King Arthur Flour | Baking Education

Last weekend I was presented with the opportunity to participate in baking classes at the The King Arthur Flour Baking Education Center. My friends and I partook in a number of hands on baking classes with the centers director, Susan Miller. She was down-to-earth, super nice and patient. I'm pretty sure I speak for all of us when I state we were in awe of the facilities and pumped for the afternoon that awaited us.

At KAF they welcome all bakers no matter your level of expertise! The group of us ranges from those who consider baking a serious passion - like Megan who used to work at Boston's Flour Bakery, Jen who's blog is appropriately titled Beantown Baker, and Kerstin from Cake, Batter, and Bowl who's winning recipes have been featured on Pillsbury's Bake-Off and Food Network’s Ultimate Recipe Showdown. The other extreme ranges to those intimidated by baking - ahem, myself. I am definitely a novice, having never made a homemade dough - not a loaf of bread, nor a homemade pizza - my baking pretty much consists of making a batch of cookies and banana bread once or twice a year. 

We got to learn three different recipes: pizza dough, multi-seed cracker bread and whole wheat double fudge brownies. Throughout the afternoon we watched a series of demonstrations by Susan.  She would gather us around her station at the front of the classroom to demonstrate a few steps, show us proper techniques and offer helpful tips before sending us off to our stations to execute, stopping by to visit and help us out along the way.

She must have felt like a celebrity - with ten members of the paparazzi snapping her photo at any given moment during the demonstration sessions. She continued flawlessly with the task at hand, teaching some invaluable lessons to her students eager to capture it all on camera.The pizza dough lesson was woven throughout the afternoons recipes, as even us non-bakers know, it takes time for dough to rise. For simplicities sake, I will flow through the pizza making in its entirety - beginning with the first steps of adding dry ingredients to the very last step of the day which was baking them in the wood fired oven. The ingredients required for the dough are minimal and fairly simple!

-2 cups (8 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) olive oil
- About 1/2 - 3/4 cup (4-6 ounces) warm water.We were taught the proper way to measure flour. A true cup of flour weighs 4 1/4 ounces and the trick to obtaining the proper measurement is to fluff the flour gently and sprinkle it into a single dry-cup measure (do not pack the flour) and scrape off the excess at the top with a straight edge. (The back of your hand is not a straight edge.) Second, we learned that when combining the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, pour them in separate piles so you can always remember where you left off should you be interrupted.
Third, it is important to remember when stirring in the water, add the last few tablespoons slowly to determine if they are needed. The consistency of the dough can vary depending on preference. A wet dough is more challenging to work with, but can prove easier to stretch. Once the ingredients are mixed thoroughly the shaggy mass of dough can be removed from the bowl and onto a lightly floured work surface for kneading. Flour should be incorporated sparingly, only when needed. Kneading dough is a gentle process involving three steps - fold towards you, push away from you, rotate 90 degrees and repeat until smooth and shiny. "Beating up" the dough is strongly discouraged and to many of our surprises, exerting force and pressure is not the proper technique. Then, we allowed the dough to rise in an oiled-covered bowl until doubled in bulk. At one point we took the dough out, folded it into quarters like a business letter, and placed it back in the bowl to rise some more. Once it rose completely it was time to shape the pizza! Achieving a round disk is easier said than done. Susan encouraged creativity in our dough shape stating if they didn't turn out round they would simply be Artisan Pizzas. We began by patting our dough into a thin disk, then picking it up and rotating at the edges, stretching them until thin and slowly moving the dough wider apart. Once the desired thickness was achieved we laid the the dough on a semolina covered board, shaping it a little more before adding the toppings for Pizza Margherita. Less is more when it comes to toppings. You don't want to overload the pizza with sauce or cheese which can cause the already thin dough to sag or even break. Then we baked the pizza in KAF's state of the art ($10,000!) outdoor woodfired oven. Outside inhaling the crisp Vermont air, the smells and sights of our pizzas rising in the oven and enjoying the surrounding company was a great way to end the afternoon. Check out my final product - sprinkled with fresh basil and Parmesan cheese. In the beginning stages of that lovely artisan pizza, as my first batch of homemade dough was rising, we split off in pairs to create our multi-seed crackerbread and double fudge brownies. Susan began by explaining that whole wheat flour goes rancid after 6 months - and passed around an example of flour gone bad (it smells) and clean flour (odorless for the most part.) This was an enjoyable exercise that had quite a few group members admitting they had been unknowingly using rancid flour. Epiphanies were exclaimed - "No wonder that loaf of bread I tried to bake failed miserably!" I teamed up with Meghan where we shared the measuring and mixing duties. From one large ball of whole wheat dough, to smaller more manageable pieces, to rolled out strips seasoned with elements such as fresh cut herbs from the KAF garden and sesame seeds. They were ready to be baked to a crisp! Finished crackers! Next up: Brownies made using ingredients such as whole wheat flour, espresso powder and bittersweet chocolate chips. I thought the baking brownies from scratch could be effectively summed up in pictures! We were asked to write our names on our trays. Someone cracked me up by writing this instead:
What a day my friends, what.a.day.  The culture at King Arthur Flour is one of respect and integrity, from the products they sell to the atmosphere they create. Susan's honest enthusiasm, kindness and generosity fostered a meaningful and rewarding experience. The baking classes were informative, hands-on, and fun! It took a special commitment and dedicated efforts to host us, allowing the opportunity to learn about the company and participate in Baking Education. These classes are so worthwhile and would make a great gift!!