Baking, Bridges, & Raisins

Looking for a sleep podcast to fall asleep fast, reduce anxiety, and quiet an overactive mind? This relaxing episode of The Insomnia Project is designed to help with insomnia, stress relief, and gentle nighttime unwinding through calm conversation.
Marco Timpano and guest Trevor Martin explore baking, homemade bread, and comforting food rituals in a soothing, slow-paced discussion perfect for bedtime listening. From proofing dough to talking about raisins in baking and classic comfort foods like French toast, this episode delivers cozy, low-stimulation content ideal for sleep, relaxation, and mental rest.
With soft-spoken storytelling and meandering topics, this calming podcast episode helps create a peaceful environment for sleep, background listening at work, or easing anxious thoughts at the end of the day.
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​Baking, Bridges, & Raisins.
(Original airdate: June 1, 2016)

Marco Timpano:   Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and listen. As we have a, uh, conversation about the mundane, the ordinary, something that just sort of happens, one thing that we can promise is that our conversation will be less than fascinating so that you can just relax, drift off, lie, listen, and maybe sleep. Thank you for joining us. We hope you will listen and sleep and follow our tweets. Listenandsweep sound. Like I said, sweep, but it's listen and sleep.


Marco Tampano welcomes Trevor Martin to the show

Uh, I'm your host, Marco Tampano. And joining me today, I have the privilege of having a dear friend and talented voice, Trevor Martin to the show. Welcome.

Trevor Martin:  Thank you for having me.

Marco Timpano:   Trevor, you and I have been friends for quite some time.

Trevor Martin:  I'd say about 15 years now.

Marco Timpano:   It's been that long?

Trevor Martin:  It's about 15 years, yeah.

Marco Timpano:   Wow. It feels like it and it doesn't.

Trevor Martin:  Yes.

Marco Timpano:   And one thing that I discovered about you prior to knowing you in those 15 years was that you were a baker.

Trevor Martin:  That's right. After my. After my last year of university, I was, uh, uh, living in, uh, Kitchener, Ontario, actually, outside of Kitchener, Ontario, in a town called Winterburn.

Marco Timpano:   Uh, what's Winterburn famous for?

Trevor Martin:  Uh, I would say that Winterburn is famous for, uh, being close to, uh, West Montrose, which is where the Kissing Bridge is.

Marco Timpano:   Oh.

Trevor Martin:  Yeah. So, um, the Kissing Bridge is a covered bridge. I think it's the longest or the oldest covered, uh, bridge in Ontario. Okay. Uh, and there's also quite a big Mennonite community in that area. So, uh, it's a very, very small town. Really. Um, there's nothing, um. Yeah, you just. It's. I would classify it as a hamlet, probably.

Marco Timpano:   Okay, fair enough. And you mentioned the Mennonites, which brings me back to baking because they're famous for their baking.

Trevor Martin:  True.

Marco Timpano:   You said after university you.

Trevor Martin:  I began, uh, I got a job as a baker. Uh, I applied to, uh, several jobs, as, you know, one does when they're out of university to make some money. Uh, because I wanted to move to Toronto to start my, uh, career as an actor and a writer.

Marco Timpano:   Sure.

Trevor Martin:  And one of the, uh, one of the jobs that I applied for was for a baker.

Marco Timpano:   Okay.

Trevor Martin:  Paid $15 an hour.

Marco Timpano:   Okay.

Trevor Martin:  This would be in 1999, I guess.

Marco Timpano:   Uh, and, uh, so a decent wage.

Trevor Martin:  Not a bad wage. Not at all. Um, I happened to, uh, show up. I got a call from the gentleman. Uh, he said, can you get down there here right away? And I got down there as soon as I could. I just put. Threw some clothes on. It was very early on a Saturday morning. And, uh, I went, uh, and had a brief interview with him, and he said that, uh, I was hired. Okay. And I got up to leave and. And another young man got in the door and said, hi, I'm here for the job. And the. The owner said, no, I'm sorry this gentleman beat you to it.

Marco Timpano:   Oh, there you go.

Trevor Martin:  So he had called a few people, and I was the one who just happened to get there on time.

Marco Timpano:   Well, there you go. I like, I guess, uh, the sleepy bird doesn't get the worm.

Trevor Martin:  The early baker gets the bread. Yeah.


So tell me about baking, things you've learned or things that you found interesting

Marco Timpano:   So tell me about baking, things you've learned or things that you found interesting.

Trevor Martin:  The thing, uh, I found about baking was it really is a lot of

Marco Timpano:   science because they say that cooking is an art, but baking is a science.

Trevor Martin:  It's true, and it's absolutely true. And there are so many things that you have to, um, account for when you're baking. And it's, uh, it's. I. I was a baker only for a few months, actually, but I did it every day for three months, four months. And, uh, it. By the end of it, I still hadn't. I still wouldn't have considered myself a master baker or even a, um, even a, uh, professional baker. I mean, I guess technically I was a professional baker, but there was so much more I had to learn.

Marco Timpano:   Right. Sure.

Trevor Martin:  Um, but it was. There were long days. And the main thing about baking is it starts really early in the morning.

Marco Timpano:   Why is that, I always wondered. Because, you know, a lot of pastry chefs start their day at 4am A lot of bakers, you know, you've got to have that bread. But why do they have to get up so early?

Trevor Martin:  Because people want to eat, um, bread in the morning. They want to get their bread, uh, in the morning. Or their pastries. We also made croissants, and, uh, they were all butter croissants. Beautiful. Um, and, uh, we made bagels as well.

Marco Timpano:   Wow.

Trevor Martin:  And essentially everything was sold out before noon, really? Because people. And I think a lot of people are like this. And Kitchener, being a very German, uh, town.

Marco Timpano:   Right.

Trevor Martin:  Has a European sensibility to it, I think a lot of older, uh, kind of People who are from Europe like to have their baked goods first thing in the morning. And I would get there at 4 in the morning, uh, start everything, boil the water for the bagels, honey water, um, and then get everything.

Marco Timpano:   When you say honey water, it's a water that you put honey and then you boil it so that.

Trevor Martin:  That's right. And, and so you, you uh, you make the, the dough. The dough is usually made the day before. And then uh, the. I uh, didn't actually make the bagels. There was another guy who came in uh, two hours after I got there.

Marco Timpano:   Would you, would it be safe to call him the bagel meister?

Trevor Martin:  I think it would be safe to call him the bagel meister. He was, uh, he was, he was only a few years younger. Older than me. Sorry. And uh, he, he uh, would uh, make the bagels. So there was a machine that he would uh, put the dough in and he would roll the bagels and then he would boil them in honey water. And that's how they got their, their sheen, their, their, that kind of sweet, glossy, uh, exterior coating. Yeah.


Montreal style bagels were made in a wood oven

Marco Timpano:   A question for you. Were you making Montreal style bagels or.

Trevor Martin:  Um, they were Montreal style bagels and they were made in a wood oven. And that was actually my first job. My um, first duty, uh, after opening the shop was to get the fire started at 4 in the morning so that it would be hot enough at six in the morning for him to start making the bagels.

Marco Timpano:   The reason I bring up the Montreal bagel is we had an episode because Nitty is from Montreal and we explained the Montreal style bagel versus the New York style bagel. And then we found out about Detroit style bagels.

Trevor Martin:  I, I don't know uh, about any of those bagels other than the ones that were made at this bakery.

Marco Timpano:   Because when you talk bagels it can bring you down quite a rabbit hole.

Trevor Martin:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:   So what would you bake? You would get things prepared for the bagel meister. But what was your. When you got in there at 4am first of all, were you tired?

Trevor Martin:  I, uh, was always tired.

Marco Timpano:   Okay. And so, um, so the baker gets there tired.

Trevor Martin:  The baker. The baker is tired. Start, um, off with some coffee. My first, first job of the morning, as I drove in, I drove into the parking lot and there was a pile of wood.

Marco Timpano:   And would this be the wood that would, you'd use for the bagel?

Trevor Martin:  Yes, it was. Uh, the thing about the pile of wood is usually various critters had crawling into it in order to uh, you know, find shelter.

Marco Timpano:   Sure.

Trevor Martin:  And so I had to get them out of there. Usually they were either raccoons or skunks or anything like that. So I'd flick my high beams a little bit. I didn't want to wake anybody up in the neighborhood.

Marco Timpano:   Right.

Trevor Martin:  Um, it was in a residential area, but it's still, uh. And, uh, yeah, I'd see the little critters wander out of the wood pile and as if they knew, okay, it's time. You know, it's morning. I'm. I've worn out my welcome.

Marco Timpano:   Sounds like a Disney.

Trevor Martin:  Disney film a little bit. It was. Yeah. They were groggy, just like me. Okay. Uh, and so then I would open the store and then I would start the fire. Uh, and that would be to make the bagels. But then it was my job to, uh, make, uh, the bread. And we made a, uh. He called it the baker. The owner called it a pugilisi style, uh, sourdough.

Marco Timpano:   Okay.

Trevor Martin:  Um, and it was a very rustic, very, uh, kind of brown sour, like out of sourdough.

Marco Timpano:   So this is interesting because there's so much behind the sourdough and the mother dough.

Trevor Martin:  Is that right? Yeah, the big guy is what he called it. Yeah. And so there's. I'm not exactly sure how old his biga was, but it was years old.

Marco Timpano:   Okay.

Trevor Martin:  And, uh, so, yeah, it's that mother dough that you start with. And, uh, and then you're just adding more the flour to it and the yeast and. And some water.

Marco Timpano:   Um, how much would you use of the mother dough? And I know, like, places in Sweden have some breads that they have mother doughs from hundreds and hundreds of years that have been passed on to their families. So much so that when they go on vacation, they have, um, mother dough, um, nannies or, ah, babysitters that will babysit the mother dough so that it doesn't. I don't know what like, uh, grow to.

Trevor Martin:  Yeah. Ferment too much.

Marco Timpano:   It gets used and stays, um, viable.

Trevor Martin:  Yes.

Marco Timpano:   So how much would you use? Like, do you just take a little. A little sort of like, dash of it or do you take a big sort of chunk of it?

Trevor Martin:  I feel like it was. I mean, to say that it was dough would be. It wasn't like a big.

Marco Timpano:   Right.

Trevor Martin:  It wasn't that solid. It was more of a. In a liquid state.

Marco Timpano:   Like a yeast or like.

Trevor Martin:  Yeah, almost like a liquid yeast. And, uh. So you would use about a cup of it.

Marco Timpano:   Oh, okay.

Trevor Martin:  Um, because we were making a lot of bread. We were making upwards of, you know, five, six Dozen loaves of bread. Um, so it was, ah. Yeah, it was enough to uh, I guess establish the flavor, get that sort of source quality to the bread.

Marco Timpano:   Sure.

Trevor Martin:  Um, ah, so the. So I would include that. And then there were, you know, there was lots of flour and it was a big mixer. I, um, can't remember the exact, like

Marco Timpano:   an industrial mixture that has the big sort of, um, like paddles, I guess.

Trevor Martin:  Yeah, yeah, I guess so. It was like, like a, I guess a spiral shape. Yeah. And um, and so you, you know, you would mix up that dough and. And then portion it.


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And the key was, uh, everything is measured. Measured perfectly because you know, you're, you're selling it and you need to sell it. They have to be in the right proportions. And.

Marco Timpano:   And that's what makes baking a science. Right. Because if you get your proportions wrong.

Trevor Martin:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:   Or you forget something, there's no coming back from that.

Trevor Martin:  Well, there was also, if it was humid that day, oh, you had to use less moisture, you had to put less water in and. And that was something you kind of had to eyeball. And when you're a 19 year old. Well, I was older than that. I was like 22 year old kid. You're, you know, that's not something you realize right away. So there were a lot of. There were a few bread batches that were kind of flat. They were on the less, uh, leavens.

Marco Timpano:   You made matzah.

Trevor Martin:  Yeah, essentially. Yeah. And uh, you'd get some comments from some of the older German patrons of it. Their bread didn't look right, but.

Marco Timpano:   Right.

Trevor Martin:  But uh, the owner was a, was a nice guy.

Marco Timpano:   He.

Trevor Martin:  Mennonite. New order Mennonite.

Marco Timpano:   Oh, wow.

Trevor Martin:  He actually came into baking, uh, from sculpting. He was a sculptor, actually A well regarded sculptor.

Marco Timpano:   Wow.

Trevor Martin:  And he used a kiln and so he had a, uh, you know, he, he had used ovens before. So he had appreciation for. Sure.

Marco Timpano:   The bake, I guess.

Trevor Martin:  Yeah, yeah, exactly. And then decided, you know, his passion was bread. And so he went to Italy and he went to all, all across Europe and sampled different breads. And uh, it came back with some recipes and. And then. Yeah, just made it his commitment. Now it's actually a, A very, it's a chain, uh, in that area. Yeah.

Marco Timpano:   Have you been back?

Trevor Martin:  Yes, I have been back. Uh, and uh, I went back a, uh, few years after I had left and the woman who was making the pizzas, because they also made pizzas for lunch in the wood oven, uh, saw me and remembered me and gave me a pizza.

Marco Timpano:   Oh, that's amazing.

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Marco Timpano:   so, Trevor.


What makes good bread for you if you were to buy it

Trevor Martin:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:   What makes good bread for you if you were to. If you were to go and buy bread. What as as someone who worked in a bakery who m was a baker and not quite a bagel meister, but still, we'll grant you some latitude there because you did make the Honeywell water. When you go looking for baked goods yeah. What are the things that you say? This is good versus this, which is not so good.

Trevor Martin:  I feel like, uh, the first thing is obviously what it looks like. You want something. You want something that's. I mean, again, it depends on what doing you're baking, but you want the color to be right. Uh, the bread that we were making was like a, Like a rye almost. And so there was a darkness to it, a brown kind of. And because it was so rustic, there was a little bit of flour still on top.

Marco Timpano:   Oh, I love that.

Trevor Martin:  So that, yeah, it looked really beautiful and very inviting. I, uh, usually like a harder crust, like something with a little slightly thicker crust. And in this very specifically had that sour element to it. So. And I think, I guess being from a German family, uh, that I, you know, rye was, you know, was something that was. In my family, we usually

Marco Timpano:   lean, uh,

Trevor Martin:  towards the sour or the, the heavier breads and those things.

Marco Timpano:   The hearty breads.

Trevor Martin:  The hearty breads. Yeah.

Marco Timpano:   Yeah, the breads that would sort of like. It's interesting because when you look at breads in different cultures, you see how they utilize that, um, essential sort of food item with their cuisine. So, for example, if you go to Tuscany, the bread won't be salted, it'll lack salt. Because what they pair the bread with is very salty. In other words, a lot of the, uh, sort of prosciuttos and salumi that they have there are very salty. So if you have salty bread with salty salumi, it over burdens your. Your palate with salt, so they modify that way. But if you go to different cult, if you go to look at different countries and you see the breads that they use. So for example, in Germanic countries, hearty breads, breads that are going to go well with stews, wintery, um, type breads or breads that are going to be hardy for the winter.

Trevor Martin:  Yeah, uh, yeah, it's very, it's very interesting. And I, I think, uh, yeah, he obviously picked this bread because. Because it was gonna sell to that specific culture. And, um, I loved it. One of the benefits of the job was I went home with a lot of bread. And so all of my friends and being like a university student or just out of university, I had a lot of friends who didn't mind having a loaf of bread every once in a while. So, uh, it was, uh. It was. Yeah, it was a fun job. It was.


The butter tart is a Canadian delicacy, specifically from Ontario

And the other thing, they had, uh, butter tarts there.

Marco Timpano:   Oh. So we should explain to our listeners who are not from Canada that Butter tarts are a, um, sweet. That is made in Canada. It's a Canadian.

Trevor Martin:  Specifically Ontario, I believe. Is it like. I think it's an Ontario delicacy.

Marco Timpano:   Oh, really?

Trevor Martin:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:   Okay, so from this province. But I think I've seen it out

Trevor Martin:  west too, possibly, but I. I think it came from here.

Marco Timpano:   Okay, so born here, the butter tart. How would you describe it? Chart.


Trevor: I describe a butter tart to my American relatives

But before we go on, because I already know what you're going to say is going to be interesting, so let's, let's describe it.

Trevor Martin:  I describe a butter tart to my American relatives or anyone who hasn't tried one. Imagine a pecan pie without the pecans. So it's essentially a tart with a very buttery, flowery, uh, decadent crust. And then inside is essentially just a beautiful brown sugar, um, syrupy. And this is the way that I like butter tarts.

Marco Timpano:   And I just want to modify what you said, if you don't mind, is that it's gooier than, uh, a pecan pie. So if you were to make it in a tart, and the, the pastry in the tart in particular is very flaky.

Trevor Martin:  Flaky. Yeah.

Marco Timpano:   Sorry, but you were saying how you like it.

Trevor Martin:  Well, see, and I've seen a few butter shirts in my day, and some of them have almost a gelatinous quality, kind of like a pecan pie. And I think those are the store brands.

Marco Timpano:   Right.

Trevor Martin:  But the ones that are really good, it's almost like a liquid stage. So when you, when you bite into it, you need several napkins. Just make sure that you're protected.

Marco Timpano:   Yeah, it's almost like, um, like a golden molasses almost kind of. And I don't know what, what that center is.

Trevor Martin:  Is.

Marco Timpano:   It just.

Trevor Martin:  It's. I think it's brown sugar and butter and, uh, goodness.

Marco Timpano:   Now, I like the traditional butter tart that has raisins in it.

Trevor Martin:  Okay. I, I'm not, I'm not averse to raisins, but I, I almost always dislike raisins. But butter tarts are one of the things that I will accept raisins.

Marco Timpano:   So where don't you like your raisins?

Trevor Martin:  Almost every. Everything else. Really. Literally almost everything.

Marco Timpano:   What about just raisins? Just like that. And, uh, like, would you eat raisins just like that?

Trevor Martin:  Yeah. You know, if somebody had, like a box of raisins, I might have a couple.

Marco Timpano:   Okay.

Trevor Martin:  But if they're in a salad or if they're in. I. It just. I. I just find I don't want that texture.

Marco Timpano:   So cinnamon Raisin bread is not your, is not your game.

Trevor Martin:  Oh, well, maybe, maybe I'll have maybe a little bit of that or maybe in, in one of the, in like a Christmas Christmas, uh, like one of those Christmassy cakes or something like that. I'll take it. But, uh, usually I think it stems from being a kid and always being fooled into thinking I'm eating a chocolate chip cookie and it's a raisin cookie. And I'm like, um, oh, no.

Marco Timpano:   Have you ever had raisins soaked in liquor? I feel like I have because my grandmother would take raisins and they'd soak them. Them in grappa.

Trevor Martin:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:   And then they would take the grappa. The grappa soaked raisins. And grappa is a, um, an Italian

Trevor Martin:  sort of, uh, liqueur. It's made of the skin of a

Marco Timpano:   great skin and the, and the sticks and the leaves of the grapes. And it's like a, an alcohol. If you haven't had it, it's wonderful. But they would soak the raisins in grappa and then they put it on their ice cream.

Trevor Martin:  Okay.

Marco Timpano:   And the interesting thing is they would also feed it to us kids. And I don't know if it was because we wanted it, but I remember as a kid having these really strong raisins with my ice cream.

Trevor Martin:  Um, listen, if you have to soak it in alcohol, it's not fair. It's not fair. I'll eat it if it's soaked in it.

Marco Timpano:   You know what, Trevor? I endeavor to make you. I'm gonna ask my mother how to make this. They called it uveta, but this raisin soaked in grappa, then you and I will have some and see if it changes your, your perspective.

Trevor Martin:  Certainly. Absolutely.


Italian Christmas bread is a traditional Christmas breakfast item

Can I ask you, uh, panettone. Should panettone have raisins in it?

Marco Timpano:   Oh, that's a really good question. So panettone, I think we may have discussed this in another episode as well, is a traditional Christmas, um, bread, Italian Christmas bread. And you'll get versions of it around Easter, so around religious holidays. And it is a sweet bread and traditionally it has raisins and candied, um, orange or candied citrus in it. Now I think it all depends on where in that panettone is made. And I think the panettone that I've just mentioned and that you asked is from Milano, the millennial Lombardia. And I know that in Verona they make a version of panettone called pandoro. So one could argue that it's not actually Panettone, it's its own thing called Pandora, which is taller and has. No, it's just the sweet bread. And then when you get it and you purchase it in a box, it comes with powdered sugar, a little packet that you spread all over it. Now, over the years, the panettone has sort of morphed into other things where you can get panettone that's filled with chocolate or lemon cream, or panettone that has, you know, m. All kinds of weird things. Right?

Trevor Martin:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:   And usually the top of the panettone has a sugar glaze on it, A very hard, crumbly sugar glaze. And I think I mentioned this on a previous episode was that your wife, Dale.

Trevor Martin:  Yes.

Marco Timpano:   Had told me what to do with stale panettone.

Trevor Martin:  Oh, my gosh. Not even stale. It could last that long because panettone,

Marco Timpano:   one of the interesting things about panettone is that when you cut it and you eat it that day, it's very fresh, but the next day, the outer layer that's been cut gets a little bit. Not stale, but harder.

Trevor Martin:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:   And if you wait too long, panettone can get. Can dry out.

Trevor Martin:  Right.

Marco Timpano:   And Dale said make French toast with it.

Trevor Martin:  It's true.

Marco Timpano:   She's promised me that she was going to make me French toast out of punishment tone. She never did it.

Trevor Martin:  Well, I want to toot my own horn and say, I am the one who thought to make French toast out of panettone and made her panettone French toast one Christmas, uh, holiday.

Marco Timpano:   And she doesn't give you credit for that.

Trevor Martin:  Wow.

Marco Timpano:   So what's your secret? So. So let's walk me through your Christmas panettone.

Trevor Martin:  Uh, here's the thing. I do not like French toast. I really think that it is the worst breakfast item that you can possibly. I just. I. Eggy bread does not appeal to me. See?

Marco Timpano:   And I love it. Okay.

Trevor Martin:  But the idea of taking the panettone, which is already sweet.

Marco Timpano:   Right.

Trevor Martin:  And then incorporating the egg, and then I also use a vanilla extract. Vanilla. And, uh, maybe, like, depending on if we have some alcohol or depending who's eating it.

Marco Timpano:   Right.

Trevor Martin:  If there's kids, I'm not gonna put rum in it. But, like, if there's, like, if we have some, uh, like a spiced rum, like the Kraken or something like that.

Marco Timpano:   One of our favorite rums. Sure.

Trevor Martin:  Yes. I'll add a little bit of that. Soak it. Soak, soak. So cut, cut thick, the panettone.

Marco Timpano:   Thick. Oh, cut it thick.

Trevor Martin:  Cut it thick.

Marco Timpano:   Okay.

Trevor Martin:  And then soak it in the mixture. So it's egg, uh, milk or cream, depending on how, uh.

Marco Timpano:   What's your preference? What's your preference?

Trevor Martin:  A little. A little of both, depending on what we have. Usually this is something I'll make at a cottage, and it's like whatever.

Marco Timpano:   Whatever's around.

Trevor Martin:  Whatever's around.

Marco Timpano:   You get those little creamers from the local coffee shop, open 15 packets, and that's what you do.

Trevor Martin:  You do what you have to do. And then, uh. Yeah, and then, uh, flavor it with vanilla or. Or maybe some rum. That. That all works.

Marco Timpano:   Could you use both?

Trevor Martin:  Uh, you could use both. I would, I wouldn't. I would just use the vanilla or one or the other. It's just too much.

Marco Timpano:   Sure.

Trevor Martin:  But, uh, yeah, soak it for a while. If you want to do it overnight. Do it overnight. Do it overnight.

Marco Timpano:   Won't the bread crumble in the mixture?

Trevor Martin:  No, it should. That's why you cut it thick.

Marco Timpano:   Thick.

Trevor Martin:  So that it's not like, uh, you usually. I don't think I had.


Trevor: I soak panettona overnight to make French toast

Like I'm in a cottage and not the liking that far ahead. But if I. Even if you just soak it for an hour or two, it's enough to, to really get in there and then, you know, fry it hot on. In butter on both sides and then serve it. And then I always serve it with something salty because it's too sweet. It's too sweet. You need to have.

Marco Timpano:   So you don't put any syrup on

Trevor Martin:  it, then you don't have to.

Marco Timpano:   Okay.

Trevor Martin:  You can put powdered sugar on it. You could put syrup. I mean, if it's around, you'll have it.

Marco Timpano:   But so what's the savory or the salty item that you.

Trevor Martin:  And they usually like a bacon or something like that or, uh. Yeah, or sausage. Like, you know.

Marco Timpano:   See, I find it interesting that you soak it overnight because panettona is so absorbent. It's like a sponge. Because I always would have it with my coffee. So I take the panettona and I dip it in my coffee cup. And when I pull the panettona out, most of the coffee's gone.

Trevor Martin:  It's in the actual pan.

Marco Timpano:   So I, I'm, um, eating.

Trevor Martin:  You know what? I, I, I did it once, and I didn't believe it, that I thought it was, oh, this is gonna break apart. And it stayed together. And maybe it's because I cut it so thick. Maybe it was really stale.

Marco Timpano:   Well, it sounds like that's the secret, really. Yeah. Is how thick you cut your panettone. Well, Trevor, I'm gonna Hold you to this.

Trevor Martin:  Okay.

Marco Timpano:   And we're going to have this uh, panettone French toast. Sounds like it's the last thing I do. Thank you so much for being a part of our show.

Trevor Martin:  Oh, it's a pleasure.


This particular episode, uh, on baking, I just kind of went there

Marco Timpano:   This particular episode, uh, on baking, I just kind of went there. But um, if you could have one baked item with you at all times, what would it be?

Trevor Martin:  Um, there's a coffee cake that my. And near my house, near my grandparents house in Winterburn. Uh, there's another town called Conestogo and there's a shop where there's these Mennonite women make baked goods and they're usually very popular at Christmas time but they also make a coffee cake and it's very simple. It's very rare round cake, kind of like panettone but not as, not as high and it covered in brown sugar, brown sugar top and it is like that's Christmas morning to me. That's Christmas morning. Yeah. So there you go.

Marco Timpano:   Well Trevor, this episode was about baking.

Trevor Martin:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:   Uh, I'm gonna have to have you in to talk about butchering and then about candlestick making.

Trevor Martin:  Oh, I love it.

Marco Timpano:   Get on that.


Trevor Martin: Insomnia is currently recording in Toronto

Trevor Martin, thank you so much for being part of the Insomnia project.

Trevor Martin:  My pleasure.

Marco Timpano:   Thank you. You as always. We are produced by drumcast Productions and we are currently recording in Toronto, just a pinch away from Queen street in Leslieville.

Trevor Martin:  Leslieville. Uh, we're technically the beach.

Marco Timpano:   Oh, the beach. So we're the beach in Toronto. Enjoy.

Trevor Martin:  Sa

Marco Timpano:   mhm.