A Humble Beginning

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOLKS! 

THIS IS THE BEST DAY TO SHARE WITH YOU MY PASSION. Because baking, aside from writing, is one of my passions ever since, and in my heart I always wanted to share with you some things not meant to be kept secret, I joined Blogger to impart to you some tips on baking and cooking. But before I can give you "secrets" on how to have a signature dish or dessert or baked product let me travel back to a not so remote past so you will have a better understanding why I loved baking and writing.

I was in grade school when I first saw hand mixers, baking pans, mixing bowls, measuring cups and spoons, a rolling pin and other gadgets that would help someone bake goodies and yummies.

The moment I hear the roaring sound of the mixer, I would simply sneak my way out from our house onto our neighbor's who happened to be my mother's in-laws and whoa! I got to observe how several cups of flour, milk, sugar, some eggs, a teaspoon of baking powder and/or baking soda and some more ingredients become a cake; when covered later with frosting, garnished with candy flowers, sprinkles, chocolate curls become a masterpiece of its kind. Every birthdays, Christmases and New Years in the neighbor were celebrated with a homemade cake so delectable you can never wait for another special occassion to come by. Thanks for having such a neighbor full of passion in baking and cooking. And thanks for inviting us always to celebrate with them.

Indeed both Auntie Paz and Auntie Len unconsciously introduced us in the world of baking in the mid '70s when the leading bakeshops now were quite foreign to me then. It was them who unintentionally instilled in our hearts the desire to be bakers someday with our own bakeshop to mend.

My elder sister Lanie-who was a teener then- was the first to learn how to make an angel cake and a pineapple upside down cake, thanks for the free "training days" administered by Aunties . I could never forget how the upside down cake looked like when its done and oh! how sumptuous! how moistened! how sweet! And because of these wonders done in the kitchen, I couldn't help but yearn in the deepest part of my brain that one day I am going to learn how to bake and might as well put up a business in lined with it.


Well... to make the story short, thirty years passed...before I took a formal training in commercial bread making. Thirty years passed before I was able to bake not a cake of my dreams but my very own pandesal, handmade, without the help of an electric mixer; baked by batches of twelve pieces just in a turbo and not with a rotary oven.
     

(Later, I will share with you the recipes of what I have already baked.)

     I fondly remember that day in April of 2008 when I made my very first pandesal. I had a journal for that day because there was some kind of a mistake in the use of instant yeast. Instead of 7.5 grams (for 500 grams of flour), I poured 15 grams which could have spoiled the texture yet the byproduct was so perfect that my hubby-who is my number one food critic- regarded it as the best tasting pandesal of this era! Hurray! for me then because it inspired me a lot to start making homemade pandesal for our consumption and some for sale to the neighborhood.

  
But it was not that easy. What I have envisioned was very different in the actual scene. It was not just baking this and that and selling afterwards. You have to procure, to produce, to persuade, and to profit -the four "P"s of a business plan that I never did before transforming a hobby into something bigger than life. And it was a one-woman orchestra.

For almost two months, I made pandesal, ensemayda, pandecoco, cinnamon roll, and spanish bread. The store nearby agreed to sell my products on a consignment basis. Initially, I make two dozens only of three variety everyday. I deliver before nine in the morning; by five in the afternoon, I collect. For a business to flourish, one must expand. But from the moment I thought of it, the store owner decided to stop ordering from me for reasons I can not fathom.

I continued making pandesal, still handmade, kneaded with love, still with the use of a turbo, by batches of twelve pieces, about 60 pieces and just sold them in the front yard. After several weeks, the demand almost doubled. My hubby suggested that I have to buy an oven than can accommodate bigger baking plates. Again, from the moment I considered his suggestion, it was set aside ...because some things were unforeseen (like a tragedy of death) which prevented me from baking. And for more than a week that I did not produce pandesal, as my customers perhaps got tired of waiting whence, the death of my brother...marked the end of a humble beginning.

I tried to revive my homebaked pandesal business for several days but patience and perseverance turned their backs on me.