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