Muchacho Polaco

Yesterday was a historic day in that it was the first time I have ever sold my bread commercially. I only made 8 loaves to sell along with Dana’s 68 loaves, but surprisingly I actually sold 6 of them within an hour. Not bad for my first try and given this isn’t exactly the culture for spicy bread. I did a 4% Chile de Arbol (15k-30k scoville).

Matt and Dana sell their bread on Fridays from 2.30 to 3.30 (or sold out) at Total Wine. Normally there is a flow of a lot of customers. But yesterday, given the current pandemic, there were very few customers.

Even so, I enjoyed every moment. It is my dream to do this regularly.

Our first meal was outside on the back patio, but this was our first on our “new” dining table.

Dana has generously offered me a place selling bread along with her own this Friday. Therefore, I’ve been trying to work on one particular option to sell. I began the week practicing with a pain rustique with chile de arbol, but with Dana’s suggestion I switched to a no-knead recipe with the same chilies.

My personal preference is scorching hot bread. But I’ve been cautioned that will likely not sell well, so I’ve tried to minimize the impact of the chilies. I’ve been adding about 2% per loaf, but I’m trying to second batch this evening with 4%. The 4% batch is noticeably redder, but I don’t think it will be significantly more spicy. They will sit in these tubs for 15 hours.

Since we are now back in Tucson, I have the time to apprentice with Matt and Dana in their bakery. We began last Thursday preparing for sales yesterday. We made 91 loaves with six different options. I enjoyed every moment. The repetition of certain steps was very helpful for me to create a sort of muscle memory of each step.

We sold nearly every loaf within the first 45 minutes of setting up. That’s nearly 500 dollars in profit for less than an hour of sales. These guys do this only once a week. I would love to double that daily.

Next week I am going to sell one style of my own, so I need to prepare something and practice this week to be ready. I made some poolish last night so as to work with some pain rustique today.

We have been fed pretty well since our return to the first world. On Sunday Matt and Dana had us over with Charles and Julie for some spectacular fillets along with some pretty fine wine. If we ate like this daily I could see enjoying Tucson.

Yesterday was our final day of years in a house we loved in a neighborhood we loved. As of today we no longer live in Mexico.

On Friday our neighbors had a party for us with great wine and carne asada. We were really close with many of them and even took vacations with a few of them. We will miss their company and their food.

Around midnight we gave a tour of our home. It felt strange empty.

And then yesterday we handed the keys to our home back to our landlord Rosendo. We have had a great relationship with Rosendo over the years. He’s a great guy.

On our way up to Tucson last week I stopped at Buqui Bichi to pick up some shirts for our friends. Sergio hooked me up with an after hour purchase. He was there alone cleaning the fermenters. I love that place. Also I love that I get free beer when I visit.

Last Saturday marked an important day for us.

We celebrated that evening eating at Alissio’s new restaurant. We have known him since he opened his first restaurant here in town nearly 7 years ago. His new place is so much nicer than his last place.

He prepared my meal table side in a large wheel of cheese. It was magnifico.

Yun and Alejandra are on a walk around the neighborhood with Rafael right now. They watched a YouTube tutorial to instruct them how to make a little wrap thing you can see there in the photo.

Yun and I will soon be living in Tucson if things continue according to plan. We found a home to rent last week and secured it. Rental rates have skyrocketed since our departure. Tucson is unbelievably expensive now compared to how it was upon our departure.

On Thursday we had our traditional steak and potato dinner. As always, it was supremely enjoyable. Once we are living in Tucson, I am not sure what this tradition will look like.