Tomorrow is the last day of Rockford City Market for the 2017 season...and what an amazing season it has been! All of us at C&C have poured our hearts into our work, baked thousands of loaves, and got to share our passion for good bread with the incredible people of this community over the last 20 weeks. Unlike last summer though, things aren't ending...rather we are at the doorstep of many new beginnings.
Blind Date with a Baker - our CSB program - is starting next week [by the way, the sign-up deadline is midnight tomorrow if you haven't secured your Oct-Dec share yet]. We are expanding our presence to the north as C&C has been invited to join the Downtown Beloit Farmer's Market for 2018 with an introductory market visit sometime next month. We are also excited to start working with local restaurants this fall as well as launch into our viennoiserie line. The ambient temperature in our kitchen this summer was not conducive to working with laminated products but, I assure you, the promise of fresh croissants still stands.
With all that said, here's what's going on now. We have joined forces with our friends at Prairie Street Brewing Co. and Countryside Meats & Deli to celebrate Oktoberfest with great beer, reuben bratwursts, and these Bavarian-style pretzels pictured above. The Oktoberfest Dam Jam 2017 event will be held tomorrow at Owly Oop Sports Pub downtown with live music from Unity the Band and games hosted by 104.9 the X from 4:00 to 11:00 pm. For more event and ticket info, please check out their website.
In the spirit of Oktoberfest, we will be bringing a limited amount of full sized pretzel breads or Laugenbrots to the markets this weekend. And as is our tradition, we also bring back many of the market favorites to the last day. Here's the full menu: Drunken Hog (bacon & bourbon bread), Chocolate Porter, Black Sage, Jalapeño Cheddar, Cranberry Walnut, and Country White Sourdough. Though this list doesn't include every single flavor we have baked this summer, there are still Saturday mornings at the North End Market till the end of October to grab those other loaves.
CSB Member Corner: First of all, thanks so much for signing up! I am excited and looking forward to our upcoming Blind Dates :) As soon as the sign-ups close tomorrow, you will be receiving a more detailed email regarding pick-up dates as well as info on the artisan bread baking class for those early birds who secured the spots. Please add baker@crustncrumbles.com to your contacts to ensure receipt of CSB-related correspondence.