2011 Workshops, Panel Discussions, Lectures and a Field Trip
To see a daily schedule of the 2011 Kneading Conference West keynote talks, workshops, panel discussions, presentations and field trips, go to “2011 Events” and click on “Schedule”.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, September 15 – 17, Mount Vernon Research and Extension Center, 16650 State Route 536,
Mount Vernon, Washington.
Stopping a Runaway Train: A Short History of the Kneading Conference, Amber Lambke. Amber is one of the original founders of the Kneading Conference which began as a “what if” idea among friends, grew into a local effort to revive grain agriculture in central Maine, and eventually drew people from around the U. S., Canada, and beyond to an annual meeting of grain farmers, millers, novice and professional bakers, food entrepreneurs and writers, and lovers of artisan bread.
A Realistic Approach to Making Grains Work: An Oregon Example that Benefits Farmers, Millers, and Bakers, Dave Mostue. Dave is a farmer, inventor, tinkerer, entrepreneur, and teacher. He has successfully approached the task of reinventing his family’s farm using practical innovations and diversity and through trial and error has found methods for growing grains sustainably on his diversified farm.
Panel Discussion: Growing the Grain Is Just the Start, Now What? Connecting Farmers, Millers and Bakers. Moderator: Dr. Steve Jones. Panelists: Amber Lambke is one of the founders of the Maine Kneading Conference. She and her partner purchased an empty 1850s jail in her rural Maine town to convert into a grist mill. Dave Hedlin owns Hedlin Family Farm, a mixed vegetable organic and conventional farm. His work with the Nature Conservancy (Farming with Nature) has been covered in the New York Times and other national media. Tom Hunton and three generations of his family own and operate Camas Country Mill in Eugene, Oregon. Kevin and Matsuko Christenson own Fairhaven Organic Flour Mill in Washington and recently expanded their operation to a larger facility in Bellingham, WA. Nash Huber owns Nash’s Organic Produce which has been growing healthy food, saving farmland, and training future farmers for over 30 years. Nash is now organizing to build a new Nash’s Farm Store and Community Center in Sequim, WA.
Earth Oven Use in a Micro-Bakery, Kiko Denzer.
Kiko Denzer is the author of Build Your Own Earth Oven and Earthen Art, As Common As Dirt. Denzer is an artist, writer, builder and baker who has spent the last ten years working primarily with earth. He will discuss what you need to know to build and use an earth oven for a micro-bakery.
Earth Oven Workshop, Kiko Denzer.
In a hands-on workshop Kiko will lead participants through the steps involved in constructing an earth oven.
The Basics of Artisan Bread, Scott Mangold.
This workshop, led by the owner of Breadfarm, will introduce novices to basic techniques for making a straightforward, flavor-rich loaf of bread.
Artisan-Style Sourdough for the Home Baker, George DePasquale.
George DePasquale is the founder of The Essential Baking Company of Seattle. He will lead participants through step by step hands-on instructions in the techniques that result in a flavorful, crusty sourdough bread, using the tools and equipment commonly available in a home kitchen.
Professional Level Baking Class, Michael Eggebrecht, baking consultant, Artisan Baking Resources and Jesse Dodson, bakery merchandiser, New Seasons Market.
Michael and Jesse will open the Professional Baking Class on Thursday to set preferments. The all-day Friday professional workshop will compare hand vs. machine, and demonstrate achieving handcrafted results. There will be plenty of time for questions and answers and discussion. W. P. Kemper is shipping a state-of-the-art commercial steam-injected oven for use during this workshop.
Panel Discussion: The Business of Baking, Jeffrey Hamelman. Jeffrey will moderate a panel discussion with Scott Mangold, George DePasquale, and Michael Eggebrecht on the business of baking. They 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 hour 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 discussions.
The Science of Bread Baking & Measuring Wheat Quality, Lee Glass & Andrew Ross. Lee is a home baker and physician interested in the chemistry that underlies baking. With an understanding of the bread baking chemistry that Lee will discuss, bakers will be better able to produce the final products they desire. Andrew is a cereal chemist at Oregon State University. Andrew will demonstrate basic and machine-aided techniques.
The Art of Pizza in the Wood-Fired Oven, Mark Doxtader and Mike Dash. Mark and his wife owned Tastebud Farm in Oregon before converting to full-time wood-fired oven catering and becoming popular purveyors of delicious pizza at the Portland Farmers’ Market. Mike’s company, Rolling Fire, operates out of Seattle, provides wood oven catering, sells ovens, and teaches wood oven cooking classes. Mark and Mike will demonstrate making pizza from scratch and the technique of baking pizza in a wood-fired oven.
Barley in Bread, Andrew Ross, Leslie Mackie. Andrew has created formulas and techniques for adding barley to breads; Leslie uses Washington barley in Macrina Bakery’s Monkey Bread and Francese Bread and she will demonstrate incorporating barley into yeasted bread.
Malting: Grain to Glass and Everything in Between, Patrick Hayes and Mike Doehnel
Starting with grain and ending with beer. One attempt to crack a sound grain kernel between one’s teeth, and a sip of the “first beer” made from soaked barley grain and ambient yeast, will be enough to convince participants that the invention of malting, and the refinements of brewing, were indeed salvations. We will have samples of the grain at different stages of malting (along with their analytical specs), and then finally one or more beer styles made from that malt.
Croissants, Danish and Laminated Dough, Andrew Meltzer. Andrew’s class will consist of a lecture with a demonstration of how to prepare the dough (détrempe) and the roll-in fat (beurrage) and how to combine them to make beautiful, flaky pastries such as croissants and Danish at home or in the bakery, without the expense of a sheeter. He will cover how to shape various pastries, and also briefly explore making laminated doughs using whole grains and see how they differ from traditional white flour versions.
Small-Scale Grain Farming, Karen Hills. Karen’s talk will cover the basic things you need to know if you are considering growing your own grain on a small scale including considerations of variety choice, soil fertility, equipment, planting, harvesting, and processing.
Panel Discussion: Issues of Scale: Values, Sustainability & Prosperity. Moderated by Piper Davis, co-owner, Grand Central Bakery. The questions, challenges, setback and successes that are created by striving for prosperity while maintaining important values and vice versa. Panel: Mel Darbyshire, Head Baker, Grand Central Bakery; Nash Huber, small-scale farmer; Karen Mills, graduate researcher who has conducted a survey on “Use of Regionally Produced Wheat and Flour in Western Washington: A Survey of Commercial Bakers”; Cliff Leir, small-scale bakery owner from British Columbia who has built wood-fired ovens and organized farmers to grow grains for his bakery; and Mike Doehnel, also from British Columbia, malting expert.
Breakfast Pastries, Julie Richardson and Piper Davis. Piper and Julie know their way around high quality high volume breakfast pastry. In this workshop each will demonstrate how to make some of their best selling morning pastries and will share professional production techniques and efficiencies that make these products cost effective while maintaining their excellent quality. Recipe will include Grand Central Cinnamon Rolls, Baker and Spice bran Muffins, and guidelines for developing your own scone recipe.
A Guided Tour of the Heirloom Fruit Trees, Western Washington Fruit Research Foundation. The grounds of the Mount Vernon Research and Extension Center are home to experimental orchards and revival orchards and fruits. Many of the best heirloom apples, pears, and berries are flourishing with the help of this group of dedicated volunteers. The tour will note the diversity and unique qualities of various heirloom fruits, we’ll do a little picking, then head to the kitchen to make the best possible hand-crafted fruits pies of the season.
Fruit Pies from the Wood-Fired Oven, Piper Davis and Julie Richardson. Julie and Piper will demonstrate how to make great all-butter pie crust and share the rich flavors of seasonal fruit and a wood fired-oven.
Baking with Fresh-Milled Local Grains. From California, a farmer, two designers/builders of small-scale mills, and two bakers will introduce in one workshop the components of a micro-bakery, from seed to loaf. Farmer John LaBoyteaux will talk about the challenges of growing bakery-quality wheat, and Christina Greer Jansen and Julie Lomenda will demonstrate baking yeasted and non-yeasted breads and pastries, using John’s flour and a wood-fired oven. Roger Jansen and Larry Jansen will describe the mill they designed and built for Larry’s micro bakery that produces breads and pastries for the farmers’ market near his home. While the dough is rising, Roger will demonstrate hands-on stone cutting and how to sharpen a mill and will bring three different demonstration mills including 8″ and 12″ models. The Thursday portion of the workshop will mill the grains that will be used during the baking on Friday.
Building a Bakery from Scratch: a mill, an oven, and a local grain network. Cliff Leir. By encouraging farmers in British Columbia to restore grain cultivation, Cliff has provided his bakery with a source of local wheat. He will talk about the opportunities and challenges of baking with local grains, how they differ from conventionally-milled flour, and about the design and construction of the mill he uses for his bakery. He will also talk about the function and logistics of blending local, fresh-milled grains into a baking schedule.
Home Milling. Jack Jenkins. Jack is the owner of Country Living Grain Mills, a Washington company producing a superb grain mill for home and small-bakery use. As part of an educational and informational program demonstrating at exhibitions and schools nationwide, the Canadian Grain Commision selected the Country Living Grain Mill to illustrate the concepts of self-sufficiency and whole living. Jack will demonstrate use of the mill – hand, motor, and bicycle powered – and discuss the benefits of fresh-ground flour.
Field Trip: Connecting the Farmer, Miller & Baker. The field trip begins at Hedlin’s Farm, a third generation diversified farm that includes winter wheat in its crop rotation, then to Fairhaven Organic Flour Mill, a small, family run mill specializing in organic wheat grown in the west. The field trip concludes at Breadfarm, a small local bakery that produces for wholesale and retail. This is the only field trip and it begins after lunch on Saturday, September 17th, and completes later that afternoon.