The Kneading Conference |

2012 Kneading Conference

2012 marks the sixth year of the Kneading Conference and what an exciting year it has been. Thanks to a generous grant from the Quimby Family Foundation, we purchased a beautiful wood-fired oven to use for school and community baking workshops and fundraisers; we helped organize the first Kneading Conference West – standing room only; we incorporated as a nonprofit, the Maine Grain Alliance; and we measured...

Our Wood Fired Oven

With a generous grant from the Quimby Family Foundation the Maine Grain Alliance purchased a custom-designed portable wood-fired oven from the Barden family, owners of Maine Wood Heat. MGA took delivery in July of 2011 and she is a beauty! The trailer is built to withstand the abuse from Maine’s rural roads and to accommodate the needs of the baking workshops that the MGA has organized for schools and...

Maine Artisan Bread Fair

The Maine Artisan Bread Fair, 2010, was beyond any of our wildest expectations. After its very successful birth last year, we worked hard to sustain growth. The number of vendors grew dramatically from year 1. Needing more space, we moved to the Skowhegan Fairgrounds and filled Constitution Hall and its surroundings with a satisfying mix of businesses ranging from bakers, oven builders and equipment sellers to...

Earth Oven Workshop

Stu Silverstein is an artist who bakes a lot of bread, builds earth ovens and writes about the process. The Earth Oven building workshop is annually one of the most popular events. It’s entirely hands on and a lot of fun. In Stu’s workshop, participants constructed earth ovens that were taken home by a lucky few. On Thursday morning participants made five ovens, and in the afternoon were eating flat...

Major Sponsor King Arthur...

King Arthur Flour is proud to Sponsor the 2011 Kneading Conference and Artisan Bread Fair. “Education and commitment to quality are cornerstones of our business,” says Tom Payne, marketing director at King Arthur Flour. “We are committed to improving grain quality whether it’s with our family and cooperative farmers in the Midwest or regional grain growers in New England. Education is a cooperative effort...

Your Stories

David Koubek dreamed of becoming the artisan baker for his town in mid-coast Maine. The practice loaves he baked in his home oven made it clear to his wife Jessica that though rich in love his bread was lacking in other, more recognizable qualities of a good loaf

July 26 and 27, 2012

The 6th annual KNEADING Conference will be held in Skowhegan, Maine on Thursday, July 26th and Friday, July 27th and the Artisan Bread Fair will follow on Saturday July 28th. The Kneading Conference brings together novice and professional bakers,

2012 KEYNOTES

Two exceptional raconteurs, Ben Hewitt and William Alexander, will start the conference mornings with riveting tales of mighty stubbornness. Ben will describe how one small town refused to die by rethinking its relationship to food. Bill will retrace his year-