I hear calls for Pastry in the Park perhaps…)

So, where do you think we should head to next?

[via Ken Burgin]

View the full set of photos on Facebook or Flickr

Tweeple Roll-Call: @voirol @beaney @Warlach @theheartoffood @kittykittymraow @kdragon @kristydarby @cafedave + Puff @Anna_63 @stuandgravy @Fatjan @hollingsworth @monkeyshead @KenBurgin @fridley @inspiredadvtrs @KaosMinion @Kimakhei @ultimatelysyd @leahmaclean [if I missed out on anyone, let me know!]

Aids Trust of Australia Food & Wine Fair, 31.10.09

On Saturday October 31, Brasserie Bread hosted a Mountain Sausage Sizzle at the Aids Trust of Australia Food & Wine Fair in Hyde Park. Doubling up as the farewell marquee event for the Sydney International Food Festival, expectations were running high for SIFF’s last ‘hurrah’ and everyone brought with them a monstrous appetite for good food and a great time. And let’s just say, it did not disappoint! With the sun shining, a live music stage, and people eagerly checking out the food offerings or sprawled across the grass, the Brasserie team sliced, buttered, sizzled, and hustled our way through a mountain-sized heap of delicious country pork sausages and a whopping 37 loaves of French Mountain Bread.

photo courtesy of Simon (http://theheartoffood.com)

photo courtesy of Simon (http://theheartoffood.com)

Thanks to Simon (http://theheartoffood.com) for the gorgeous photos above.

We had two sections to our stall, the first being  the section of sampling and selling loaves, pastries and cakes while the second section saw 5 people working a la sweatshop mode, buttering, preparing and serving food at a furious pace.We had a rotation of people up front, including our lovely orders team (Jim, Nat, Lisa and Joce) who were selling their hearts out.

while Kayan and Babs handled the nitty gritty slicing and buttering of bread

…knocking back a couple of beers in the process

Jason and Paul manned up and handled the BBQ-ing of hundreds of pork sausages

Ashley, Maddy (David’s girls), Alex and Jeremy swiftly sampled and smoothly sold our loaves at the other end

While the bosses’ respective partners, kids and guests sat out back in the Brasserie Bread Harem

Even Freddy showed up to push sausage sizzle sales past breaking point.

The sun and crowds were out in full-force, and everyone just chilled on the grass, food in one hand, drink in the other, while a diverse range of live music acts took to the stage. I remember opera at one point…  surreal. (PS if you remember from a while back, this was the spot where we had our first Spring Picnic in the Park event)

Fantastic food, great vibes, beer guzzling aside, it was a fabulous day out for us all and a massive farewell to the month of SIFF. Can you believe it’s November already!? For the full set of photos, check out the album on Facebook, or Flickr.

Speaking of picnics, we’re having our second Picnic in the Park event this Friday, 6 November!

Location: Wynyard Park (York and Carrington Street, Sydney CBD)

Date: Friday 6 November

Time: 12.30 – 1.30pm

Cost: FREE

Menu: 6 Seed sandwich roll with Tuna Salad (tuna, boiled egg, oven-dried tomato & wild rocket), mini Christmas Fruit Mince Tarts*only 50 sandwiches will be prepared for the event. Come early if you don’t want to miss out

 We’re back for Round 2, and we’ll be bringing some pre-Christmas cheer to the Sydney CBD. All you have to do is bring yourself, couple of mates if you want to shre the free sandwich goodness around, and don’t forget your drink. We’ll also be rolling out the usual spread of breads, so if you’re lucky (or early enough), you may even snag yourself a nice little treat to snack on for afternoon tea in the office, much to the envy of your colleagues.

To RSVP, click here

 In the case of wet weather, the event may be postponed to the following Friday 13 November. Stay tuned to @brasseriebread on Twitter or our Facebook page for wet weather updates on Friday morning. To read on about how our first Picnic in the Park event went, click here.

Mountainous Sausage Sizzle this Saturday – Hyde Park!

Hello World!

 It is a hectic-as day here at Brasserie HQ. Not only is our quarterly Board Meeting on (which also equates to our quarterly office clean-up), but Jason’s also got his HACCP meeting food safety thingamajig so the whole Bakery/Café is sporting white hairnets, also slightly on edge today.

 Before I resume clearing my desk of crumbs (too many…), I thought to give y’alls a friendly reminder of what’s happening this Saturday:

Brasserie Bread’s Mountain Sausage Sizzle in Hyde Park!

We’re all uber excited about the Sausage Sizzle, especially boss Klausen, who sent this giddy email yesterday afternoon to the unfortunate few who were left at the end of the day, cleaning in preparation of the Board Meeting (i.e. polishing walls, wiping carpet, transporting suspicious paint cans into their vehicles. you know who you are..)

tsk…how schoolgirl-esque. But do come to Hyde Park this Saturday from 12pm – 4pm for the Aids Trust Food & Wine Fair. We got our location on a map sent to us yesterday, and while we were scoping out our position in the park, I had a skim of the other eateries who’ll be there and let’s just say we’re in magnificent company! Just a few places that are sharing in the day of fun and fabulous food (all in the name of charity) include the excellent Bourke St Bakery, Sean’s Kitchen, Sweet Infinity, Allpress, Quay, Longrain…I could go on, but you should come and check them out for yourself! We’ll be right at the fountain, and Michael did his test-sizzle yesterday which was some excellent cooking, so now I’m really pumped for the weekend! Pop by, say hi to the team, it is the last day of SIFF after all

Though Crazy October is almost over, we’ve still got a few things in the works for Summer… keep your eyes peeled for the next Picnic in the Park event, (more details next week, Hint: Friday November 6, free sandwich for your lunch in the sun?), and Christmas Baking Classes (those gingerbread house parties I hear are off the hook!)

See you this Saturday

Mei