5th Annual Kneading Conference & Artisan Bread Fair

The 5th annual KNEADING Conference will be held Thursday, July 28th and Friday, July 29th in Skowhegan, Maine. The Kneading Conference brings together novice and professional bakers, grain farmers and millers, researchers, wood-fired oven enthusiasts and anyone who loves to eat handcrafted breads for two-days of participatory workshops, presentations, and panel discussions.

The Maine Artisan Bread Fair will be held on Saturday, July 30th.  Free and open to the public, the Bread Fair is a popular summer festival that draws people looking forward to sampling fresh-baked breads and pizza from wood-fired ovens, talking to professional bakers, listening to live music, and finding out about the best baking equipment, tools, books, Maine cheeses, organic milkshakes, hand-woven kitchen towels, antique kitchen wares, fresh farm foods, and more.

Both events take place at the Skowhegan State Fairgrounds, the longest continuously running agricultural fairground in the United States.

It’s about time! Wheat is growing at the Fairgrounds for harvest during the conference. We are grateful to Hight Chevrolet, owners of the Fairgrounds, for giving us permission to convert a corner of their parking field into a grain trial.  Last September Garin Smith of Grassland Organic Farm prepared the soil.  As soon as the snow leaves the ground he will plant the seed. With a little help from the weather, we’ll have a patch of wheat for the scythe demonstration, and local wheat berries to clean and mill and compose into loaves of bread.

We will continue to update the website and send out information about the 2011 presenters, topics, and sponsors. Please check back, sign up for e-mails and also, let us know if you have any questions.

Find us here online: http://www.kneadingconference.com/

Find registration and payment information here: http://kneadingconference.com/registration-information/.