Peter Reinhart's Weblog

More updates

Hi Again,

      Let's get the bad news out of the way first: Sur la Table has, apparently, just discontinued their travel teaching program so all the classes I was planning to announce in this post have been canceled (that was to include Chicago, Naperville, Arlington, Richmond, Salt Lake City, Portland, Kirkland, and a return to all the California stores). I'm not sure what's going on at Sur la Table but if this affects any of you, please feel free to let your local Sur la Table know how disappointed you are that I won't be coming (or write to their HQ in Seattle). I'm bummed too and will start all over again trying to find other cooking schools to book--but it probably won't happen for a while as most of the summer catalogues have already gone to press. This does not affect my June classes in the Cleveland area at Western Reserve and also at Loretta Paganini's Cooking School--I'll still you between the 23-27th.

     We have added one class this summer (in addition to the Ramekins and King Arthur Flour pizza classes announced in the last post)--at A Southern Season in Chapel Hill on August 23rd. It will be on whole grain breads. This is being offered especially for those who got shut out of this class when we offered it a few months ago.

    I've been promising a report on Asheville and on my California tour back in February and March, and I will get to it as soon as I can find a few minutes (it's 6:30 AM  and I have to leave for work at Johnson & Wales in a few minutes). But I did want to get this news to you about the cancelations because I had told a number of people in those cities that I was headed your way (the classes had at first been confirmed, but were then rescinded when the company made what appears to be a policy change. Who knows, maybe they'll change their mind again). Meanwhile, if you know of any schools who would want me to come out, have them contact me at recipetesters@yahoo.com .  As soon as my next season JWU schedule gets set up I'll know what my travel availability will be for fall and winter. Meanwhile, let's enjoy spring....

    May Your Bread Always Rise,

   Peter

Yessss!

Hi Again,

    Yes, we got the James Beard nomination on Monday--fantastic news! The book is up against Alice Medrich's Pure Desserts (again, as it is in the IACP Awards), and Greg Patent's, A Baker's Odyssey. They are both excellent, beautiful books and both authors are previous James Beard winners. The awards will be announced on June 8th in NYC at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. I'll give a report on what it was like to be there, whether we win or not.

    I have one new confirmed class to report, at King Arthur in Norwich, Vermont, on August 1st and 2nd--a two day wood fired brick oven pizza class. And we're close to firming up a class at Ramekins in Sonom on July 21st, subject still be determined. On Sunday, July 20th I will present a 90 minute whole grain bread demo class at COPIA, the wonderful food and wine center in the city of Napa. It will follow my presentation at the Taste3 conference the previous day. Tickets for Taste3 are about $2,000, so the COPIA class is a better value, for sure, but the Taste3 Conference should be amazing--check their website for more details and for the speaker's list: www.taste3.com .  There will be more travel classes confirmed in the next few days, so I'll log on again next week with updates.

    Meanwhile, here's an interesting e-mail from a serious home baker, Rainey Smith:

I forgot to add that I am getting great crusts by
pairing your <whole grain bread> recipe with Jim Lahey's concept of
baking in an enclosed container and skipping the tray of water.
I heat a pot along with the stone during the final
shaped rise.  When the loaf is ready to go into the
oven I remove the pot.  I have an opportunity to
slash the crust on the peel.  Then I transfer the loaf
from the peel to the stone and turn the deep pot upside
down over it. 
    Sometimes I remove the pot for the final 10 minutes
or so of baking.  Sometimes I don't bother.  Either
way, I get crusts I have never gotten on whole grain
breads before. 
      It's pretty exciting to take a technology that's
thousands of years old and add a dimension to it —
however modest.
     I find that taking the pot off is harder than getting
it on.  To adjust for that, I push the pot with the
loaf under it over the side of the stone a bit.  Since
the crust and structure are well-formed by that time,
it's no biggie.  Then I can get a finger and a
potholder under the lip and lift it enough to get a
grip on the other side.
    Remember NOT to touch it!  I did that once with the
handle of a cast iron skillet I was baking an upside
down cake in.  It seemed a natural enough thing to do
since that was the conventional approach to the
skillet.  I slept with my whole hand in a bucket of
ice water that night!

     Thanks Rainey. A great idea, and the pictures she sent me revealed beautiful loaves with a big, open crumb structure. As she said, though, be very careful when working with hot domes and such. I once did the same thing as she did and unconsciously tried to lift the the dome of my Cloche with a pot holder and not only burned my hand but also dropped and shattered the dome--that was $49.00 down the drain! Only made that mistake once....

     If any of you try her ideas or come up with other innovations, please feel free to write and let me know if it's okay to share them with our readers: recipetesters@yahoo.com

     More to come soon, including a report on tomorow's Asheville Bread Festival. And good luck to our Coupe du Monde bread team in Paris--it all starts this weekend. Keep an eye out for the results.

     May your bread always rise!

    Peter

I'm Baaack!

Hi Everyone,

    I've been away far too long and owe you all an apology, but more important, some stories of the past two months. The last time I logged on I was headed to Texas for five cities in five days. A few weeks later I did a marathon series of classes in California and Arizona. I've finally landed, still feeling good, my back up held up well, and the classes were successful at every stop thanks to the great support I got from the staffs at the various cooking schools. More about that in moment.

     Some interesting new developments: Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads was nominated last week for an IACP Cookbook Award in the baking, pastry and desserts category, one of three finalists, along with Daniel Leader's Local Breads and Alice Medrich's Pure Flavors.  They are both superb books, so I'm thrilled to be in their company. The winners will be announced on April 18th in New Orleans.  Tomorrow (Monday) the James Beard Award nominations come out, so we're keeping our fingers crossed for that. We'll know in about twelve hours. One final piece of interesting news is that The Bread Baker's Apprentice was nominated by the World Gourmand Awards as one of three finalists for "The Best Bread Book of the Past Twelve Years" (that is, the best since these annual Gourmand awards first began). The winner of this one will be announced on May 9th in Stockholm, Sweden at the Alfred Nobel home. I really want to attend (who wouldn't?) but it will be impossible with my teaching schedule.  As things develop on all the award fronts I will keep you posted.

    The Texas tour took me to Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, and Fort Worth, all sponsored by Central Market, the great gourmet and natural foods market. They have cooking schools in these five stores, where the average attendance is about 30 people per class, sometimes even 40. I demonstrated four breads as well as the whole grain seed crackers. The breads were: High Extraction Country Miche, Whole Wheat Mash Bread, Spent Grain Bread, and Vollkornbrot (100% rye bread with cocoa and molasses--that is, the Schwartzbrot variation).  I sent the prep list ahead to each store and they prepared two soakers, two mashes, and two bigas, which were ready for me when I arrived four hours before each class. I brought my own sourdough starters, both wheat and rye, as well as a ten pound bag of spent grain, just in case they weren't able to get any locally. In most cases the schools were able to get spent grain from local microbreweries, so we were able to give all the attendees a sample bag at the end of each class, along with a piece of starter.  I even had a chance to visit some of the microbreweries after one of the classes, which was an added treat. I think the attendees were happy with the classes, as each of the breads illustrated a different variation of the "epoxy" method that is at the heart of the book. Each bread used either a starter or biga, and either a soaker or a mash, so the finished products represented the many variety of flavors that the method can produce. The crackers were a surprise hit also--at least it surprised the attendees, as I've been hooked on them for years.

      I love going to Texas. The people are friendly, the Central Market teams at each stop are fabulous, and there are always some unexpected bonuses. This time one of the surprises was a private tour of NASA, including the Command Center, by recipe tester Robert Dempsey, who is, I was thrilled to discover, a Flight Director there. I had no idea there was such bread baking enthusiasm at NASA, as I found out the next night at the Houston class when a carload of other NASA staff came. One of them, when he heard that Robert had given me the tour, told me he was in charge of the space suit program and next time he'd put me in one. That has me pretty enthused about scheduling another swing through Texas as soon as I can carve out the time. Another surprise was in Austin, where two friends from my MFA Writing Program at Queens University, took me first to the Texas Chili House, where I had a sampler of three different types of Big Red. Then, that night after the class ended, I was whisked off to Uchi, a very hot, cutting edge sushi restaurant. We had some amazing dishes that included things I'd never seen at my neighborhood sushi house, plus some great Alsatian wines that one of my friends, who happens to be the sommelier there, was testing for the list. I was happy to be part of his "focus group" and expect that we'll be hearing more about Uchi and their young chef, Tyson Cole in the coming years.

     Anyway, the week flew by, we sold lots of books, and started spreading the new "epoxy" techniques to a very passionate group of home bakers. I could only hope the upcoming California trip would go as well.

    For now, it's back to Johnson & Wales where we are coming down the homestretch (classes end on May 15th). This Saturday is the Annual Asheville Bread Festival, held at Green Life Grocery. I'll be doing two demos and there will be all sorts of bakery tours and other demos by local bakers throughout the day, and wonderful breads, many of them baked in wood-fired ovens. If you are there please introduce yourself and tell me if you're one of our regular blog readers.

       I'm currently working on a travel teaching schedule for the summer and will post it soon. Plus, more on the upcoming awards and a summary of my west coast tour, where I renewed my pizza hunts in search of the perfect pizza, including a return to my all time favorite, Pizzeria Bianco.  I hope to be back with another post later this week.  Till then, may your bread always rise!

     Peter

(If you want to write, I can be reached at recipetesters@yahoo.com )

Heading to Texas

Hi Again,

    I'm off in the morning for Texas and 5 cities and classes in 6 days: Houston (Tue.), Austin (Wed.), San Antonio (Thurs.), Dallas (Fri.) and Ft. Worth (Sat.)--all at the various Central Market Cooking Schools. Two weeks ago I did a similar tour, but closer to home: Atlanta, Nashville, and St. Louis--all at the Viking Cooking Schools. It was a very successful week, well attended with some interesting interviews along the way (The Kelly Twins on Food Talk Radio in St. Louis was, especially, an hour of total fun!).

    I also ate at some great restaurants, including Sotto Sotto in Atlanta (modern Italian), Niche in St. Louis (a future James Beard Award winner, for sure--American farm to fork cuisine with beautifully balanced flavors), and Monell's in Franklin, TN (a converted brick jail house featuring wonderful family style meals of southern classics like fried chicken and catfish, corn pudding, perfect cole slaw, barbecued potato salad, and apple pie. Can't wait to see what surprises await in Texas.

     The best news about the tour was how well the breads turned out and the response from the attendees. I think the spent grain bread and the dark vollkornbrot (also called schwartzbrot) were the surprise hits. Many of the attendees had never had anything like either of them, and their responses confirms my hunch that dense, complex rye breads like vollkornbrot will be the next big thing in artisan breads, and that spent grain breads will explode in popularity as soon as local bakers and brewers figure out how to join forces and crank them out. Remember, you heard it here first!

     Also, for those who have been following my writing journey, I completed my MFA in Creative Writing at Queens University on January 12, and have sent my thesis off to a publisher for consideration. It's called "The Leaven Factor," a series of personal essays and memoirs of my spiritual journey in both life and bread.  I will keep you posted as things develop, but I am hoping this will be my next book. Another lagniappe that came from the Queens program is that, upon graduating, I was asked to join the faculty as a guest lecturer during the next residency, in May. This is very exciting for me personally, as I believe the Queens creative writing faculty is quite possibly the best in the country. It also allows me to stay involved with all the students and faculty I've grown so fond of during my two years there. More to come on this, for sure....

     Will post again when I get back from Texas--going to get some of that great barbecued brisket!

      Peter

For Dallas and Fort Worth bakers

Hi Everyone, especially those in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area,

     The upcoming Texas classes are filling up nicely (most are sold out), except at these two locations (all the classes in Texas are at Central Market). If you have any interest in attending, please contact one of those two locations and sign up. The dates are Feb. 1 in Dallas, and Feb. 2nd in Ft. Worth. Both are evening classes. I'm excited about this trip as it's been a few years since I was in Texas.

    I'm also excited about next week's trips to Atlanta, Nashville, and St. Louis (all at the Viking Culinary Centers), ending with brunch and a book signing at Companion Baking Company in St. Louis on Sunday, the 20th. 

     Looking forward to seeing many of you over the next few weeks. Till then, may your bread always rise!

     Sincerely,

     Peter

Upcoming classes on the road

Hi Again,

   Sorry I've been away for awhile. Classes end for our students next Thursday at JWU (Johnson & Wales University) so we can finally catch our breath. In earlier posts I mentioned upcoming travel classes but did not have the exact dates, so here they are:

January 16:  Atlanta (Viking Cooking School)

January 17: Nashville (Viking)

January 19: St. Louis (Viking)

January 20th (Sun.): Breakfast book signing at Companion Baking, St. Louis (call store for exact location--just a gathering, no classes.)

January 29: Houston, TX (Central Market Cooking School)

January 30th: Austin (Central Market)

January 31: San Antonio (Central Market)

February 1: Dallas (Central Market)

February 2: Fort Worth (Central Market)

   At the end of February and early March I head out again to California and Scottsdale, AZ.  See the earlier post for those dates and locations.  The times vary from place to place, so please call the stores and ask for details. I'm looking forward to meeting many of you recipe testers as I travel, as well as many others who have corresponded with me, and, of course,  new friends to come. Till then, have a joyful holiday season and a Happy New Year!!

   Peter

Been Away Too Long

Hi Again,

      Sorry for the long break in the action here, but today was the last day of the fall term at Johnson & Wales and it's been a hectic few weeks. Amidst it all, I did manage to get up to King Arthur Flour, where we did a two day hands-on whole grain breads workshop.  I'm pleased to say that the breads turned out beautifully and, of course, working at King Arthur is always fun. Susan Miller and the other folks at the Educational Center there took good care of me and I was even able to catch the tail end of the fall leaves. Vermont, especially around the Norwich/White River Junction area, is beautiful.

      In addition to the upcoming classes in Texas, California, and Arizon (see an earlier post with those dates and locations), I am happy to announce some upcoming whole grain bread classes at the Viking Culinary Centers in Atlanta (Jan. 16th), Nashville, (Jan. 17th), and St. Louis (Jan. 19th). Please call those stores for more details. I've also booked two classes at the Western Reserve Culinary School outside of Cleveland, for June 23rd and 24th--sounds like a long time from now but I guarantee, it will be here before you know it. I'll post the full schedule again, as it keeps growing, in a few weeks.  I hope to have some other new dates to add as well.

     Also, check out today's (Nov. 16th) USA Today for a top ten list of artisan bakeries that they asked me to provide for National Bread Day (today!). The hardest part was deciding on just ten, and I hated to leave off so many worthy bakeries (they asked me to spread them around the country as best I could, so I asked if I could do a new top ten list in the future, maybe when National Bread Day comes around again). Give me a few days to get my grades turned in and to catch up on everything, and I'll recap the USA Today list here, as well as add some of the ones I had to leave off because they'd only allow for ten.

    Also, keep an eye out for either the December or January Spirit Magazine (Southwest Airlines in- flight magazine) for a brief listing of my favorite pizzerias. I gave them about 8 but I think only three will make it into the magazine, with a link to their website for the others. I will list them all here, too, after the article hits.

     I've heard from friends around the country that the wonderful story written about me by Kathleen Purvis, of the Charlotte Observer, has begun showing up in other newspapers. I think it's one of the very best pieces anyone's ever done on me, so thank you, Kathleen, and if any of you want to read it, try picking it up off the archives at www.charlotte.com It originally ran on October 24th.

    Okay, enough for now. I'll try to get another posting up soon--I promise.

     May your bread always rise!

    Peter

Addendum

Hi Again,

   There is one other thing I forgot to mention on yesterday's post. I've been participating in an ongoing Q & A session on the The Fresh Loaf website, for any of you who would like to check it out or even chime in. It's been fun and we'll probably keep it going for a few days before wrapping it up. The site itself is great for any bread lover, with links to all sorts of things and conversations. It's www.thefreshloaf.com   Check it out!

     P.

    

The end of a long, great week!

Hi Everyone,

      Actually, it's been a number of weeks, but the one that just passed was particularly memorable.  I'll work backwords:  Last night the Charlotte Shout ended. It's our city's big festival of the arts and it always finishes up with two days of a culinary blow-out that's like going to a rock concert. I've called it a foodie's Woodstock, and it really is, with multiple location cooking demo's and tastings, and book signings, and celebrity chefs, dancers, music, Stomp-type drummers banging out rhythms on pots and pans, pyrotechnics (the celebrity chefs take the stage amidst sparkler fireworks, kind of like how professional wrestlers enter the ring on TV), and on and on. Yesterday's line-up included Martin Yan, Rick Browne (of PBS's Barbecue America), Rock (the winner of this year's Hell's Kitchen show), Sam (a semi-finalist on last year's Top Chef, but also a local Charlotte boy--how do these reality show chefs become so famous so quickly that they can get by with one name--Sam, Rock, etc? Talk about a social phenomena...), Alton Brown, TNT's Marvin Woods (another Charlottean who made it on TV, mostly on the Turner South Network), PBS's Mary Ann Esposito, and about a dozen others. Even I got to give a demo on the "big stage" (there were three stages, but only with a giant screen magnifying our every action and gesture), so I made whole wheat focaccia. This event has turned into a real extravaganza and today, now that it's over, I feel like soaking in a jacuzzi for about a month.

    But this was just the tail end of an even bigger event earlier in the week: Alice Waters came to town and I got to interview on our local NPR station, then we hosted her for lunch at Johnson & Wales, followed by an hour long talk that she gave to 200 of our students, followed by a six-course dinner at one of Charlotte's "fork to farm" restaurants (Ratcliffe on the Green), where I contributed the Spent-Grain Bread from the new book using Irish stout grain given to me by Dave Gonzalez of Rock Bottom Brewery ("Each slice is like drinking a pint of Guinness," I told the 65 guests as I passed around the bread baskets. That turned out to be a real attention grabber, actually). Alice spent the next day touring a local pork farm that follows principles of social responsibility and humane animal husbandry conditions (Grateful Growers is the name of the farm and their pork products are indeed fabulous). Then, she visited with the culinary students at the Art Institute school, where they prepared her another "farm to fork" meal -- seven-courses this time -- and then she gave a talk to a large audience at Queens University on her current project, the edible schoolyard garden and lunch initiative. Okay, for those of you reading this who don't know anything about Alice Waters and the influence her restaurant, Chez Panisse, has had on American cuisine and consciousness, take a break and go to your favorite search engine and look her up. You need to know about her and, especially, this new initiative of hers to get real food-- flavorable, organic food-- ont the tongues and into the bellies of the next generation. I won't say any more about this visit except to say it was a big deal that she chose Charlotte as one the cities on her current tour and that she seemed very pleased by what she saw here (I've often compared this part of North Carolina, along with the Chapel Hill/Raleigh/Durham "Triangle" area, as a miniature version of Norther California. We're starting to catch up to the innovative food and culture projects there, and I think we may even be closing the gap).  I could barely keep up with Alica and the schedule she was on, so I can hardly imagine how she'll keep up the pace during the subsequent six or so cities she plans to visit. Bottom line: it was an amazing, nurturing, enlivening visit by one of America's true culinary prophets.

    The weekend before Alice arrived I spent in Chapel Hill, teaching a pizza class at A Southern Season, a wonderful food emporium and cooking school. At the Carrboro Farmer's Market, where we picked up some home made fresh and smoked mozzarella for the class, as well as Italian sausage made from locally raised pigs, I saw a cooking device that I immediately wanted to own. It was a fire-roasting tumbler that looked sort of like one of those things they put bingo balls or lottery tickets in and then tumble before a winning number is drawn. But at the bottom, there were four jets, attached by a hose to a propane tank.  Alex, the owner of this device, filled the tumbler with a bag full of various red peppers grown on his farm and then lit the jets, shooting four flames into the tumbler while he turned the crank, tumbling the peppers so that in about 60 seconds they were evenly and perfectly charred and roasted. He then put them into a paper sack where they steamed and self-peeled. So cool--it was like performance art, a theater experience. Alex said there's a website, www.chileroasters.com that sells them and, sure enough, I looked them up and there's the device. I gotta have one!!! By the way, I bought a bag of Alex's roasted peppers and they were perfect--I'm amazed that any made it home, but I had to save some for Susan so she could experience them for herself and understand why I really want one of those roasters. She too, now, is a believer....

      Well, there was more I wanted to write about but I've gotta go see how the Phillies are doing--will they break our hearts on the last day of the season as they've been doing to native Philadelphians forever (regardless of where we live, we are always Philadelphians), or will this be a year of miracles. We'll see. But, speaking of Philly, I will be returning to my home town on October 24th for the Book and the Cook, and will be collaborating with Chef Chris Lichtman and his team at the Citygrange Restaurant at the Westin Hotel, where we will be matching their farm fresh foods with some of the new whole grain breads from the book. If you're in the area come on by and introduce yourself. Details are still being worked out regarding time, price, and final menu, but I think reservations will soon be available, probably sometime this week.

      The week before, on October 19th, I'll be back at A Southern Season for a whole grain breads class, and then, on Nov. 2 and 3, a workshop at King Arthur Flour in Norwich, Vermont. I think the Saturday session is sold out but there may be slots still available for the Friday evening demo and presentation. Give King Arthur Flour a call to find out.

     Okay, enough--on to the Phillies and, probably, heartbreak....

      Peter

   

Folks, We Have a Winner

Hi Everyone,

      I'm happy to announce that long time correspondent and recipe tester Dan Haggarty is the winner of the "Name That Book" contest. He came up with, "Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques for Enhanced Flavours." I'd say that's pretty darn close, so he gets a free signed copy. Thanks Dan--great intuition!

      If any of you already have the book please feel free to send in your reviews to Amazon and other web book services and discussion groups (hopefully, they'll be positive reviews but, of course, be frank).  There is one reviewer on Amazon that claims he learned  nothing new from this book--I'm really sorry to have disappointed him but I'd love to know what books he's read that have anything like the formulas and new applications of traditional methodology that we (and I include all the testers, who helped shape these) came up with for this book. Oh well, you can't win them all, but I hope others of you are finding it new and original and are enjoying the breads. Let me know your thoughts at recipetesters@yahoo.com . 

    I'm going to try this weekend to set up a response thread directly on the blog--does anyone know how this is done? If so, write to me at the above e-address. I feel like such a dork in these matters--thank goodness for Mena Trott, of Typepad/Moveable Type who set this blog up for me in the first place, or I'd never have gotten it going.

    May Your Bread Always Rise!

   Peter

   

Travel Dates

Hi Everyone,

      I've been promising this for a while so here it is, at last. All of these classes will be based on the new whole grains bread book unless otherwise noted. I hope you can make it to one of them and, if not, I will be booking future classes, probably for the late spring and early summer of 2008, to other cities around the country and will post them in a few months when they are confirmed. So this is just a start. Please contact the actual venues, not me,  if you want to reserve a seat or to ask  time and location questions:

September 22: A Southern Season, Chapel Hill, NC (pizza class)

October 20th: A Southern Season, Chapel Hill, NC (whole grain breads)

November 2-3: Two day hands-on workshop at King Arthur Flour, Norwich, VT

January 28-Feb 2: Central Market tour (San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Dallas, and Ft. Worth--contact the store nearest you for actual date, as we are still working on the final order of appearances)

Feb. 25th:  Carlsbad, CA, Sur la Table (SLT)

Feb. 26th: Newport Beach, CA (SLT)

Feb. 28: LA Farmers Market, Los Angeles (SLT)

Feb.29: Westlake Village CA, Let's Get Cookin'

March 1: Westlake Ville CA, Let's Get Cookin' (Panini class)

March 3: Los Gatos, CA (SLT)

March 4:  San Mateo, CA (Draeger's Market)

March 5: San Francsico, SLT (Maiden Lane store)

March 6: Danville, CA (Draeger's Market)

March 8: Sonoma, CA (Ramekins)

March 9: Sonoma, (Ramekins,  Panini class)

March 10: Santa Rosa, CA (SLT)

March 12: Scottsdale, AZ (SLT)

      That's it for now, but I will post new bookings as they arise. There's agood chance I'll be in Philadelphia during the week of October 22nd for the Book and the Cook, but don't have the details yet. It won't be a class, just a great dinner event featuring some of the new breads from the book at one of the participating restaurants; should know which one soon.

     Okay, it's a start. By this time next year I hope to have visited many more cities. If you live near a cooking school that likes to bring in visiting authors or travel teachers, please contact them and encourage them to contact me (please, don't write to me about a school near you that I should contact--I'd rather that the school contact me first). The best e-address to give them is: recipetesters@yahoo.com Because of my teaching obligations at Johnson & Wales it's very tricky to travel all the time, but I am planning on leaving time in June and July for this, so hang in there and I'll try to get to a city near you sooner or later.

       More soon. Till then, may your bread always rise!

      Peter

    

Just Got the Book--and other news!

Hi Again,

     I just received an advance copy of the whole grains book, literally hot off the press. I'm really pleased with how it turned out and can't wait for it to hit the book stores. I hope when you see it you will be as pleased as I am--kudos to Meghan Keefe (editor), and Nancy Austin (art director) of Ten Speed Press for an amazing job--as you will all soon see. An author is always a little nervous about these things but, I have to say, their work exceeded all my expectations. Also, again, thanks to Ron Manville for his wonderful photography and to all of you who did recipe testing--I listed you all in the book, even those who dropped out early or came in late--you all contributed more than you can imagine in important ways.  More on this in a later post when the book is available but, in answer to one query I received, those of you who were testers will be able to order a signed copy from me at a discounted price when I actually have copies in hand--probably in about a month. Stay tuned....

     I received another query about measuring by volume vs. weight. As many of you know, I always favor weight measurements and recommend all serious bakers get a balance or digital scale (one that gives both oz. and grams, imperial and metric systems, if possible). But not everyone has a scale so here's the caveat--volume measurements (such as cups of flour), are always, at best, estimates. I typically get a pound of flour into 3 1/2 cups but some people pack 4 cups, and even 5 cups per pound. When in doubt, let the dough dictate what it needs--whether more flour or liquid--to make the dough "feel" correct. "Feel" is a critical ingredient, and is an ongoing motif in all my books. The brand of flour, the age of the flour, the way it's packed in the scoops--all these can contribute to outcome so, even when scaling accurately, always adjust according to how the dough feels (there will be visual and touch cues to help you make this call, but in the end it comes down to practice. I always allow myself three tries at a dough before deciding on the correct adjustments and "feel").  I hope this helps.

      Likewise, in braiding instructions for breads like challah, if I suggest 8" strands for the braids, this is just a guideline--it will probably yield a plump loaf, good for French Toast or sandwich slices. But if you'd prefer longer, sleeker loaves feel free to extend the strands (the "ropes") as much as 12"-14". These are, after all, your loaves so you should always feel free to adjust according to your needs or intuition. If you ever have questions regarding these things, write to me at recipetesters@yahoo.com

       Finally, here's a link to an interesting site, sent to me by my friend (and serious bread baking enthusiast)  Fr. Raphael of Mt. Sinai Orthodox Church:  http://www.benchcrafted.com you will see beautiful wood-crafted magnetic blocks for mounting knifes and tools to the wall. These, and other hand crafted products (such as pure beeswax candles) support Fr. Raphael's pastoral work. The wood blocks come in various woods, including a new one made from cocobolo rosewood that looks absolutely beautiful. Check it out.

      I'm very close to locking in some travel teaching dates for late winter/early spring and hope to post them next week.  Until then, may your bread always rise!

       Sincerely,

       Peter

A New Resource and Other Info

Hi Again,

    I just got back from Providence, Rhode Island, home of the Johnson & Wales "mother house" campus and also of Al Forno Restaurant, birthplace of the neo-legendary grilled pizza (and it was every bit as good as I remembered it!). While there, I visited with J&W Chef Ciril Hitz, champion decorative dough artist and baking instructor extraordinaire. Along with his wife, Kylie, they have launced a website called breadhitz.com (that's www.breadhitz.com) where they offer cool tools and a DVD baking series. Many people have asked me about doing videos of the techniques described in my books and I would love to--but now I don't have to. Ciril has done a great job of capturing it all, for both decorative and everyday breads, in his 9 DVD's. He is not only a master of the craft of baking, but also a master teacher. Check it out.

     Speaking of DVD's, our friend Mark Witt is just finishing a new one, part of his ongoing poolish series, this time on cinnamon buns. Mark carefully and patiently demonstrates every step of the process, and he also plans to continue showing applications of poolish in subsequent DVD's. His website is www.breadtechnique.com .

    For those of you looking for hard to find pastry and cake design tools and ingredients, check out www.ahcakedesign.com a new site helmed by Heidi Molnar (her husband Alex was one of the featured students and assistants in The Bread Baker's Apprentice, when he was a student at Johnson & Wales in Providence). I think she still has an introductory sale on, so check it out soon.

    In response to requests for the list of breads in my upcoming whole grain book, here are some of the breads that will be featured: both hearth and sandwich versions of 100% whole wheat, multi-grain, and rye breads (along with a few "transitional" versions of whole grain breads that use white flour), ; spent grain breads (using the leftover grain from beer making--I have to admit, these are my new favorite breads and I just made a batch for a local Slow Food Dinner to rave reviews); 100% whole grain versions of German, Scandanavian, Finnish, and Norweigian breads like Hannanleipa, Vorterkaker, Julekage, Limpa, Hutzelbrot, Santa Lucia Buns, Vollkornbrot, Bavarian Pumpernickel; Indian and Ethiopian breads like naan, chapatis, roti, parathas, and injera; pizzas and focaccia (of course); whole wheat and pumpernickel bagels; whole wheat pita breads; sprouted grain breads; whole wheat challah and brioche (kind of an oxymoron, but we did it!); whole wheat cinnamon buns; potato rosemary and potato onion rye breads; and various whole grain crackers, including matzo, lavash, seed flour crackers (totally addictive!), and Graham crackers. Also, Steamed Boston Brown Bread, and for those who have read the early postings on this blog, the infamous Mash Breads (the recipe testers know what a challenge this one was to perfect)!!

      There are a few other surprises in there as well, so keep an eye out for the book. I estimate it will be on the shelves by early September. I should also have my travel teaching schedule worked out within the next week or so, so check back soon for details. Today we set up a tour through all five Central Market Cooking Schools in Texas, and I'm close to finalizing on a number of other places around the country. I'll post the full schedule as soon as I have it.

     Till then, may your bread always rise!

     Peter

Correction To An Old Recipe

Hi Again,

      I just received an e-mail from an avid home baker, Debra, requesting help with a recipe from my first book, Brother Juniper's Bread Book: Slow Rise as Method and Metaphor.  The recipe is called, "The World's Greatest Brownies," and I really think they are, but they were not working for Debra. It took only a second to figure out why: she had an early edition of the book that contained a fatal typo--the recipe is supposed to call for 1 1/4 cups of flour but the first two printings of the book listed 3 1/4 cups of flour. Ouch!! Years ago we corrected this error and I have done all I could to notify owners of the early editions to please correct them. Now, due to the magic of blogs, I hope to reach more of you who may not have changed this in your old copies (later editions, as well as the new reprint, have already been corrected). If you make it with 3 1/4 cups of flour it will definitely NOT make the world's greates brownies but something closer to chocolate concrete.

   We discovered this typo fifteen years ago when a reader called me at the bakery, which we still owned at the time, in tears, wondering what she was doing wrong. When I opened the book and saw the problem I assured her it wasn't her but I who was at fault.  By then, the first two printings were already on the shelves. Yikes!

    This brings up an interesting point: nearly every cook book has an error or two. Some of these have been collected and written about by newspaper food writers and can probably be searched via the internet (it would make a good book to track them all down), but it seems that no matter how much proof reading one does, something always slips through--I think even Julia Child had a few typos in her books.

      In my second book (Sacramental Magic in a Small Town Cafe) an ingredient was missing from the Texas Chili recipe that I was certain had been in the manuscript. Sure enough, it was and was even in the final galleys that I proof-read and okayed. Somehow, on the way to the printer, the bottom ingredient (cumin seed) "fell off the page." Nobody at the publisher knew how this had happened, but it had. How can one make chili without cumin? You can't, at least not good chili (it should have read: 2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds, lightly toasted). So, we had to print up errata slips and put them in as many books as possible. We also found a typo in the same book in the gumbo recipe, in the roux. It was supposed to say 2 1/2 cups of flour and 1 cup of vegetable oil but instead instead it had been transposed to 2 1/2 cups of vegetable oil and 1 cup of flour. I'm sure anyone who followed that recipe saw a major spike in his or her cholesterol count (if they didn't keel over, clutching their chest!).

     Anyhow, I hope we caught all the typos in the new book but if we didn't, one of you will and I will, again, be embarrassed. But at least now we have the blog to get the word out.  Meanwhile, try the brownie recipe but please, please, use only 1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour. Then let me know if you agree that they are, indeed, the world's greatest brownies. 

      May Your Bread Always Rise!

     Peter (recipetesters@yahoo.com)

The Book Has Gone to Press

Hi Everyone,

     I received an e-mail last Friday from my editor at Ten Speed Press telling me that the whole grains bread book, this two year long project that many of you have contributed to, has finally gone to the printers. We should have it back by the end of the summer and see it on the stands by September. All I can say is, Hallelujah!! And also, thank you to all who tested recipes and sent me your great ideas and feedback.

      By the way, the official title (chosen by the editors, not me) is: Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor.  Many of you suggested titles, and I sent them all to the editors but in the end, this is what they decided--if you sent me one that is close to this title, let me know, and if it's really close, I'll award you the grand prize of a free copy. As you may recall, I wanted to call it From Wheat to Eat, but that didn't fly (although we managed to get it into the text, somewhere in the early sections). It looks spectacular, loaded with photos-- both instructionals and so-called "beauty shots"-- and I am now very excited about seeing it in all its glory in a few few months. It took me two hours to type all the names of our testers (over 300) into the acknowledgements section. I'm pretty sure I got all of you in, and your names spelled correctly--please forgive me if I missed you and let me know in September.

    Two weeks ago I had the chance to demonstrate four of the new recipes from the book at the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) annual conference. This year it was held in Chicago (what a great restaurant city!) with over 1,300 movers and shakers of the culinary world in attendence. My presentation was a hands-on workshop for over 40 of the attendees, held at Kendall College. Kendall reminds me a lot of Johnson & Wales, with excellent programs in culinary, baking and pastry, hospitality management, and business among it's many offerings. Chef Melina Kelson-Podolsky, one of the bread instrutors there, was my liaison and she recruited a number of great students from her and Chef Heidi Hedeker's baking class to serve as volunteer helpers. It not only went smoothly from a logistical stand point, but the breads turned out beautifully. Of course, after all the testing that many of you did I expected them to be fine but this was, after all, the first public unveiling of these new formulas, so I was a little nervous. We made the high extraction country boules (Poilane-style),  100% whole wheat mash batards (the dreaded "mash" breads, now so easy and wonderful!), whole wheat spent grain loaves (using the spent stout beer grain from a local Chicago micro-brewery), and vollkornbrot (the bread that I predict will be the next darling of the artisan bread movement--100% rye bread, dense crumb, complex flavors unlike any other). Everyone also had the chance to make whole wheat seed-flour crackers with sunflower, flax, and pumpkin seed flour, along with whole sesame seeds. They were a big hit.

        So we're off and running. I have just booked three classes for the fall, with more to come. In an upcoming post I will list the whole schedule, once it's finalized, but for now here they are:

September 22, Chapel Hill, NC (A Southern Season Culinary Center): Pizza (demo class)

October 19, Chapel Hill, NC (A Southern Season Culinary Center): Whole Grain Breads (demo class)

November 2nd and 3rd,  Norwich, Vt (King Arthur Flour Baking Center): Whole Grain Breads--a 2-day hands on workshop.

      Please contact those venues if you are interested in attending.

      I should have a few other listings within the month. I will also be teaching classes to the public throughout the fall at our Johnson & Wales Charlotte campus, but the dates haven't been finalized yet.

    More to come--thank you all again for hanging in there with me.

    May your bread always rise!

    Peter  (recipetesters@yahoo.com)