How Do I Make So Many Things?

It’s a question I get fairly often: How do you manage to have so many different things on the menu?

The short answer is… I’ve had a lot of practice.

Before The Bakeshoppe became what it is today, I spent 11 years running an incredibly busy bakery. There were large orders, small orders, daily baking, special requests, production schedules, ingredient prep, staff, deadlines and a whole lot of moving pieces happening at once.

You learn very quickly that baking is only part of running a bakery. The other part is organization. And I am extremely organized.

A Bakery Experience — Without the Bakery

One of the things I’ve wanted to create with The Bakeshoppe is the feeling of walking into a bakery and having choices.

Cookies, bars, squares, loaves, cake slices, seasonal specials and familiar favourites — I love being able to offer a menu that feels interesting and gives you plenty to choose from. The difference is that there isn’t a display case filled with every item each morning.

I bake according to what has actually been ordered. And just to be clear, my entire menu has never been ordered all at once.

The menu may be large, but the actual baking list for any given week is based entirely on what customers choose. Some weeks certain items are very popular, while others may not be ordered at all. That’s what makes a larger menu possible.

If three people order one item, I make a small batch. If twenty people order another, I scale that recipe accordingly. Years of bakery production taught me how to move recipes up and down depending on exactly what I need. I’m rarely making ten full batches of ten different things and hoping they sell. I’m making what has already found a home.

The Work Starts Long Before Baking Day

There is also a lot happening behind the scenes that customers never really see.

My menus are planned in advance. Ingredients are stocked and organized. Recipes are written in workable batch sizes. Doughs and components that benefit from being prepared ahead are scheduled accordingly, and my baking days are planned in an order that makes sense.

Some recipes share ingredients or components. Some things can be prepared while something else is baking. Cookie dough can be portioned and chilled. Bars can be baked while another recipe is being mixed. Ganaches, fillings, glazes and toppings all have their place in the schedule.

After enough years of doing this, you learn how to make a kitchen work efficiently. There is definitely a method to the madness. And yes, I still make mistakes, but I’ve learned to move past them quickly and get right back on track.

Small Batch Doesn’t Have to Mean a Small Menu

For me, small batch simply means I can make the right amount. I know how to make two loaves instead of twelve. I know how to make six cookies of one flavour and three dozen of another. And I know when a recipe makes more sense to produce as a larger batch and work it into several orders.

That flexibility is one of the biggest reasons I can offer the variety that I do.

And I should also say that this is simply my way of running a home bakery.

There are so many wonderful small bakers who intentionally offer beautifully curated, smaller menus, and there is absolutely nothing lesser about that approach. Every baker builds a business around their own space, schedule, style and capacity.

My larger menu works for me because of my past bakery experience and the production systems I’ve developed over the years.

It’s not better. Just different.

Experience Makes a Difference

There are still very busy days.

There are still trays everywhere, timers going off, lists being checked and moments when every available inch of counter seems to have something sitting on it.

But it isn’t unfamiliar chaos.

It’s a production system I’ve been building and refining for a very long time. After 11 years in a busy commercial bakery — and many more years of baking beyond that — I know my recipes, I know my equipment, I know how long things take and, perhaps most importantly, I know how much I can realistically accomplish in a day. That experience lets me offer something a little different now. The variety and feeling of a bakery, without actually having to run a storefront bakery again.

And truthfully, that might be my favourite part. You get to choose from the display case. I just don’t have to fill the display case first.

Debi