Lessons from King Arthur Flour
Sunday, July 26, 2009 at 4:27PM 
King Arthur Flour master baker Jeffrey HamelmanBy Larry Kilbourne
From July 9th through July 11th I experienced a second childhood of sorts: I spent three days at King Arthur Flour in Norwich, Vermont working to master classic french breads with twelve other bread aficionados (professional bakers and avid amateurs) under the tutelage of the center's director and master baker, Jeffrey Hamelman, and James MacGuire, author and master baker.
It was, as I related to them afterwards, summer camp for adults who like to play with dough. I hadn't had such fun since I was a camp counselor at a YMCA camp in Rhode Island forty years ago this summer!
I have been baking bread for nearly forty years now, beginning with a canoe trip on the Allegash waterway in Maine in 1971 when I was given a sourdough starter by a friend/classmate. Through the ensuing years I've baked frequently and infrequently, but I've always had a love for working with dough and the immediate feedback it gives you after a bake.
Not like a lot of real jobs I've had in marketing and business development, where it's often difficult to know exactly how successful you've been. But that's another story.
Here is what I learned about baguettes:
1- Baguettes are NOT traditional french breads. They first appeared in the 1930s.
2- A fresh baguette is never eaten right out of the oven. Yes, it tastes wonderful with melted butter, but it's the butter you're tasting, not the bread.
3- A just-baked baguette has a paper-thin crisp crust, and a moist chewy crumb. Its' flavor has a distinct sweetness - not from the addition of sugar, but from the natural sugars in flour which have caramelized in the baking process.
4- A well-made baguette is like a snowflake - a perfection that lasts for only a moment. A true baguette has a lifespan of perhaps six hours, after which it stales.
Here is what I learned about baking, having baked bread for nearly four decades:
1- I know just about nothing about bread and bread dough. It is chemistry (actually biochemistry) as much as it is artisan. Turns out I've been following recipes for forty years without any clue as to what was going on and why my bread turned out well. Sort of like paint-by-numbers: you can produce a reasonable facsimile of something with absolutely no comprehension of paints or canvas.
2- It is not a by-guess-and-by-god enterprise, although you can create edible bread by throwing approximate proportions of flour, water, salt and yeast together. But to produce not merely edible, but exemplary and artisan bread, you must measure everything - to the gram in most cases. And this includes the temperature of the ingredients as well as their weights. Much of the ROI in breadbaking is established because of the accountant-like behavior of professional bakers.
3- Despite the fact that bakers are, in many respects, like accountants, their bottom line is that the most beautiful loaf of bread will attract the most attention from buyers. Outward appearances count! It does not matter that two loaves of bread have been baked from the same batch of dough, in the same oven, for the same period of time: the loaf which is most pleasing to the eye is that which will be bought first. Baking may be chemistry, but it is equal parts art.
4- Bakers who are truly in love with their craft are in it for reasons that transcend monetary compensation. With few exceptions, bakers are never going to compete with "knowledge workers" in high tech industries. Not because they lack the knowledge or skills, but because in most countries - and especially the United States - bread is not valued as an essential part of our culture. Most of us go to the grocery once a week and buy our bread - for the week. The idea of buying a real baguette - which has a lifespan of about six hours - once or several times a day, is not only alien but unreasonable in our country. We just don't eat that way.
5- You cannot learn to be a baker by reading about it. This may seem obvious, trivial, or both. Yet how many skills in our new "knowledge workers" economy can be learned precisely through this passive medium? Skilled baking, like a host of other traditional activities, is the culmination of years of hands-on experience. Yes, much can be passed on in the form of books and articles and blogs, but in the end, nothing can replace the experience which allows a baker to know when a loaf has fully proofed (as opposed to under- or over-proofed), or is ready to be drawn from the oven. Artisan baking will always engage both lived experience and textbook knowledge.
6- Finally, there is nothing in my life so gratifying as pulling a loaf of freshly baked bread from an oven that earns the approval of 'ahs' from friends who cannot wait to dig into it.
There may be something here that marketing can benefit from, and that would be fine. Something bridging the gap between fluff and reality. But I'm satisfied with a slice from a freshly cooled loaf and some butter or good cheese!
Copyright © 2009 by Larry Kilbourne, Ph.D. Dr. Kilbourne is an independent marketing consultant. He may be reached at lkphd@yahoo.com.
Reader Comments (2)
Larry, what a fine piece of writing about your 3 days at King Arthur Flour. Thanks for sharing your thoughtful perspective on the experience. It made me realize, again, how much I rely on my ability to feel EXACTLY when yeast dough is "right," know when a ciabatta is perfectly risen, and look at a starter and realize it needs another 2 hours. And all due not to some innate talent for baking; but simply from over 30 years of making bread, and learning as I go. Here's to keeping bread central to our culture! - PJ Hamel, King Arthur baker/blogger
PJ- Thanks for your comment. I remember when we were about to put our first loaves of pain au levain into the oven and I innocently asked Jeffrey, "So, how long do they bake?" And his response, delivered straight-faced, went right to the point: "Until they are done." He and James were constantly challenging us to use our senses to tell us when things were at a correct point.
It was a wonderful experience and I'm certain I'll be back!