A Trip to King Arthur Flour
This weekend I got to spend an afternoon at the King Arthur Flour (check them out on their blog, Facebook, or Twitter) in Norwich VT with 9 other Boston Bloggers: Megan (definitely check out Megan’s blog – she’s the one who dreamed up this whole trip!), Kerstin, Meghan, Alicia, Bridget, Michelle, Elina, Kristen, and Katie.
Today I’m going to let you know how the trip went and on Thursday I’ll be posting the Top Ten Baking Tips that I took away from learning from a pro – so be sure to check back then.
We started the day with lunch provided by King Arthur Flour. Their catering department whipped up some sandwiches on the most amazing bread ever. While we were eating, Allison talked about KAF’s history and their outreach programs.
Allison explained that KAF is the oldest flour company in the US and was started in 1790. Their flours are grown and milled right here in the United States. They have the strickest regulations for their flour. What does that mean for you? It means that their flour will have a consistent protein content which means it will bake the same way today that it did two years ago.
King Arthur Flour does a great deal of work with the community. The first thing they do are they’re Traveling Baking Demos – which are free demonstrations about pies and yeast breads. They are kicking off the 2010 season in the Midwest the first weekend in October. Be sure to check out their schedule!
They also do the Life Skills Bread Baking Program. This sounds like a GREAT program. The people at KAF will give a demonstration on bread baking to students in grades 4-7. Then the kids go home with recipes and ingredients to bake two loaves of bread. One of the loaves of bread is to be enjoyed with their families and the other is donated to a community organization of the school’s choice. The best part? This is all provided FREE of charge by King Arthur Flour. So if you know anyone in grade 4-7 or any teachers, let them know about this awesome program.
The last thing Allison told us about is The Baking Circle, which is their online community. You can post recipes, ask for advice, or even just start up a discussion. In conjunction with the online community, KAF has a Baking Hotline. You can literally CALL a professional baker with your questions anytime between 8am and 9 pm during the week or 9am to 5pm on the weekend. How cool is that?!? If calling isn’t your style, you can shoot them an email or even talk to someone online through their live chat!
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Next we headed over the Baking Education Center for our class. They had compressed a couple classes into one for us! We made pizza dough, whole grain crackers, and whole grain brownies (recipes and photos will be posted within the next week so watch for each of those).
I think our instructor, Susan Miller (who is also the director of the Baking Education Center at KAF), was pretty shocked at the amount of pictures we all took!
The people at KAF were so generous to us all. They gave us a goodie bag filled to the top. Here’s what we got: Dough Whisk (I forgot to include it in my picture!), a box of one of their mixes – we all got a different mix – I got Lemon Bars, a 5 lb bag of Whole Wheat Flour, a 5 lb bag of White Whole Wheat flour, a box of the unbleached cake flour, a plastic scraper, the Fall 2010 issue of their Baking Sheet, and the Whole Grain Baking Cookbook!
At the end of class, we had just enough time to browse the baking shop. Here’s a picture of my booty and a list of the items I bought at the store: Baker’s Special Dry Milk, Cappuccino Chips, Fiori di Sicilia, Unsweetened Coconut, Candy Thermometer, Muffin Pan Sponge, and two cute dish towels.
Once we piled all of our goodies into our cars, we headed over to the Norwich Bed and Breakfast. We had the whole place to ourselves! We shared a few bottles of wine before heading out for dinner.
Then Alicia organized an amazing meal at Carpenter and Main. They use local ingredients as much as possible and the service was spot on. Of course, the food was amazing!
The next morning, we all went outside to snap some pictures of the beautiful view. I also bought a dozen farm fresh eggs from the owner. She said they had been laid last week. I can’t wait to use them!
Then we hit the road to come back to life in Boston. I had a blast getting to know the other bloggers who were there, some of whom I had never met!
Be sure to check back Thursday for the list of baking tips that I learned while I was in class.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Thank you so much for sharing Jen! I completely understand where you’re coming from and how you feel…do nice things for yourself
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 8:50 am
You do the same Fiona
Thank you so much for sharing. This is UNREAL. My husband Jeff ran the Boston Marathon this year, and I spent the day traveling around on the T watching the marathon with my in-laws. We ended the day just a block from the blast sites – I shared my story here: http://decoratethis.blogspot.com/2013/04/bittersweet.html; Jeff’s story here: http://iwasbornready.blogspot.com/2013/04/my-2013-boston-marathon.html.
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 4:05 pm
Thank you so much for sharing your and Jeff’s stories. What a day you guys had. I’m glad you’re safe.
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 4:10 pm
I added these links to the body of the post.
It definitely does help to put some words together. And I feel the same way- even though I was volunteering at the 10k, i can’t help but wonder why wasn’t i volunteering at the finish line so I could’ve helped?
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 4:10 pm
I agree – it was therapeutic to write this up.
Thanks for sharing Jen. I haven’t lived in Boston for 4 years now, but my husband and I had a similar reaction. We both wanted to get “home” to the city we love, a city that becomes part of your being no matter where you go next.
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 4:11 pm
I’m glad to hear I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Living in Boston leaves such a strong impression…
I’m a longtime reader, first time commenter. First I want to give you big virtual hugs regarding the events in Boston. Your feelings are no less valid, no less important. My heart goes out to you. Also, I want to say, welcome to Cincinnati! I live east of the city and am a transplant from Seattle. Cincy is growing on me, and slowly but surely I’m starting to tell people that I’m from Ohio not Washington. 🙂 Best wishes to you and thank you for sharing.
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 4:14 pm
Jen – thanks so much for commenting. I realize that at some point I’ll say I’m from Ohio, but the events of this week just my my heart tied even tighter to Boston…
I’m so glad all of your Boston people are safe. I can completely relate to your feelings of helplessness, I felt the same way after 9/11. It’s hard to be away from family and friends and a city that you love when tragedy strikes.
Big hugs for you and your crew.
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 4:14 pm
Thanks Jene. I’m sure it’s very similar to how you felt around 9/11.
I feel the same way–Boston was my home for four years of college. I love that city. I feel like it is MY city. I wish I was there, locked in with friends, watching the news and hugging them. I feel so helpless on the other side of the state, so far away.
As soon as I’m able I’m going to the city and having a moment in the Common before heading to all my favorite places. My heart aches for the city, I wish I was there.
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 4:15 pm
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who feels this way. We are trying to make plans to get back to the city sometime soon as well.
Oh I so know how you feel.. I live in Michigan. I’ve been here for almost 10 years, and I still call Boston home. It’ll always be home to me. You’re not alone!
beantownbaker — April 21st, 2013 @ 6:07 pm
Glad to hear I’m not the only one. I definitely think Boston will always feel like home to both me and Hubby.
I know exactly how you feel – I am a 2004 graduate of Virginia Tech. I was at work when the April 16th incident happened in Blacksburg, and I felt SO far away, and SO hopeless – the only place I wanted to be was in my beloved Blacksburg.
To make matters worse, I flew to Missouri the next day (for work) for 3.5 weeks. It seemed that the people out there had ALREADY moved on from the tragedy – it just made NO sense to me. I cried most of those 3 weeks, and since I was out there by myself it was a struggle.
I have always loved Boston, and I know that that community will love and support one another, just as Blacksburg did (and still does). It was the sixth anniversary this past Tuesday, and with everything happening in Boston, and the thoughts of VT and Blacksburg, it was an extremely long and tiring week.
Stay strong.
beantownbaker — April 22nd, 2013 @ 11:46 am
That sounds like a horrible situation for you in the aftermath of the VTech tragedy. Thanks for the kind words and for sharing your story.