Kneading Conference East 2013: Crackers, Wood-fired Ovens & Tandoor Baking. (Recipes)

All of the baking at the conference was done in wood-fired ovens, which needed to be kept warm all night for the next days bake. (all photos copyrighted and credited to: Edmund Rek/rekfotos.com)

Evelyn’s Crackers participated in the Kneading Conference again this year. Co-teaching three workshops with Naomi Duguid: Crackers, Tandoor Baking and Grain Tasting was like a homecoming seeing many of the familiar faces of fellow lecturers and attendees. The conference draws some of the best talent in bread baking, oven building and anything related to dough or grains (even rice this year) making the event one not to miss.

We owe thanks a group of Skowhegan residents who were motivated to address wheat production as an important cornerstone of a growing local food movement. The first Kneading Conference was held in July of 2007 in the heart of Somerset County,

“where wheat production fed over 100,000 people annually until the mid-1800′s. Reviving wheat varieties that succeed in Maine’s climate is not only a realistic goal, but a critical one in light of rising transportation costs and the recognition that food security must rely on local farms. By bringing together the diverse stakeholders who collectively can rebuild lost infrastructure and create demand for local and regional grain systems – farmers, millers, bakers, chefs, wheat researchers – on-the-ground plans take shape. In Maine, the Kneading Conference has been the impetus for start-ups amongst a growing cluster of grain related businesses.” http://kneadingconference.com/

Multiple workshops were going on simultaneously and the images below capture only a fraction of the offering from the Kneading Conference. The open venue is airy and relaxed. One can mingle from one class to another and serves as a model for the Kneading Conference West coming up in September near Seattle, Washington and other agricultural areas interested in reviving local farming heritage.

A view of our outdoor workshop with our own copper covered hearth in the background.

The rolling pins are without handles for offer a better feel for the dough become an extension of the your hands.

Stamping the rye crackers with Middle Eastern bread stamps before being baked in the wood-fired oven.

A beautiful rustic rye cracker stamped by wooden handled bread stamps from the Middle East.

Sour dough bagels waiting to be baked for a few minutes before being flipped.

Bagels going into the oven. They had to be turned on their backs and baked for a few minutes on the wooden board as not to stick to the “floor” of the oven.

As varied and versatile as the workshop program was, so were the types of ovens at the fairgrounds for the bakers to use. This one was placed on cinder blocks, most were on movable trailers.

Tandoor baking class with Naomi Duguid.

Stretching the dough before baking it in the Tandoor.

Carefully adding the dough to the sides of the tandoor oven.

A piece of naan bread ready to come out of the Tandoor oven. The long steel tools hold the bread in place and pull it from the oven sides at the same time.

Fresh from the Tandoor.

Rye bread dough ready to be shaped.

Barak Olins has shaped his rye dough that will be baked in the copper covered wood oven.

Rye bread just out of the wood-fired oven.

The most important part of a wood-fired oven. The door.