Last week I had an opportunity that made me squeal with delight: I was invited to the Blog & Bake™ conference at King Arthur Flour’s Baking Education Center. Many thanks to Allison Furbish and the King Arthur Flour team for three days of pure baking heaven.
Fair warning: I’m about to geek out in a big fan-girl way.
If you’ve read my site before, you know how much I love to bake. Baking has been my art form and comfort since childhood. If I’m happy, worried, excited, nervous, or celebrating, I bake. It’s how I show care.
Over the years I’ve tried many flours, but when I began pursuing baking seriously I made a conscious choice to use King Arthur Flour. I’ll explain more about that in a future post. For now, I want to share why I was thrilled to attend the third annual King Arthur Flour Blog & Bake™ event.
For years I’ve eagerly read The Baker’s Catalogue, King Arthur’s recipe and merchandise publication. I study each issue for the tested recipes and the inspiration. My stepmom subscribed to The Baking Sheet, their bi-monthly baking newsletter, which introduced many of our family’s favorite special-occasion recipes. I also knew King Arthur offered classes at their Baking Education Center for everyone from beginners to advanced bakers, and I’d long wanted to take one. So when the invitation arrived, I jumped at it.
Blog & Bake™ was a three-day program to learn versatile recipes from King Arthur’s baking educators, meet the employee-owners who make the company special, and network with talented bloggers.
Hogwash Farm and Killdeer Farm, Norwich, Vermont:
We toured two local farms central to the farm-to-table movement: Hogwash Farm and Killdeer Farm — both fantastic names and beautiful operations.
Behold baby bacon:
And not-so-baby bacon enjoying day-old baguettes from the King Arthur Bakery.
We met Jacob’s sheep at Hogwash Farm — those horned sheep are amazing (some can have multiple horns).
I was tempted to dive into the baby lettuces right in the field. If only there’d been balsamic at the ready…
At Killdeer Farm, owner Jake Guest shared clever, sustainable pest-control ideas — beneficial insects used like tiny garden ninjas.
Cabot Cheese:
Cabot sent a farmer spokesperson to speak about their commitment to sustainable agriculture. Their farmers are passionate and genuinely invested in quality and stewardship.
We met a Cheddar master and cheese grader who led a tasting and explained how they evaluate their cheeses,
and their chef treated us to a delicious meal.
They even brought a friend from Harpoon Brewery with some tasty brews to pair with the food.
Simon Pearce Restaurant and Glass Shop:
We enjoyed a demonstration and dinner at Simon Pearce Restaurant with Chef Jarod Rockwell, who prepared a beautiful meal while sharing techniques and flavor ideas.
The plated dishes were worth the eager forks and hungry faces.
We also watched Simon Pearce’s astonishing glassblowers create signature pieces — precision, heat, and artistry in motion.
The King Arthur Flour Baking Education Center:
The centerpiece of the trip was the tour of King Arthur Flour’s Baking Education Center and the group classes. Chef Susan Reid and her team demonstrated flour performance by baking many muffins, giving clear comparisons between King Arthur flours and others. Instructor Amber Eisler, Jessica Meyers, Robyn Sargent, and Susan Miller taught hands-on sessions covering perfect pizza dough (including wood-fired, brick-oven pizza), bread basics, the ideal pie crust, and a quick blitz puff pastry. I’ll share those recipes soon, but here’s a peek at what we did.
Meet the other Blog & Bake™ participants
I had the pleasure of meeting many talented bloggers and food writers during the event, including contributors from The Baker Chick, Nutmeg Nanny, Heirloom Meals, Spiced, In Erika’s Kitchen, Adventures in Cooking, Tiny Urban Kitchen, Bake or Break, Food Babbles, Healthy Seasonal Recipes, Cooking with Books, and Tara from Ladies’ Home Journal.
Does this make you want to bake some bread?
I don’t blame you. The trip left me so inspired that in the week after I baked ten loaves of bread and made pizza for my family. I’m already planning to return to the Baking Education Center to take a class with siblings and friends.
Tomorrow I’ll share a recipe inspired by my time at King Arthur Flour: Roasted Garlic Rustic Sourdough Boule. It’s every bit as good as it sounds — great bread is meant to be shared.
XO
Rebecca
Disclosure: King Arthur Flour provided lodging, classes, and meals for this event. I provided my own transportation and all opinions here are my own.