If you read Mary Walsh's article "10 Compelling Reasons Why You Should Learn to Bake Bread" (link below), you know there's something spiritual about the relationship between humans and bread. That stated, if your interest in the subject transcends what Walsh calls, "one of the oldest food items around," you're likely more interested in a literal interpretation as you search for suppliers. This article will get you started, but you'll have to do the legwork required to turn your bakery-related dreams into---well, lots of bread. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Instructions
1. Search for bread supply distributors on the Internet; this way you won't spend a lot of time and money researching the price ranges distributors charge for pre-mixed ingredients, individual ingredients and the wide range of supplies needed to produce large quantities of bread. Try several search engines to cover all bases, and jot down web addresses. Visit each one.
2. Talk with bakery shop owners in your community to find out which wholesalers and distributors they like best for everything from flour to loaf pans. Obtain the names of sales reps working for these distributors so you have a specific person to ask for when you telephone them.
3. Look in your Yellow Pages for the names of bread supply distributors and wholesalers in your area. Head for the library if your home base is located in a smaller town without much commercial traffic. Find phone directories for the nearest baking goods suppliers in the region, and use toll-free numbers that will allow you to check inventory, stock and prices without having to pay for the calls.
4. Contact folks in the bakery industry to locate reliable wholesale suppliers. Take advantage of the fact that industrial bakers belong to unions and nonprofit associations that offer discounted baking supplies in addition to education and networking. Get in touch with a staffer at one or more of these organizations, as they are in the business of promoting members and will be happy to give you contact information for suppliers based on your specific needs.
5. Decide whether you want to put all of your loaves of bread into one basket by comparing the goods, brands, prices and quality of the supplies you found during your research. Splitting up your wholesale vendors into, for instance, companies offering the best deals on baking pans, sheets, stones and cooling racks versus another distributor that seems to have cornered the market on bread knives, bread slicers, spatulas and smaller baking utensils may make better sense than sticking to just one resource.
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