Peter Reinhart's Weblog

We're Back!

Hi Everyone,

     Susan and I are back from a short vacation and I just returned a few days ago from leading a bread baking retreat at the Mandala Center in DesMoines, New Mexico. It was a wonderful experience, with 14 fellow pilgrims in search of the connection between and bread and spirit. The center is located on a bluff facing an ancient volcano (dormant, we think), and certainly is We had thoughtful conversations and discussions, made all sorts of tasty breads, and even had a concert from a few of our attendees. On the way back to the Albuquerque airport I stopped for an overnight visit with one of our recipe testers (Linda R.) and her family, and was treated to a spectacular lightning show and torrential rains--very exciting!

    Now that the book has gone to press I am beginning to work on setting up a teaching tour for the fall and winter. It will be limited at first because of my fall teaching schedule at Johnson & Wales, but I think it will pick up steam in January and beyond. Please check back here from time to time for updates, as I'll post the schedule as it comes into focus. The only thing on the schedule at this time is a focaccia class at A Southern Season in Chapel Hill on August 8th. If you live in the area, I hope you'll be able to come.

       We just shot a series of 2 minute demos for Johnson & Wales that will air soon on our local Time Warner Cable News channel. Don't know if it will get picked up in other cities but, maybe, they'll eventually show up on YouTube. I did a few demos from the new book, including sweet dough variations, crackers, focaccia, and biscuits. We also started a series of pizza classes at Pie Town last Saturday and had 14 people crammed into our tiny kitchen. Everyone got to make a couple of pizzas in out Woodstone oven. Lots of fun for all of us (and good eating, too). The next one will be in late August. I'll post the date here as soon as it's confirmed.

    Other news as it comes in. Till then, may your bread always rise!

    Peter

The Book Has Left the Building

Hi Everyone,

    The book has gone to press--summer begins!!!

    Susan and I are going to take a week off for R&R so I won't be answering e-mails for awhile and will jump back into this blog in about two weeks. Meanwhile, here's a link to a fun blog by a baker named MC, who has been on a quest for the perfect loaf. She also lists lots of other bread blogs in case you're looking to broaden your network. Enjoy!  http://www.farine-mc.com/2009/05/100-whole-wheat-mash-bread.html.

    I'm excited that after a year of hard work and over 4,000 e-mails from recipe testers, we have come up with a wonderful book that I hope you will all enjoy. It will be out in the fall and, of course, I'll keep you updated as we get closer to publication.

    May Your Bread Always Rise!

    Peter

The Finish Line, At Last!

Hi Again,  

        Sorry for the gap between postings. The past two weeks have been spent in proof reading and working out the baker's percentage formulas for the book. This took longer than I expected and I was totally wiped out by the end, but the good news is that the finished manuscript arrived yesterday for one final stage of proof reading and then, on Friday, we go to press!  The book should be out by October, but I'll hopefully have copies sooner. My hope is to be able to send out signed copies at a discounted cost to any recipe testers that want one, so check the blog in September for the information when I have it. In the meanwhile, I'll keep posting through the summer with other news, updates, and thoughts.

    One of the hot buzzes of this week has been the Alan Richman article in GQ on his top 25 pizza places, in which he briefly quotes me (we had a long conversation but by the time we had it the article was pretty much written and we tended to agree on almost everything so my input simply confirmed what he had already written). Alan, who is one of my favorite food writers, has the kind of food passion that we all love as well as a great ability to write about it. I learned of a few new pizzerias from the article that I now have to go visit, and while my top 25 would differ slightly from his, there are quite a number of places he cites that would also be on my list. There are many links to get you to the article but this one will also get you a 4 minute video with Alan on the Today Show: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/30872147/

    On the weekend on June 12th I will be leading a 2 1/2 day bread retreat at the Mandala Center in New Mexico. If you happen to have the weekend free and want to join in, please contact them at www.mandalacenter.org  for details.

    Will post again next week as soon as I hear from Ten Speed Press that we've gone to press. I'm excited that we're almost there and I want to thank all of the recipe testers again and also everyone who has been so supportive during this long, gruelling process.

    Sincerely,

    Peter

Ooops, here's the correct link

This is the "I'm stunned but thrilled" link I was referring to in the previous post--sorry about the duplication of the NPR link.

http://pinchmysalt.com/the-bba-challenge/

P.

Check This Out

Hi Again,

     Just a quickie here--check out this blog. I'm stunned (but thrilled)!

http://www.wpr.org/hereonearth/podcast/hereonearth090424k.mp3

Also, as promised, here's the link to the NPR show that we did on pizza on WPR in Madison, Wisconsin . Enjoy! http://www.wpr.org/hereonearth/podcast/hereonearth090424k.mp3
    P.

PS  Still wrapping up the book; will give a longer recap when it's put to bed.

Still Playing Catch Up

Hi Everyone,

   This week has been great, as I was able to get most of the corrections in to my editor at Ten Speed as well as finish my final teaching cycle at Johnson & Wales for the year--even sent in the grades yesterday. So next week I should be able to comb through the last of the responses from all the testers and make the final tweaks. Still have to work up a few sidebars and photo captions, as well as calculate all the bakers percentages and write the acknowledgements page--this could take days considering all the people I need to thank-- and then we'll have one final read-through of the final pages (I think this used to be called the galleys though now we just call it the final pages), but we're so close to the end I can almost taste it.

    Just received a link to a fun blog from Patricia Kline, who came to my talk in SF last month. Check it out:

http://ringalings.blogspot.com/2009/04/preacher-teacher-and-seeker-peter.html  

    Also, I was a guest today on Wisconsin Public Radio's show, Here on Earth, along with Chris Bianco (Pizzeria Bianco) and Brian Spangler (Apizza Scholls)--a fun hour all about pizza. You should be able to access a podcast via their archives in a few days at www.wpr.org  If you heard it, let me know at recipetesters@yahoo.com

    Okay, back to work (actually, I'm going to sleep). Will be judging a biscuit contest early on Saturday morning at the Matthews Farmers Market--who knows, may discover yet another new recipe!!

     More next week!

     Peter

Quick Update

Hi Everyone,

      Okay, this is crunch week for me and the manuscript, which is in the corrections stage now. I have to get all the corrections and modifications back to the editor by the end of the week, so please don't worry if I haven't written back to acknowledge getting your recent results. I do have them and am looking through them at every spare minute, but cannot reply yet. Hopefully, by next week the pressure will be off and I will be able to send you back a note. So far, so good and I'll have a more complete update sometime this weekend.

     Thanks for your patience and support!

    Peter

Testing Period Has Ended

Hi Everyone,

       Well, it had to end sometime. I just received the edited manuscript back from my editor and I have to focus on making all the final corrections and tweaks. I will not be able to send out any more recipes as of now. Those who are still working on them, yes, please do send me your results. There is still time to incorporate your feedback, as the corrections will take me a number of days. Otherwise, feel free to continue playing with them and share with each other on the Gallery and the Forum. I will rejoin that conversation when I finish the final corrections.

    Your support and feedback has been unbelievably helpful--thanks so much!!  Please keep checking this blog for progress reports, updates and news, and more stories of my search for the perfect pizza and extraordinary breads. For now, I'm off to make the final tweaks but will continue to read your response forms right up to the last second. We're coming down the homestretch.....

      Best wishes and a happy, hopeful Passover and Easter to all.

      Sincerely,

      Peter

I'm Back!

Hi Everyone,

     Just got back from Atlanta and Denver, where I attended first, the PAII Conference (Professional Association of Innkeepers International, where I did a demo on whole grain quickbreads), and then, the annual IACP Conference (International Association of Culinary Professionals).

    On Thursday, in Denver, I moderated a panel called, "Artisan Pizza: Going Beyond Gourmet Pizza," with Chris Bianco (Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix, Arizona, generally regarded as the best pizzeria in America), and Brian Spangler (Apizza Scholls, Portland, Oregon, quickly rising to legendary status--I call Brian" the next Chris Bianco). We had over 120 people in our session--standing room only--and it was terrific!  I'll write it up more fully when we get past this testing phase and I can come up for air. I'll also tell you about the 2 1/2 hour pizza "Master Class" I did with Cathy Whims (Nostrana, Portland, Oregon) and Antonio Laudisio (Laudisio's Ristorante, Boulder, Colorado) on Saturday afternoon, and how the power in Denver went out one hour before the class began and didn't return until the class was nearly over, 3 hours later. So, we presented the entire class by candlelight and baked the pizzas and focaccias in the dark, in two wood-fired ovens. Quite a memorable experience....

    Later that evening was annual IACP Cook Book Awards (I got to present the winner of the Baking and Dessert category, to "The Art and Soul of Baking," by my friend Cindy Mushet and the folks at Sur la Table). The Book of the Year was awarded to "A-16" (by Nate Appleman, the chef of San Francisco's wonderful osteria-style restaurant, where the pizzas are pretty awesome), published by my publisher, Ten Speed Press. The editor of "A-16" is Aaron Wehner, who was my editor for "The Bread Baker's Apprentice."  (This bodes well for our upcoming book--Ten Speed is on a hot street!)  The full list of results can be found at www.iacp.com -- navigate to the awards section.

    I see that my mailbox is filling with tester results so I will go quiet for the next few days and try to catch up. Please do not expect to hear back from me immediately if you have requested another recipe to test, but I should get back to you within a few days. Here's what we'll be doing next: if you are already an approved tester (I can't take on any new ones, sorry, as we're at the end), please request three more recipes. These will be your last three--we have to wrap this up. You have till April 24th to get me your results but I will not be sending out any more recipes after this week. So pick the three you want to test from the master list (a few postings back) and send in your request by Saturday, April 11th. Please do not ask me to pick the recipes for you--I don't know which ones you've already tested and don't have time to search back through your previous responses. As you can imagine, between making the final revisions and reading every one of your responses (plus, teaching my classes at JWU), it will be a hectic time.

    Will try to post again on Friday and at least once a week after that, so do check back from time to time for updates on the progress of the book and other news. Once the testing period is over I'll continue to post on things like my travel teaching schedule and reports on things like the pizza panel and conference I referred to above. This much I can tell you: the book we've been testing finally has a title! It will be called: "Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Everyday."  Thank you all who sent in title ideas--I think we now have one that resolves the concerns many of you expressed. When I can, I'll catch up with your postings on the Forum and Gallery sites and see what you think of all this. The cover looks great--4 baguettes proofing in a linen couche. Will see if I can get Ten Speed's permission to post it on the Gallery.

    We're getting one step closer. More on Friday....

     Thanks to all of you for your hard work and patience.

    Sincerely,

    Peter

Update for Recipe Testers

Dear Testers,

      I will be out of town all next week, beginning Monday (March 30th), returning late Sunday (April 5th). I won't be able to send out any recipes next week and will have limited access to a computer while I'm away. I'll be in Denver for the IACP Conference for most of that time, with a quick stop in Atlanta for a presentation at the PAII Conference on the way to Denver (Professional Assoc. of Innkeepers International).

    So, what I'd like to request is this: First, if you want to keep baking through next week, please request three recipes from the master list by Sunday afternoon (the list is a few entries back on this blog). Please do not request any recipes next week.

    Second, please hold off on sending me your results until I return home (you can start sending them in on April 6th). I will probably need a whole day or two to go through them so give me some time to catch up. We will then have two more weeks of testing so you can continue to request recipes beginning on April 6th when you send in your results. 

     If you have any questions about the recipes that absolutely must be answered I will try to do so from the conference, but my time will be limited and I'll have very little access to the conference computers.  BTW, I'll be doing two presentations at the conference, including a panel discussion with Chris Bianco (Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix) and Brian Spangler (Apizza Scholls, Portland, Oregon) on how artisan pizza is different from gourmet pizza. Then, on Saturday (the 4th), I'll be doing a pizza "Master Class" with Cathy Whims of Nostrana (Portland, Oregon--Cathy was just nominated for a James Beard Award as Pacific Northwest Chef of the Year) and Antonio Laudisio  (Boulder, CO--some of you may have seen his PBS series or eaten at one of his two restaurants).  On that same Saturday night I'll be presenting the IACP cookbook award for the Baking and Desserts category during the big awards night. It will be a wild week.

    So there's still time to complete what you're currently working on and requesting your three recipes, but get the requests to me by this Sunday afternoon. The testing is going great and your new suggestions are fabulous. Thanks again for all your hard work!

     May your bread always rise!

     Peter

Closing the Tester List

Hi Everyone,

     Much as I'd like to keep it open, I have to close the list as of now. We have well over 400 testers signed up, including over 100 new ones this week (the total list may be closer to 500, but many have dropped out over time--it's been a marathon, for sure!). However, even if you missed the cutoff, feel free to register on the Forum and Gallery sites (see earlier posts) to chart our progress and join in on the conversation. When the book is put to bed the Forum will open up into a recipe and information sharing site. Here's a link to the latest newsletter update on the Forum, hosted by Mark Witt: http://www.breadtechnique.com/recipetesters.html   Check it out!

      The book is coming down to the final few weeks of editing and testing and we're making changes daily as the results come it. I'm spending about 4 hours a day just going through every response personally--can't wait to get my life back, but it's been truly invaluable and I'm extremely grateful to all of you who have participated.

    So folks, if you missed the cutoff please don't write to ask if you can join in now--it's just too late in the game, much as I'd like to include you.

   I'll be posting again next week, probably Friday, with some new details so stay tuned. Don't forget the Asheville Bread Festival next Saturday, March 28th. I hope to see some of you there.

           More soon....

      Peter

Clarification

Hi Folks,

    We begin testing again tomorrow (Sunday). I've already received a lot of requests to sign up even though I specified to wait till Sunday. Please re-read the previous post and wait until I officially open the next round, so that you don't fall through the slats. If you wrote already, you will need to write again beginning Sunday.

     Also, I mis-typed my e-mail address for non-testing correspondence. It should be recipetesters@yahoo.com  (I will go back and correct that).  

    For recipe testing, the proper address is bestbreads@gmail.com  

     Thanks!

     Peter

Recipe Testing--One Final Round

Hi Everyone,

       I'm back from SF and Portland, where I ate a lot of pizza and completed the photo shoot for the new book. Due to the spirited feedback on various web discussion groups, the title is back in play. We should have it settled soon but, suffice it to say, "Peter Reinhart's Best Breads Fast," which many of us didn't like, looks like may now be changed!

    I'll write a longer post about later about my trip west but you can see some of the photos from the booksigning in SF on our photo gallery, as well as our gathering at Tastebud in Portland on The Fresh Loaf site.

    Okay, here's the story on recipe testing: there are still many of you who missed the earlier rounds and would like to join in. Now is your chance. Also, many veteran testers  are curious to see if the new tweaks make a difference. All of you are welcome to join in or jump back in.  I am re-writing the English Muffin recipe today, based primarily on the great work of tester Lucille J., and should have it ready by Sunday. This new version is simple and really works wonderfully (we shot it for the book)--bravo Lucille!!  She even came up with a crumpet variation which I may put in the book if there's room. If not, we'll invite her to share it on the community forum (see a previous post for the link to the forum and gallery). In addition, there are minor tweaks in many of the recipes so feel free to request whichever one you want to try or re-try. Please do not start writing till Sunday. New testers, please let me know that you are first timers so I can send you the response form along with the foundational recipe.

    Please note: none of these are not re-written in the final book form. That process is happening now and the steps in the book will be given in a bullet point format, so no need to write in about that. If something is unclear, however, by all means please note it. But your concerns in this regard will be fixed during the copy-edit stage over the next two weeks. The next time you see the recipes will be in the published book (October) with all the corrections and stream-lined instructions. The current instructions that you get will still seem too wordy and in the same format as before but be assured it won't be published that way. I mainly want to know if the recipes work as described and how you like them.

    For newbies, here are the agreements: I won't be able to compensate anyone for testing other than a list of names in the acknowledgements (this is beginning to look like over 400 names!). I will be offering signed copies in the fall for a tester's discount (at my cost, basically) should you want one that way. Also, you are pledged to confidentiality in terms of posting these recipes to other sites or sharing them with others. Once the book is published, no problem, but for now, especially since they're not in their final form, I ask that they not be shared outside own tester's circle, which can be done on the Forum and the Gallery set up by Mark Witt. (I haven't been on the site for a while due to the photo shoot, but I hope to catch up soon). Please send all correspondence related to this new book, including test recipe requests and responses, to bestbreads@gmail.com  If you write or have written before Sunday for a recipe you will need to write back again on Sunday or shortly after to request one. This new tester period will be open for one week--after that I will have to close it again. However, for those who are signed up in time, we will keep testing for the next month or so. Every time you complete a test I'll be happy to send you another recipe to try. (For non test related correspondence, use my yahoo address: recipetesters@yahoo.com ) Please don't be disappointed if I don't write back a personal note--I have a feeling I'll be inundated and will be spending many hours a day just reading through the feedback.

    The recipe list:

--Lean Dough (wet, multi-purpose French bread dough--foundational recipe for the book)

--Classic French Dough

--Soft sandwich dough

--Multi purpose sweet dough

--Bagels

--Flakey biscuits

--English muffins

--SF Sourdough bread (if you don't have your own starter let me know and I'll send you the instructions--it takes about 7 to 9 days to get one up and running)

--Pain au levain (French style sourdough)

--Whole wheat hearth and sandwich breads

--Crispy rye and seed cracker

--Chocolate-cinnamon babka

--Challah

--Hoagie rolls

--Soft pretzels

--Cheese bread (soft and also hearth style)

--Multi-purpose rich holiday bread

--Laminated dough (croissants and Danish)

--Rustic doughs (including pizza and focaccia, ciabatta, and pain a l'ancienne)

--Wild rice and onion bread

--Struan multi-grain bread

--Many-seed bread

--Soft sandwich rye bread

    It all begins Sunday.  For those wanting to see a video of my talk at Omnivore Books in SF last Sunday, here's the link: http://www.chezus.com/video/omnivore-books/peter-reinhart/video.html.  It's long but covers a lot of ground. Thanks to Denise and all the folks at Chez Us!

     More soon.....

     Peter

Travel Updates

Hi Again,

    Okay, so I fly out of Charlotte on Thursday (tomorrow), headed for Portland, Oregon and three days of intensive pizza hunting. If anyone is in the vicinity, I will be at Tastebuds on Saturday morning (Feb. 28) at 11 AM to taste their Montreal-style bagels and wood-fired pizzas. Feel free to join me if you can. It's at 3220 SE Milwaukie in Portland. It would be great to meet you in person.

    Then, I head to SF for the big, week-long photo shoot. I probably won't post here again till I get back on March 9th.

    I am also supposed to be a guest on Gene Burns Radio Show on KGO on Saturday morning, March 7th--don't know the time and still haven't heard back if it's a definite, but I think it will happen. More definite is on Sunday, the 8th, a book signing and reading at 3 PM at Omnivore Books in Noe Valley, at 3885A Cesar Chavez St.  Call the store for more details, (415) 282-4712. I plan on bringing some of the breads from the photo shoot for you to sample.

    Don't forget the Asheville Bread Festival on Saturday, March 28th at Green Life Market, beginning at 10 AM. I will be giving a talk later that day at A-B Tech as part of the festival, all about the new book and the "delayed fermentation" method we've been working on together (me and our 350 recipe testers!). The link for details is on our Forum site.

    Finally, another round of thanks to Mark Witt for his incredible support in setting up and managing the forum and the photo gallery (see previous post for the links and  details), and to all of you who have registered and are participating in our new "bread-head" community. Who knows how it will develop and what interesting things will come out of it. Thanks to all!!

    May your bread always rise!

   Peter

Ready to Launch

Hi Folks,

        Okay, Mark Witt has given me the word, the gallery and forum sites are ready to launch. If you are not up to speed on this, please read my previous couple of blog entries for background. Otherwise, you can bring up the photo album gallery and/or the community forum by going to the following links. The first link contains all the welcoming info and instructions on how to register, post comments, and post photos. Mark has graciously offered to serve as host/moderator so all questions will go to him, not me (I would be of no help since this is all like a foreign language to me). I will join in as I can with comments on your comments and photos, but will mostly still communicate primarily through this blog. Mark has included his e-address on the welcome page in case you run into any technical challenges. Please remember that this is a work in progress , so we're all on a learning curve--but have fun with it as we go!  This could grow into a really cool community experience. Thank you Mark and thanks to all of you who have been on this ride with me--the fun is just beginning--me has just turned into we!

http://www.breadtechnique.com/recipetesters.html  (welcome letter and instructions)

www.breadtechnique.com/Forum  (community sharing, by recipes or other categories)

www.breadtechnique.com/gallery  (photo albums by various categories and recipes)

      May your bread always rise!

      Peter