Time to make the donuts.....
Nov. 12th, 2005 10:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poltr1Last Sunday, I started on baking duties. We recently lost our last donut baker, so the owners are cross-training a few of us to pick up the baking chores. We make small batches to keep it "Always Fresh" (and to minimize waste if they don't sell), and some stuff is pre-mixed, so the tasks are relatively easy.
However, it's demand driven, especially when we run low (or out) of something. Today, it seemed that I was making bagels and chocolate dip donuts every half-hour because they were getting sold. (Hey, that's a good problem to have!) And if I'm making a batch of donut glaze, I'm out of commission for 15-20 minutes while I clean out and rinse out the glazing pan, make the new batch of glaze, and pour it into the glazing pan.
And there are a lot of little things to be concerned about, such as the different baking cycles for the various products, the presets on the ovens, taking out the items as soon as they're ready, keeping the work surfaces clean, and keeping track of what I make. And one of the most important parts: adding the unique identifiers on each product, like a dab of vanilla icing on the vanilla cream donuts. This helps our customers -- and me -- distinguish between the vanilla creme and the Boston creme donuts.
And if I goof up, like I did last week, we might sell it as a "today's special". Like the vanilla cream donuts on which I put vanilla icing instead of chocolate icing. (Oops!)
As long as I remember the processes, and the steps in each process, or know where to refer (or whom to ask) if I'm unsure of something, I should be fine.
But I gotta go to bead early, so I can be up-and-at-'em by 0600. Ack.
However, it's demand driven, especially when we run low (or out) of something. Today, it seemed that I was making bagels and chocolate dip donuts every half-hour because they were getting sold. (Hey, that's a good problem to have!) And if I'm making a batch of donut glaze, I'm out of commission for 15-20 minutes while I clean out and rinse out the glazing pan, make the new batch of glaze, and pour it into the glazing pan.
And there are a lot of little things to be concerned about, such as the different baking cycles for the various products, the presets on the ovens, taking out the items as soon as they're ready, keeping the work surfaces clean, and keeping track of what I make. And one of the most important parts: adding the unique identifiers on each product, like a dab of vanilla icing on the vanilla cream donuts. This helps our customers -- and me -- distinguish between the vanilla creme and the Boston creme donuts.
And if I goof up, like I did last week, we might sell it as a "today's special". Like the vanilla cream donuts on which I put vanilla icing instead of chocolate icing. (Oops!)
As long as I remember the processes, and the steps in each process, or know where to refer (or whom to ask) if I'm unsure of something, I should be fine.
But I gotta go to bead early, so I can be up-and-at-'em by 0600. Ack.
