Meet Clifford, the big red chef. (He’s all hunched here but he’s gotta be 6 feet tall. In my world, that’s a big dude!)

Eugenie has gone and left a hole in our hearts, but life must go on, soups and tuna salad have to be made, and Cliff is filling that void. He’s a friend of Dylan’s from The Art Institute of California culinary school, and this is a rare photo of the two together: actually, Dylan and Cliff “share” the cooking position and when one is here the other is usually not.

Kind of like Clark Kent and Superman, only in my book, both these young men are Superman! Welcome to the team, Cliff, good to have you on the bus. Thanks for bringing your tunes!

P.S. We have to get another photo of Cliff after work, when he takes off his hat and lets loose his dreds! Muy impressive!

***

And, ta da, here he is!

(How long do you think it takes to GROW hair like that? Cliff reminds me of Samson, only blonder.) (Much sweeter, too.)

We DEFINITELY need to update this entry with the new schedule - in an effort to better serve you (lunch), Dylan & Cliff now work together most mornings. It’s a win-win for everyone!

This started off as a letter to a friend, but it you’re reading this, you probably have an opinion on the subject, and I want to hear it! The question is, what is more important, quality or affordability? Because gf-baking reminds me of that old saw, “You can get it good. You can get it cheap. You can get it fast. Pick any two.” Only instead of “fast,” just say “reliably.”
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All STOCK items are on sale!
(That’s everything on our order form.)
Custom cakes not on sale!

Tuesday April 15th: Take 20% off!

Wednesday April 16th: Take 25% off!

Thursday April 17th: Take 30% off!
(While supplies last.)

Reminder we are CLOSED Passover!
Friday April 18th
THROUGH
Tuesday April 29th
&
REOPEN Wednesday, April 30th.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Yikes! We have too many products already — I’m thinking of cutting out a couple of muffins even — but we HAVE to make room for a few last things. Please tell us what’s important to you!

1. YEAST-FREE, SUGAR-FREE BREAD - we get a lot of requests for this one, but I think it’s impossible! We can make yeast-free CRUMBS, and yeast-free SPONGY PUDDING, and a few different varieties of yeast-free ROCKS, but gluten-free, yeast-free BREAD seems to be eluding us. What we CAN make, however, is a nice yeast-free flour tortilla. Anyone want a burrito?

2. GF-OAT BREAD MIX, TO SHIP. Ever since word got out that we’re making a kosher gf-oat bread, we’re getting flooded with requests from Orthodox Jewry across the continent. But it’s crazy to fly baked bread to Miami, or Toronto, or even Denver. And let’s be real: Y’all don’t care if it’s baked, you only care that it’s oats! Make it yourself - just add 2 cups water and 2 teaspoons of oil.

$7 for approx 22oz. bag, makes a single 2lb. loaf or 4 mini loaves.
(Includes 4 Novacart mini-loaf pans, while supplies last.)
Ships GROUND, but refrigerate it when you get it.

(Oats have high protein content - treat oat flour like ground nuts.)

3. SUGAR-FREE — ??? Cookie? Tartlets maybe? (Or is that too grown-up?) Does anyone worry about natural sugar in fruit? Should we sweeten with agave, or xylitol, or something new???

Sugar-free gets requested second only to yeast-free. (In fact, that’s usually how the question goes; “Do you have any yeast-free or sugar-free items?”) But we only have room for ONE more thing. What should it be?

Choices, choices, too many choices!! Please click on “comments” to help us decide!

(P.S. I don’t know why, but when you click “comments” you get to another page that starts just like this one! It’s a little confusing & I’ll try to fix it, but I wanted you to know so you’ll SCROLL DOWN FOR THE ACTUAL COMMENTS.)

I still can’t believe it - it’s like the end of an era. Eugenie was our very first employee, and has had major influence on the shape of this bakery. Even before product development, there was branding, and from day one Eugenie has represented The Sensitive Baker with grace and class.

As for product development, which is really what she signed on for, what a star! The Morning Glory muffin, the Quinoa-Cranberry Cookie, the cheese that everybody goes “nuts” for on the pizza — these were all Eugenie’s creations, and remain some of our most popular products.

Eugenie has played every role in this bakery, literally from chief cook to bottle washer. She’s represented us at events, on the radio, and on TV. But it’s been almost a year and a half, and gone are the days of whipping up new taste sensations every day. Welcome instead to the world of churning out chocolate chip cookies, as many and as often as possible. Over and over and over again.

She says she loves doing it, but it’s like tying up a bird. Eugenie was born to fly.

Whatever Eugenie turns her hand to becomes infused with Quality. Here’s an example: We were experimenting with tuna salad, and every day Eugenie would make this delicious but kind of gourmet dish with, like, artichoke hearts and olives and garbanzo beans. But my father-in-law is a pretty big influence around here, too, and believe me he is not a fan of garbanzo beans in his tuna sandwich! I had to ask Eugenie: make the PLAINEST tuna salad possible. Imagine something you’d get from a cafeteria.

Eugenie wasn’t so thrilled with this directive. (Would you ask Beethoven to tone it down? He should do a little Muzak, maybe?) “I’ve never wanted to think of us as being like a cafeteria, making mass-produced garbage,” I think she said, and I never did either, but we need to appeal to everyone; from gourmets, to little kids, to the newly-diagnosed with still-sensitive stomaches.

So Eugenie came up with a dressing (no “bits” of ANYTHING) made from olive-oil mayonnaise, and fresh lemon juice, and other secret stuff. It makes the plainest looking tuna salad you ever saw, but if you eat a scoop of it on freshly toasted focaccia you’re going to swear it’s the best tuna sandwich you EVER tasted! Even my father-in-law thinks so!

Ah, Eugenie, we are going to miss you so much(!) but we wish you all the best! I know we’ll see you on Food Network one day — maybe making allergen-free birthday cakes for grateful children!

(Did I mention that the vegan chocolate cake / cupcake was her baby too?)

The question of the week seems to be, “What do you have for Passover?” Yeah. Um… Our bad, once again — We’re closed the entire week of Passover, and half the next week, as well. (We opened a can of worms when we brought oats into this place - we were essentially kosher for Passover until that moment. Not that the rabbis would allow any of our recipes — everything contains rice, which Jews of European descent don’t eat on Passover. But we wouldn’t have had to clean.) (sigh.)

Anyway, the point is, I thought it wouldn’t matter so much if we’re open Passover, since it’s the one time a year you can find a trustworthy gf-cake at a NORMAL bakery! Don’t believe me? Try this: Delice Bakery.

[Please note they're closed the whole week of Passover, too. That's what the "Chol Hamoed" bit means. The cakes are sold the week before Passover, starting April 13th.]

Kosher bakeries seem a tad slow getting on the internet (what’s up with that?), but I called:

Eilat bakery (310-205-8700) will be kosher-for-Passover. They’re closed the week of, selling GF products the week before, by reservation only. The Fairfax store (323-933-5000) may be open mid-week.

Schwartz Bakery (310-854-0592) Fairfax store (323-653-1683) will have kosher-for-Passover products packaged & sealed (be careful because they’re also selling chametz right up to the last day!); including bagels made from potato starch!

So, just to re-cap:

We are OPEN Thursday April 17th,
until 6:00 or until we run out of food, whichever comes first.

We are CLOSED Friday April 18th THROUGH Tuesday April 29th, 2008.

We Re-OPEN Wednesday April 30th.

Meet David. He’s a real sweetie. He’s our new mashgiach - the guy who makes sure everything is kosher around here. Except for the lettuce, that’s actually not such a complicated job, but he is absolutely happy to fill in wherever he might he useful.

For example, I’ll tell you a story. Last week, a woman ordered cupcakes to be delivered to her in Glendale for her son’s birthday party in school Friday. We shipped them UPS on Wednesday expecting a Thursday delivery, totally routine. Except I got an e-mail Thursday night, the woman never got her cupcakes. For the first time EVER, UPS messed up - they said the address we gave them was wrong, when it wasn’t.

Previously, there would be nothing I could do. Glendale on a Friday? Don’t even think about it!

But last week David had come to the rescue on a more than a few deliveries & errands - his very first day he’d rented a truck & picked up 1,000 pounds of flour from Authentic Foods, while I went and got a root canal. (Truth.) So when I called the woman to confirm her address, I told her, “We’ll bring you the cupcakes tomorrow before your son’s party.”

And David, indeed, delivered on my promise. Here is what the woman wrote to me later that day:

I am so thankful that you did what you committed last night. You complete the party of my son. May God Bless Your Heart…

Maria M., Glendale, CA

Hey, it’s only been two months since we started serving lunch. For us, that may be a record of some kind, to get it all finalized and published in such a short amount of time. So, as simple as it is, we are proud to present… (drumroll, please…..)

… the lunch menu!

These are incredible but we can’t sell this batch. Stupid me; I asked Guadalupe to make them out of the vegan cookie dough, and then I told her to put an egg wash on them. (What was I thinking?) But we’ll have more next week and the week after, boxes of 4 for $8. (I know it’s outrageous, but they are a lot of labor. Be grateful they ARE vegan - the price of eggs seems to have doubled in the past two weeks, so eggy ones would be even more!)

My suggestion always is to buy the cookie dough because not only is it half the price (1.25 pounds for $15); making the cookies becomes a great family activity, the memories of which will last a lifetime.

(Has anyone seen my violin??)

In brief: The good news is, we’re turning into fairly decent gluten-free bakers. The bad news is, even though we’re making more stuff, better, faster, our prices are going up. And no matter how much we bake, we still seem to sell out every Sunday afternoon!

Full Story: Elaine Monarch of the CDF once called to tell us she’d been traveling and speaking to other GF-bakers on the east coast, and she wanted us to know that gluten free baking is hard. It was an surprisingly thoughtful thing to say, and such a relief to hear that it wasn’t just us, but that even Mr. Ritts might have found this job a challenge at first.

Elaine’s encouragement kept us going through many a tray of gummy focaccia!

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