Washington Post on the influx of new bakers

This topic has 82 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 5 months ago by Mike Nolan.

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March 24, 2020 at 10:32 pm #22315
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Good article: New Bakers cleaning out store shelves.

Spread the word
March 25, 2020 at 6:25 am #22320
aaronatthedoublef
Participant
I used to say anything that encouraged people to bake was a good thing. This may be an exception.
March 25, 2020 at 8:11 am #22324
BakerAunt
Participant
I talked with my youngest sister yesterday, who has two young children. She told me about being able to find TWO loaves of bread at the store and wondered if she were "hoarding," as she bought both and froze one. I assured her that two loaves is not hoarding.

She's never baked bread, and with the scarcity of yeast and flour right now, I'm not sure that she would be able to do so, but if KAF ever gets re-stocked, maybe I'll send her some basic supplies and help her through a hand knead recipe. (She doesn't have a stand mixer.)
March 25, 2020 at 10:19 am #22329
skeptic7
Participant
Well that explains the run on flour and yeast in my area. I'll have to look at ways to stretch my yeast supply. If I get down to my last tablespoon of yeast I guess I could make a poolish or biga and use parts of it instead of dried yeast to make bread. I I kept it in the refrigerator, it wouldn't develop that sour tang of a true sourdough.
March 25, 2020 at 10:38 am #22331
aaronatthedoublef
Participant
Just received a KAF email that flours are BACK in stock!
March 25, 2020 at 11:51 am #22333
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
They even show the 10 pound bag of AP being in stock.
March 25, 2020 at 12:34 pm #22334
BakerAunt
Participant
KAF is limiting people to two bags (of each?). They also have the same limit on bread machines. Curious.

They are NOT showing that they have yeast in stock--yet.

Bob's Red Mill site keeps crashing every time I try to check if they have managed to re-stock. I get a message about "cookie being too big."
March 25, 2020 at 2:16 pm #22336
S_Wirth
Participant
BakerAunt...I am able to get on Bob's Red Mill site just fine and it stays up. There are several flours and such that are out of stock and some bulk orders only.
March 25, 2020 at 2:39 pm #22337
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
I would suggest you try deleting cookies and/or clearing your web cache, this sounds like a local problem rather than a webserver one.

I don't spend much time on the BRM site (or the KAF one) because I find it difficult to come up with $59 worth of their stuff I want to order, especially since I can often get their products locally (when they're in stock) for less.
- This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Mike Nolan.
March 25, 2020 at 2:57 pm #22339
aaronatthedoublef
Participant
I usually go to those sites when I have a coupon or they have a special. I bulked up on Pi Day, for example. And now I have a $10 KAF coupon which will pay for shipping for my next order.

I suspect the limit on bread machines is to prevent people from buying many and price gouging on eBay and Amazon.
March 25, 2020 at 3:08 pm #22340
RiversideLen
Participant
For anyone who might be intimidated by bread making, I found this video interesting.

No knead bread
March 25, 2020 at 6:06 pm #22343
BakerAunt
Participant
Thanks, S. Wirth and Mike. I cleared the cookies and can now get to the website.

Len--I find the no-knead bread more intimidating than bread that is kneaded because the no-knead stuff is a lot wetter.
March 25, 2020 at 6:11 pm #22344
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Gee, maybe that'll help with your posts disappearing from this site, too.
March 26, 2020 at 6:06 am #22354
aaronatthedoublef
Participant
No knead intimidates me because I have to take a 400 degree Dutch oven out of the oven, dump wet dough into it, and then put it back in the oven. This is made extra daunting by kids who inevitably decide to race through the kitchen when I have the oven door open and things cooking on the stove.

The other problem with bread machines and most electronics is that they have parts from China which had their factories shutdown for about a month. By the time they reopened we were in a pandemic and many other factories and suppliers had slowed down if not shutdown.

Then goods coming in are in quarantine as opposed to coming in and going right to whomever needed them. So that slows everything down again.

Add to this increased demand for home electronics, panics, price gouging and there you have KAF limiting bread machines to two per customer.
March 26, 2020 at 9:55 am #22359
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Personally, I don't see how any home baker needs more than 2 bread machines!
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