from scratch (adverb) -- From basic materials or raw ingredients. From the scratch drawn in the ground serving as the starting line of a foot race. A runner “starting from scratch” received no handicap, but started at the beginning of the course.
We've joined the Get Back To Scratch Movement, an online network of baking and culinary professionals to share their passion for scratch baked goods. They are hosting a contest to win a Hobart Legacy 80-quart mixer, which we have every intention of winning.
We make many items from scratch at Mary's Cakes and Pastries, and buy lots and lots of flour and sugar and butter and eggs every week to create baked goods from cookies and pastries to bread and buttercream.
We are constantly searching out quality raw ingredients, from chocolate batons to high ratio shortening. Specialty flours to almond paste. Extracts and oils of all kinds to dried fruits and nuts.
There are 25 pounds of unsalted macadamia nuts in our freezer, next to a similar quantity of raw pistachios. Shaved unsweetened coconut and shredded sweetened coconut. Banana, raspberry and sour cherry purees. Mexican vanilla. Peppermint extract. Two types of yeast. Baking powder. Baking soda. Four types of sugar, plus glucose, corn syrup, molasses and agave nectar. Several types of salt, from sea and kosher to table and pretzel. Rosemary for our baguettes grows outside the shop, along with other herbs. We use fresh carrots for carrot cake, seasonal zucchini from the farmers market for zucchini bread, and fresh ripe bananas for banana bread. At Thanksgiving, our pies are made from fresh local pumpkins, sweet potatoes and pecans.
Then there's the equipment.
Two mixers (20-quart and 5-quart), one oven. A proofer for breads and raised pastries. The gelato machine. The food processor.
And the dough sheeter. A wonderful, monstrous machine that rolls our doughs and fondant easily and evenly.
Three freezers and three refrigerators.
All in less than 1,000 square feet (including the retail area).
Baking from fresh ingredients is a passion. And a labor of love.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
Stay tuned for how to help us win the 80-quart mixer. The contest starts on May 21.
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