Maine’s Kneading Conference for Bread, Beer and Fun

 Just got home from a Kneading Conference in Showhegan Maine. Oh my goodness did I get an earful and a full stomach. We ate and ate bread all week tasting, learning about local grains from Maine Grains, and eating fresh local, organic food grown nearby. I met dozens of famous bread makers, chefs, bakery owners, recipe developers, garage bakers, homesteaders, and just people who love to bake bread and feed people. Beesham Soogrim  “Beesham the Baker” from Sweden catered all of our delicious meals.  Don Guerra from Barrio Bread who won the 2022 James Beard Award for Outstanding Baker in southern Arizona gave the keynote speech, Jacqueline Eng from Party Bus Bakeshop gave a naturally leavened hearth bread and baguette class at Kennebec Valley Community College the day before the conference started, Dan Leader from Bread Alone and Dr Gemma Humbly-Smith from The Supplant Company spoke about reducing food waste in the baking field about utilizing the wheat stalk which when adding to the flour adds eight times more fiber than regular flour. Unfortunately, I didn’t arrive early enough to attend Dan’s class, but I did find myself getting into Skowhegan early enough to take Jaqueline Eng’s course. There were many more chefs and bakers. I will have to make a part II of this blog just to include everyone.

Me and my son Curtis in Freeport Maine at Tuscan Bistro

My adventure began when my son Curtis and I were driven to the San Francisco Airport by my husband Ken on Tuesday around 11:30AM. Ken stayed home to care for the farm. Curtis and I flew to Boston Logan Airport and proceeded to get a shuttle to the Town Place Suites. It was a long day and I didn’t have a TV that worked on Jet Blue, but I listened to podcasts and slept.

The hotel was fine and we were literally only there for a limited time. We shuttled back to the airport to rent the car and my son Curtis was able to talk the sales guy into giving us the upgraded Infinity Q50s for only $10.00 more dollars a day. Sweet!

This was the first time my 38 yr old son Curtis and I have traveled together and it was a hoot. We both have anxiety at some level, so we kept each other honest and real. We drove towards Showhegan only stopping once for lunch and libations at Tuscan Bistro in Freeport Maine as our final destination would take three hours. It wasn’t a cake walk getting to the University, or the class but we eventually made it there. Curtis dropped me off to check into the VRBO in Hartland Maine next to Moosehead Lake.

Jacqueline Eng, PartyBus Bakeshop teaching a bread class at Kennebec Valley Community College’s Kneading Conference 2023

I quickly felt at home there at the community college kitchen since I have taken lots of baking classes at our own Diablo Valley Junior College near my home over 20 years ago and have worked as a sous chef at lots of cooking classes at Andronico’s Market and Draeger’s Market. 

I was able to make my own personal with a high hydration levain loaf, using the autolyse method and adding whichever add-ins I wanted. They offered several types of flours from Maine Grains, all with different protein levels. Khorasan, rye, buckwheat, spelt, red fife, kamut and more. I used the high 75% extraction mixed flours which had the bran and germ sifted out which makes a lighter flour. Plus I added a kamut flour, sesame seeds, quinoa, flax seeds, molasses, olive oil and walnuts in my loaf. These loaves were baked off two days later at the kneading conference and had to wait until the pizza class had ended to use their oven.

This was my loaf after I added all of my ingredients, which unfortunately I didn’t get to try

I didn’t get around to looking for my loaf until day three. It was practically impossible to find my loaf because each loaf had a name taped at the bottom, but most were skewed and I just grabbed one that could have been mine. I didn’t grab my loaf, cause the one I cut today for breakfast was very plain. I did take a friend Cat’s loaf who had to leave the conference a day early. I gave it to the bartender Alexis at Bloomfield’s Tavern that evening where Curtis and I met for Allagash Beer and cocktails. Alexis’ father had a bakery that she worked at when she was a teen, so she was excited to be given the bread. I was hoping she and my son would hit it off. I’m always trying to get my boys married off. Shhh. Don’t tell them. Ohh. And we happened to see one of the presenters, Philadelphia chef Alex Bois, owner of Lost Bread Co.  Alex is a James Beard Rising Star Chef Award winner and owns one of the best bakeries in the country according to Food and Wine Magazine. 

I could go on and on about the event. It was magical. I’m home with dozens of recipes, new Instagram people to follow, and tons of inspiration to bake and feed people. I’m grateful for my husband Ken who graciously let me attend this even though it was all the way across the country. He attended to my vegetables, flowers and more importantly the chickens at the farm.

These wild flower arrangements were arranged all over the picnic tables and at each table to brighten our day. Many of these grow wild along the highways

More fun stories in part II and recipes to follow. Thanks for joining me and I’m in awe at all the love and support my fellow blog followers have given me through the years.

Teri