Hi Everyone,
Yes, as mentioned in the previous post, I am now on hiatus and will not be sending out any more recipes for testing until mid-March (exact date to be announced when I return from SF and the photo shoot). BUT, in the meantime, Mark Witt has just about completed the set up for a private site for testers and readers of this blog for a community photo album and commentary postings. In other words, we will soon be an open community of fellow bread-heads where you can interact with one another regarding this recipe testing journey we've all been sharing. Many of you have sent me great photos of both successes and failures (we will have a separate album for disasters and horror stories--Mark suggests we call that one "What Went Wrong With this?"). I'm very excited and will post within the next few days all the log-on information.
Now that we've passed some critical milestones it will be okay to share among yourselves these stories, but I'd still like to ask you to keep it in-house and not to post on public websites any discussions regarding these recipes. I need to also ask that you not post the recipes (other than your own that are not part of this book), as the editing is a long process and nothing that has gone out will appear in the book in that form. There is still tweaking going on in the recipes and in the instructions, so this will be our private community chat in which you can discuss aspects of the method and the recipes but not post the recipe itself. If you are not currently a tester but want to chime in with thoughts, questions, or suggestions, fine, but please don't ask for anyone to send you the recipes. If you want to join in as a tester, check back here around March 14th for the announcement about the resumption of testing. I will open the list to new testers then, but please don't write to me now--I won't be keeping a back-list.
Some of you have asked about sending in responses during the hiatus. Yes, please do--I will be checking e-mails daily, even from the road, so your suggestions and feedback will be helpful as we continue to refine the recipes and instructions. I may not always respond to you personally and I won't be sending out any more recipes for testing till we resume, but your feedback on the recipes you already received is greatly appreciated.
BTW, The English Muffin recipe is coming around, thanks to the determination of a few dedicated testers, most notably Lucille J., who has been relentless in her quest for the perfect English Muffin. I will send out the new version when we resume testing. It has some major tweaks from the version already out there and is easier and consistently better--way to go Lucille and all the others who have sent in suggestions!
When I post the log-on info for the communtiy photo album I will also post the ground rules and how to send in your photos if you are willing to share them. Mark will be the MC/Host. I can only hope that the photos we shoot in SF are as good as yours--many are of professional quality and are quite inspiring. If ours are not as good, I may be running back to you for permission to use yours (if that happens it won't be because of Leo, our photographer, but because my breads at the shoot didn't turn out as good as yours!).
I want to thank Mark Witt for all his hard work in setting up this new site. Many others have suggested similar ideas and offered to help, so I'm sure this will be an evolving process as you continue to communicate with one another (and I'll chime in when I can). I'll be be back in a few days to announce the kick-off. Till then, may your bread always rise!
Peter
