Happy (Belated) Solstice! 🌞

When I first started selling bread at the City Market back in 2010, I used to make a lot of baguettes. At the time I thought they were pretty great! Looking back though, I have a good chuckle because they weren't great at all. They were very light in color, slightly flat, with no crispy crust in sight, and obviously telling that I was an amateur at baking. But I think what I lacked in skill, I made up for in blind enthusiasm because I just kept doing it. Fast forward to this day and I think I'm finally getting to a point where I'm starting to feel more confident about the baguettes we are putting out from the bakery. Of course, improvement is a never-ending journey.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been bringing them to the Edgebrook Farmers Market on Wednesdays and tweaking the formula a little bit each time to get them just right. With a combination of our sourdough levain as well as a yeast poolish mixed into a medley of strong and weaker organic wheat flours, these baguettes provide the best of both worlds in terms of flavor and consistency. We are debuting them tonight at Rockford City Market and at both the North End and Beloit markets on Saturday...I hope you like them!

This is the last weekend for Black Sage bread to appear on the menu alongside the Baguettes and Pain d'Epis (pictured above). Cranberry Walnut, Olive Oil Semolina, and Baker & Brewer spent grain loaves will be offered as well. We're looking forward to the cooler weather for a change this weekend and, of course, looking forward to seeing all of you.

T. G. I. F. ✊

As I was planning out our bread production for this weekend, it hit me that we are already in the fifth week of our summer market season. It seems time has just flown by and sometimes you don't realize just how much has happened while you've been in the zone of work. I took a look back through our previous year's newsletters and found out that on this very day last year, we were receiving and installing our new bakery oven.

I remember my very first test batch that I peeled onto the hearth and sitting in front of the deck looking through the viewing glass for the following hour just staring at it in awe. Thousands of loaves have been baked in this oven since then and the decks have developed a beautiful patina and many rugged stains. It was a great reminder that these small moments need to be savored and that taking the time to appreciate the journey is what it's all about.

Starting at Rockford City Market tonight, we will be rolling out Roasted Garlic & Crushed Peppercorn breads and rolling in Black Sage ones as our specials for the weekend. Other menu offerings include Olive Oil Semolina, Cranberry & Walnut, Seeded Whole Wheat, and Country White. Up at Beloit Farmer's Market, we are getting highlighted as vendor of the week on Saturday - so we're looking forward to meeting new people who haven't tried us before and getting to talk to them about what we do!

To all our CSB members, next Wednesday is the last pick-up day for the Spring/Summer rotation. We have made it available on the website to renew your existing bread share or sign up for a new one for the July - September period.

Rain or Shine ⚡

Our first day at Edgebrook Farmers Market this past Wednesday was such a great experience! We got to meet so many new folks as well as catch up with old friends of C&C.....from die-hard breadheads that were there with us from the beginning to the extended family of our CSB members to those who have gone through our baking classes in the past. Lately I have not been able to hang out at the markets as much as past seasons because I'm usually at the kitchen preparing the next day's loaves so the little bits of time that I do get to connect and chat with some of you in person really energizes me. I sincerely thank you for that and for continuing to support us as we enter our third year of business.

The most heartwarming thing to happen this week was meeting a sweet lady whose friend took a class with us back in January and then passed on some of our sourdough starter to her. Since then she has been diligently taking care of it, baking with it, and never letting it go to waste. She showed me the breads she has been baking at home (pictured above) and they were just gorgeous. I've been flying high all week thanks to this encounter because moments like this remind me that we are not just making a product...we are building a community of passionate people who love good food and who love to create. To date, we have had over 55+ people come through our baking classes from all over - from Rockford and its surrounding areas; from Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago and the suburbs; even as far as Canada and Belgium who passed through town on their US visit just to take the class. I'm really looking forward to meeting a new set of bakers in our class this Sunday...if you don't have plans, consider joining us as we have just a couple openings left.

Now onto our menu for this weekend! As customary, we will do a second and last round of Rosemary Olive Oil Semolina which was the special for last week. The new bread for this week is Roasted Garlic & Crushed Peppercorn. Our CSB folks already know of this one but this is the first time we are ever bringing it to the market. We hope you love the flavors as much as we do! Accompanying these two will be Cranberry Walnut and our Country Brown Sourdough. All our markets are rain or shine so we will be there waiting for you regardless...but let's cross fingers that it clears up by the time we set up so we can all get together!

Hello, E D G E B R O O K 🍑

Today at the Rockford City Market, we are helping to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Rockford Peaches as part of a four-day State Bicentennial event from May 30 until June 3rd. The Rockford Peaches were made famous in the 1992 movie "A League of Their Own" and stars from the movie as well as original Peaches players will be at the market greeting people at the main stage. We are expecting a larger crowd than usual tonight and we hope you will also come out to celebrate these awesome ladies - the more the merrier!

We're also very excited to announce that starting next Wednesday, June 6th, C&C will be joining the Edgebrook Farmers Market. This is the longest running farmer's market in Rockford and it's held every Wednesday from 9am - 1pm from May through October in the parking lot of Edgebrook Shops at the intersection of N. Alpine and Highcrest. We're looking forward to making new friends there and getting to share our love of good bread with more folks. Our tent will be located next to Anderson Organics. 

On the menu this weekend, we will be bringing Jalapeño Cheddar loaves for one more round. Rosemary Olive Oil Semolina bread is our special for the week...this is one of our favorites because the entire bakery smells just heavenly from all the fresh rosemary whenever we make a batch of it. We will also have Country Brown, Baker & Brewer as well as Seeded Whole Wheat at all three markets this weekend. 

Our booth may be moving around a bit up at the Downtown Beloit Farmer's Market weekly, so please check our Instagram or Facebook page on Saturday mornings for a location update. 

Bring On The Heat

We are about to have ourselves a bit of a heat scorcher the next few days, aren't we? I'm looking forward to finishing off all the baking this afternoon and enjoying a cold one down at the market with all of you. Our friends at Prairie St. Brewing Co. brewed up some cream ale earlier this week, so that means we will be bringing our Baker & Brewer spent grain sourdough loaves to all three locations this weekend. Compared to last week though, the sunshine feels most welcome despite the temperatures it may bring ... thanks to everyone for visiting C&C on opening weekend!

Another one making a comeback this round is our Jalapeño Cheddar bread. This season we changed up our formula for this crowd-pleaser to include even more cheese than it had before. The cheddar was also shredded into the dough rather than left in big chunks so that cheesy goodness can be better dispersed into every bite. Not going to lie...now that we are up in Wisconsin on Saturdays, we have to really bring our A-game in the cheese department 😉

Besides the two mentioned above, we will also have Organic Country White, Olive Oil Semolina, Cranberry Walnut, and some Oat Porridge loaves on the menu. 

Here are all the locations where you can find us:  Rockford City Market on Fridays from 3:30 - 8:30 pm; at North End City Market on Saturdays from 9:00 - 1:00 pm; and at Downtown Beloit Farmer's Market  on Saturdays from 8:00 - 1:00 pm. 

Summer Is Officially Here 🙌

The opening day of Rockford City Market always marks the beginning of summer for us here at C&C. This week has been full of hustle and bustle around the kitchen in preparation for this weekend...the whole team finally reunited after an off-season break and we are so excited to see you all!

We are going to be at three different markets this weekend - at Rockford City Market today from 3:30 - 8:30 pm; at North End City Market tomorrow from 9:00 - 1:00 pm; and at Downtown Beloit Farmer's Market tomorrow from 8:00 - 1:00 pm. At both of the Rockford markets, our booth will be located in the same place as previous years. If you come to visit us in Beloit, we can be found in the parking lot area next to Bushel & Peck's. 

On the menu we will have Organic Country White, Seeded Whole Wheat, Olive Oil Semolina, Cranberry Walnut, and Oat Porridge loaves as well as some French Baguettes (at Saturday markets only). There's some other news I'd love to share but we've got tons of bread to wrap up before we hit the road and so I will update you all in the next newsletter!

A Year In Review 🌱

Traditionally, year-in-review features look backwards to highlight the ups and downs of the past year. But for our first newsletter of 2018, I decided that I want to look forward instead...to share a glimpse into the plans that will drive our focus here at C&C and what we will aspire to accomplish in the coming months.

As some of you may know, I've been slowly inching through grad school over the last few years. In early May, I will finally get to graduate! While the thought of opening an artisan bakery didn't cross my mind when I first started school, that's all I'm thinking about as I'm getting ready to finish. Years ago when I applied to the market to be a vendor, it was simply because I wanted a job for myself. But one of the main things I've learned in business school is that the role of entrepreneurship lies really in creating jobs for other people and creating value for your community. I take that lesson to heart as we continue establishing the foundations of this dream venture.

In order to provide opportunity for fellow bakers and make a place where bread lovers can gather, C&C needed the right space where we can grow and flourish as a business. I'm so thrilled to say that the search for a perfect brick & mortar location is over and we'll be opening our first retail bakery cafe at the new indoor Rockford City Market on Madison Street in early 2019! We will be pouring all our creative energy into this project over the next nine months as we get ready for the big move. I'm looking forward to sharing updates on the construction and development of our new space with you along the way.

There are only a couple of months left till the beginning of farmer's market season. Friday, May 18th, is the opening day for the downtown City Market and on the following morning, we'll start at North End City Market as well as at the Downtown Beloit Farmer's Market. We'll continue with our CSB (community supported bakery) program through the summer because I realize not everyone can come down to our booth on the weekends. The April-June rotation is starting soon and the deadline to sign up for a bread share is March 31st if you'd like to get a new membership or renew your existing one. I will also be posting a new schedule of baking classes shortly.

Lastly, I want to finish off by saying how thankful I am to all of you reading...we are a small operation, other than posting picture updates to our social media platforms and sending out these newsletters, we don't engage in traditional paid advertising or anything. Yet word has gotten out organically because of you...folks from all over Rockford, surrounding communities, Chicago, Madison, and as far as Milwaukee are seeking us out to try our bread and driving in to take classes. It's astonishing and it pushes me to be more loud & proud about the things we are doing because of your confidence in us. So I got over my shyness and got in front of the camera. Here's a video that has been released today by Our City, Our Story...I'm so very honored to be included in this series and grateful to Pablo Korona who believed that my story was worth telling.

When Jojo G. needed a job, she took a chance to call the Rockford City Market to pitch a booth. She bluffed her way into a path that has now become her career. See how this passionate mother and entrepreneur has become a model for what happens when you create opportunity.

🎉 Goodbye, 2017 🎉

As we bid farewell to 2017, I wanted to send out a friendly reminder that we will be wrapping up registration for our Winter/Spring CSB rotation in the next couple of days. If you haven't signed up or renewed your membership, please do so by this Sunday. The first bread share distribution will be on the following Wednesday, January 3rd. 

Our holiday special of $20 off all bread baking classes will also be expiring on the 31st. Our January class is all sold out but we still have a few spots left in our February and March classes for those who have been interested in learning how to make sourdough bread at home. I'm so excited to share with everyone our passion for this craft and feel honored that folks are coming from near and far to bake with us at C&C. 

I wish you all a safe, splendid New Year's Eve and a glorious year ahead!

Happy Holidays!

Tonight we will have our last big bake of 2017 before we take some time off to spend the holidays at home with our families. This past week as I looked around the space where we create, my heart filled with joy and gratitude just thinking of all that has been accomplished this year and of all the people that have played a part in that. This whole endeavor is so new to us at C&C - every day we are learning new lessons as we go and just trying to do our very best.

I'm anxious to see what 2018 has in store for us. There are lots of exciting things on the horizon...from starting to offer bread baking classes at our kitchen, growing our community supported bakery program, joining new markets, to partnering with more local businesses so we can better serve our customers and continue to share the goodness that is freshly baked bread with more folks. I want to thank you all for joining and supporting us on this journey...we are so proud to be a part of this awesome community!

As always...my wish for you and yours this holiday season is peace, love, and prosperity.

Cheers!

Hello, D E C E M B E R ❄

I probably wrote about this last December but this time of year is my favorite...I get to enjoy my birthday, Christmas, and New Year's celebrations all in one month. But along with this excitement, it also seems to be the month that goes by way too quickly. There's many things to wrap up, other than presents of course, and much to plan for in preparation of the coming year. When I started thinking about my resolution for 2018, what comes to mind first is "community" - the community of people that we are fortunate enough to be able to nourish, nurture, and grow with as all of us center around the love for good bread. 

Over the last four weeks, we had the utmost pleasure of baking with some of our CSB members as we hosted two different groups for a sourdough class at C&C. It was so much fun just getting to know everybody and spending time together. We even discovered that our oven bakes up pretty darned good pizza too! I think I learned just as much as I'd hoped to teach during these sessions...and after all the requests for other classes have come through, I've found that our community is as passionate to learn the craft as we are open to sharing our knowledge of it. We have now posted a schedule of classes that you can sign up for on our website and we'll post new dates as every 3-month bread share rotation begins.

Speaking of our Community Supported Bakery program, we have been working on creating a better experience overall from introducing an SMS pick-up reminder service to building member corners on our website [pictured above]. You can now easily access the pick-up schedule for all share levels as well as view a gallery of breads that have been baked throughout the rotation by going to the CSB tab on the site navigation. The first rotation of 2018 is set to begin on January 3rd and the full schedule is listed in the Winter/Spring Member Corner page. The last bread share delivery for 2017 is a couple of weeks away and the deadline to sign up for the next round is December 29th.

We are also now accepting pre-orders for holiday miches through December 18th. You will be able to pick up your bread on the Thursday, Friday, or Saturday before Christmas Eve at Artale & Co. We didn't get to do any of this last year so I'm happy that we are in the position now to hopefully be a part of your holiday season!