eats my life!:): for the love of bread

"Oh, God above, if heaven has a taste it must be an egg with butter and salt, and after the egg is there anything in the world lovlier than fresh warm bread and a mug of sweet golden tea?"
Frank McCourt, 'Angela's Ashes' (1996)

Bread, a staple food in the Americas and European countries, is prepared by cooking a dough of flour, water, salt and yeast, plus other ingredients. The tedious process of waiting for the right time for a dough to rise and all the kneading and shaping may seem like a challenge to some. I made several attempts of making my own bread like ciabatta, breadsticks, etc. and even handmade pizza crusts to the point that I almost gave up on making and perfecting one.

ms. oily chef haha

my very own handmade chicken bbq pizza

Still, I'm dreaming of the day that I can make a dough magically rise into a good old golden bread:) But to Fred Yang of 12 Baskets, making breads came to him naturally. He started enrolling in one of Heny Sison's baking class. The first classes focused more on baking cookies, bars, etc. When the class shifted its focus on baking breads, that is where Fred discovered that this is his niche! Bread making:) The lovely art of kneading, rising and baking bread fascinated the owner of 12 Baskets.

Fred answering questions from fellow bloggers

Geo doing an explanation of the different "corners" of the kitchen:)

Last weekend, I was invited by my sister Anagon to a bloggers' event to be held in 12 Baskets. Of course, upon receiving the invite, I said yes!:) The theme is Alice in Wonderland! Even the invite screams MAD!;p

The event started with a tour of 12 Baskets' kitchen. It was one of my fave parts of the event. We saw the giant kitchen aides, bread mixers, oven, bread oven and even actual 12 Baskets' crew mixing the ingredients for egg tarts! Fred's girlfriend and my schoolmate from St.Scho Geo, gave a good intro on the beginnings of the bakery plus she explained the different corners of the kitchen which I found cool haha! Afterwards, there was a question and answer portion. From that I have learned that the name 12 Baskets came from the story in the Bible about the 5 loaves and 2 fish. It can be best remembered that Jesus made a miracle with the 5 loaves and 2 fish which fed a multitude. After everyone has eaten, there were 12 baskets of leftover pieces of bread. Cool huh?:)

I predict that 12 Baskets will make it big in the panaderia scene! Not only do they bake really good breads and eggtarts, they are also a socially oriented company. As seen in the windows of the shop are tarps that say they sell Sumilao Corn Coffee which are produced by the Sumilao farmers who marched from Bukidnon to Manila to protect their land.

Here are the rest of the photos from the event: