All it takes is creativity and flour. It seems out of work pastry chefs are making their dreams come true during these rough days by starting their own pop up bakeries. It's a great way not only to make money but get your product out to a sweet tooth hungry crowd.
Food section veteran Pete Wells wrote about this phenomena in yesterday's New York Times Food section. Pastry chefs have experienced hard times in the past few years. Restaurants have concentrated on serving a plethora of appetizers and main dishes on smaller plates. Diners are not enthusiastic when dessert comes, , ordering something simple like a shared panna cotta. It also doesn't help that these eateries are not creative or enthusiastic anymore either when it comes to desserts.Instagram is also to to blame here. It's lured talented pastry artists to create the next meme , like the Cronut. Yet there is still a need for pastry chefs and bakers to create interesting and delicious treats.Joy Cho realized this when a miniature Bundt cake pan caught her eye during a shopping trip with her mom to Williams -Sonoma. She bought it and the next day she was busy making up a sour cream batter . By February first she was taking orders for the mini Bundts. The initial batch of gem cakes sold out. People were picking them up at her home in Clinton Hill Brooklyn,
Other pop ups are arising.Kelly Miao who worked in the pastry departments at such top restaurants as Bar Boulud and Dominque Ansel Kitchen now gets creative. She bakes snack sized pound cake cubes called Kemi Cubes. These are about the size of an iced cube and are cloaked in vanilla and chocolate icings similar to black and white cookies. Boy Blue Coffee and Goods , run by Michael Davis offers mostly savory baked good like sourdough pretzels and everything but the bagel focaccia, which is a focaccis dotted with an everything bagel seasonings like poppy and sesame seeds , along with garlic and onion bits. He also sells sour dough bread kits with flour and starter included. Shuna Lydon runs Seabird bakery out of her Flatbush Brooklyn apartment. Here she creates kits of sourdough English muffins with preserves and salted butter. along with Rice Krispie treats made with browned butter and matcha powder . Two pastry chefs, Marissa Sanders and David Yang started Wrightwood and Sawyer give the element of surprise . Each week two boxes , one savory , one sweet and one mostly savory arrive with a dozen different treats. Every pop up is legit thanks to a state licensing exemption that allows home processors to sell baked goods with minimal oversight. All they need is consumer grade ovens and fridges for storage, supplemented by a utility shelf and sawhorses to work.
Pop up bakeries may be a new facet of pandemic life. They'll introduce to the talents of many bakers and pastry chefs, allowing us to sample their creations. It's a way of becoming New York favorites.
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