This morning, I’m going to be a baked good producer; banana bread, to be precise. My operation is modest; my production facility consists of one small oven and a single loaf pan. The output also is fairly low—when I’m done, I will have just one loaf. The distribution chain is very short, because the banana bread will be consumed just a few feet from the production facility, and the consumer demographic consists of one middle-aged snack and bakery editor (me).

All right—now I am going to pause on writing this column to begin production of this limited-edition banana bread. I will return in about an hour or so when it is done. Actually, make it 90 minutes—I have to wait for it to cool before I eat it. After all, there’s nothing quite as bad as burning the roof of your mouth because you couldn’t wait for something from the oven to reach temperatures below molten lava levels.

Much like the namesake journeys of our elementary school days, a field trip for a trade journalist is an opportunity to stretch your legs, go someplace new, and learn. When Kemin Industries, Des Moines, IA, extended an invitation to a select group of food industry reporters to visit its Bakery Innovation Center (BIC) at their headquarters, I happily accepted—in small part for a change of scenery, but mostly because in-person learning opportunities have been in short supply since the start of the pandemic.

During the visit, the other journalists (including my BNP Media colleague Prepared Foods Chief Editor Bob Garrison) and I used all five senses in our tour of the BIC, a 2,300-square-foot facility equipped with an analytical lab, pilot-scale production equipment, and other features. We got to see the BIC staff in action, hear them explain the various services they offer tortilla and baked-good customers, get our hands on corn tortillas as we mixed and baked them in preparation for testing, smell the aroma of the cooking disks, and taste the fruits of our labor. Then, we got to put fresh-made tortillas through a number of tests. According to Marketing Director Courtney Schwartz, Kemin customers are invited to visit the BIC and share in these experiences.

The banana bread is out of the oven and it looks pretty great (please take a moment to look at the photo), so I’m hopeful about the results. My kitchen is a giant mess, though. Also, I had to use olive oil for the fat because I was completely out of butter. And, I burned my thumb on the lip of the oven taking the pan out (lesson learned—next time I’ll be sure to use my Ove Glove, which covers my whole hand and doesn’t leave a lot of my skin vulnerable to hot metal). Now I will pause once more, this time to let it cool and sample the first slice.

I have to admit, this whole enterprise did not at all go as planned. My kitchen counter is a disaster zone. My hand is burned and Band-Aided. Then, my dog Sally O’Malley decided to jump up and go to town on one whole side of the loaf (please see the second pic), so I had to cut around the gnawed-off parts. That all would have been worth it had the banana bread been moist and delicious—and it was neither. Plus, and this is no surprise considering I share space with two dogs and two cats in a relatively small Chicago domicile, there was an animal hair in my slice.

Sadly, it appears my one-loaf bakery production needs to be shut down and seriously revamped before starting up again, if it ever does. I failed at nearly every stage, including supply chain, safety protocols, sanitation, animal/pest control, and product quality. While I love nothing more than a delicious, freshly baked treat, I will leave the production to experienced, talented professionals like the ones that read Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery on a regular basis. Thank you for doing what you do, better than I can, every day. SF&WB