Preregistration and payment required; to register, go to kneadingconference.com, select "Registration" from the main menu. Preliminary schedule; check back for changes, details, and bios.
Dr. Jones will talk about the significant reasons why restoring local and regional grain cultivation is a very good idea. From his travels around the country talking to farmers, millers, and bakers he will offer an overview of successful endeavors and what it takes to bring home the grain.
Jeffrey and his panelists will focus on small baking operations, discussing ingredients and other expenses, potential gross sales based on a combination of farmers' market (full retail) and store (wholesale) sales. Sustainability is the subtext (hence it's based on a 48 week annual work life, and includes things like health insurance for the proprietor, as it doesn't look like we citizens are going to see it anytime soon). The schedule will leave plenty of time for questions and discussion.
Think you can't get beautiful results from a standard home kitchen oven? You don't need a lot of expensive specialty equipment or odd gadgets to improve your outcomes. Come learn some handy tricks to getting profssional looking results from your home oven. We'll make demi-baguettes, soft rolls and boules taking advantage of inexpensive modifications and common household tools that will enhance your bread basket.
Join Stu for an all day workshop on earth oven construction and build a real oven. For indoors or outdoors, you’ll learn how to construct a very low-cost oven that’s ideal for bread baking at home. No expertise is required, but just the desire to watch dough transformed in front of your eyes in an oven you’ve actually made yourself. You’ll learn about firebrick, clay/sand ratios, mud, insulation, stucco, weatherproofing and baking mysteries. If time permits and the mud behaves, we hope to make a flat bread in our new oven at the end of the day.
Wood-fired baked goods are a hot item at fresh markets across the continent. This has made many bakers make—or contemplate taking—the step from back yard baking to commercial production.
Richard Miscovich will discuss small-scale production techniques to help make commercial production feasible out of a modest wood-fired oven. In addition to speaking about controlled fermentation, firing techniques and production schedules, Richard will give tips to increase work efficiency, and show useful production tools and equipment. This class will include an overview of the plan of action and formulas for the next day’s Wood-Fired Production Baking Workshop (co-taught by Miscovich and Dusty Dowse) and Richard will demonstrate hand-mixing a small commercial size batch, as well as loading and steaming a wood-fired oven. Concepts presented in this workshop apply equally to non-commercial wood-fired oven home bakers who simply want to get the most out of each firing. You do not need to be enrolled in the Production Baking Workshop to attend this class.
Last fall, farmers, millers, and researchers from Maine and Vermont toured Denmark's bread wheat system, visiting with their Danish counterparts across that country. Ellen Mallory, who organized the trip, will talk about what the group learned regarding local grain production issues, milling techniques, marketing strategies, and heritage varieties.
Barak will discuss what baking as an artistic practice might look like and ask how this suggests what a baker might be in contemporary America. He writes: “In retrospect, it makes sense that I have become a bread-baker. My very first memory is of bread that was intended for a Guinea Pig named Rupert who lived in the classroom of a school I attended when I was two. I am certain that this is a memory rather than something that my parents retold to me because it is a flavor that I can still taste. I am also certain, and this part was retold to me, that my teacher bought at least two loaves of bread and carrots every day, because I was not the only child who snacked along while feeding Rupert. Perhaps the highest reward of being a bread-baker is that, on occasion, someone will taste my bread and then suddenly find themselves transported elsewhere, to their childhood or travels or a faint memory of a forgotten flavor. This is precisely what an artist dreams to do.
Dorn will talk about his experience designing and constructing systems on farm-based energy production and conservation. A farmer working a 250-acre, four generation family farm in Lee, New Hampshire, he has designed and constructed systems for small-scale grain and oil seeds processing and biofuel production, worked to select effective cover crops, grains and oilseed for food and energy production, and has developed no-till and low-till equipment to reduce energy use and increase soil health in New Hampshire conditions. As a PhD student at the University of New Hampshire, he is developing biologically-based local food and energy systems designed to return carbon to the soil.
This workshop covers the spectrum of challenges and advantages associated with using local grains. We are hopeful that the weather will oblige us and we will use grain grown and harvested at the Skowhegan Fairgrounds. The ending time for this workshop is "suggested", and there will be periods during the different stages of the workshop to take in other workshops and talks. This is an excellent opportunity for professional bakers as well as home gardeners and bakers who are considering either growing or seeking out local grains for artisan bread making. This workshop is sponsored by Somerset Grist Mill of Skowhegan, Maine.
http://somersetgristmill.blogspot.com/
Join Dara to bake a variety of desserts using as many Maine ingredients as possible - Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, seasonal fruits, honey, eggs and even a bit of cheese. From classic fruit pizzas and tarts to cookies and sweet pate choux. You will make your own fruit pizza and plate your final dessert.
John designs and builds innovative small-farm machinery that addresses some of the most difficult agricultural problems associated with peak oil. He will demonstrate the Thresher-Winnower design, a miniature combine that threshes grains on a neighborhood scale. The first prototype was built 25 years ago to process grain he and his wife grew on their farm, and the idea was resurrected a few years ago when interest in local food production began to grow throughout the country. The complete machine weighs 60 pounds and will thresh and winnow up to 20 pounds of clean grain per hour. The Thresher-Winnower cleans beans as well.
For more information, visit his website www.solarcarandtractor.com.
The Barden Family has been building masonry heaters and wood-fired ovens at Maine Wood Heat since 1976. Using the European tradition, they have taught hundreds of masons and owner-builders the basic skills of masonry heater and oven design, establishing a time-honored reputation as authorities in high-efficiency wood burning systems both nationally and internationally.
5 p.m.: local wine and beer social hour
6 p.m.: dinner featuring seasonal foods from Maine farms catered by Local Sprouts Catering
7:30: Naan Sense, an entertaining presentation by Kneading Conference workshop preenters on projects they are involved in that interest, edcuate, and inspire.
The speakers will be given 5, maybe 8 minutes in which to describe the amazing, inspiring, unusual, and unique projects that they are passionate about in their lives away from the Kneading Conference. It's a creative and fun time to hear what's going on in other places.
Steve and his panel of farmers and a miller will discuss the challenges that arise after the grain is in the ground. For relatively small scale growers, the questions that arise include How will the grain be threshed and winnowed? Where will it be stored? Who will mill it and who will purchase it and how will it be delivered? Steve speaks to audiences around the country who are working up innovative solutions to these questions and his panel consists of people who are in the midst of applying solutions on a farm and in a small mill.
This panel discussion is sponsored by Campbell Family Farms, www.campbellfamilyfarms.com
Kerry, the chef/owner of Cafe Miranda in Rockland, Maine, will demonstrate how to make the focaccia that he bakes in a wood-fired oven for his customers and the hand-rolled pasta that Cafe Miranda sells to gourmet shops and co-ops throughout Maine.
Ciril will demonstrate how to maximize your production by utilizing cold-fermentation techniques. Learn to make variations on the classic Bavarian pretzel (including a multi-grain version), explore the versatility of brioche, and see how cold fermentation can benefit your production schedule.
Pre-enrollment required. 2011 ENROLLMENT FILLED.
Wood-fired baked goods are a hot item at fresh markets across the continent. This has made many bakers make—or contemplate taking—the step from back yard baking to commercial production.
Richard will discuss small-scale production techniques to help make commercial production feasible out of a modest wood-fired oven. In addition to speaking about controlled fermentation, firing techniques and production schedules, Richard will give tips to increase work efficiency, and show useful production tools and equipment. This class will include an overview of the plan of action and formulas for the next day’s Wood-Fired Production Baking Workshop (co-taught by Miscovich and Dusty Dowse) and Richard will demonstrate hand-mixing a small commercial size batch, as well as loading and steaming a wood-fired oven. Concepts presented in this workshop apply equally to non-commercial wood-fired oven home bakers who simply want to get the most out of each firing. You do not need to be enrolled in the Production Baking Workshop to attend this class.
Poolish, pate fermentee... Terms for preferments can become overwhelming. Join Melina as she demystifies preferments and shows you how to gain optimal flavor and crumb characteristics for your ideal loaf.
Panel continued from previous session.
Grain growers - Join Mark Fulford for lunch
Understanding the fundamentals of the economics of producing grain is a key first step that should be taken by even the most experienced farmers looking at diversifying their cropping systems by adding grain into a rotation. Grain production requires specialized equipment, unique skills that must be applied especially when adopting organic management practices, and knowledge in order to produce high quality grain for milling purposes. Gabe will review the basics of evaluating the cost to produce grain, from initial tillage through harvest, cleaning and storage. Understanding the costs of production will provide a critical insight into what prices will need to be received in order to make growing grain a profitable venture on which to base a farming enterprise, or to add to an already established farming enterprise.
Slice of Heaven Breads is a non-profit, all volunteer, co-operative bakery operated out of Temple Sinai, a Reform synagogue in Saratoga Springs, NY. Slice of Heaven produces breads and baked goods for individual orders, special events, restaurants and limited retail distribution. Proceeds from sales support hunger relief programs, the Bread and Torah Project of Temple Sinai, and other causes. The bakery is also an “open kitchen,” teaching bread making during regular production and through special classes and workshops. Baked goods are regularly donated to needy individuals, and for not-for profit organizations’ fund raising events for not-for-profit organizations. The bakery also serves as a therapeutic environment for people with special abilities and challenges.
Jonathan will give a slide presentation about Slice of Heaven Breads and demonstrate how spiritual and therapeutic practices are incorporated into the baking experience.
Lots of folks like the idea of growing a small patch of grain just for their own use, not for market, no combines, no sprawling acres. That’s Will’s focus, and he shares his experience with wheat and other grains, covering soil preparation, sowing and reaping with simpler tools and technology, even mulching.
Cate and Doug will focus on whole grain baking with a demonstration of a spelt pie and tart pastry, cinammon buns, sticky buns, cookies, and brownies. If time permits they will make a strudel dough as well. This workshop is sponsored by the Brewster Inn, Dexter, Maine.
Andrew developed a pizza crust for Cook’s Illustrated that a Serious Eats writer had this to say about: “The crust texture was superb, producing, potentially, some of the best pizza I’ve made in my home oven in some time.” And he goes on to say: “Bottom line: I really love this crust.” For this class, Andrew will explore the ingredients and techniques that go into creating great pizza crust, whether baked in a wood-fired or a simple home oven.
Slice of Heaven Breads is a community-based cooperative, charitable bakery, breadmaking workshop, and therapeutic environment.
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