I received this and thought that some of you might be interested in
attending the Sunday session.
Brick Oven Bakers Conference 2000
The date is set for the Second Brick Oven and Bakers Conference for
November 17th-19th 2000. (The first brick oven and bakers conference was
held at the home of Jules and Helen Rabin on the 20th July 1983). This
conference will attempt to expand the agenda that the title suggests to
include discussion of milling and even growing grains, and the all
important relationships necessary to keep a business viable, all in the
context of being hands on, small scale and local.
This conference will be held at the Headlands Center for the Arts near
Sausalito California where they have great facilities not only for a small
conference but also have a very large kitchen and dining area that
features a wood fired oven that has a hearth of 4'x6'. This oven will be in
constant use during the conference both for educational purposes and to
bake much of the delicious food that will be served each day.
One of the requirements for having the conference at the Arts Center is
that it be open to the public on the last day, Sunday. Friday the
conference will be a very informal day of arriving, gathering together,
introductions, firing up the oven with lunch available for early birds and
a dinner together for everyone at 8pm. Saturday, 9am to 9pm will be
divided into discussion groups; ovens, baking, milling , grains and
growing, other. Prominent attendees will include Roger Jansen of Jansen
Stone Mills who will demonstrate dressing a stone mill, Tim Deckker of
Bennett Valley Bakery who recently won 11 golds at the Sonoma State Fair
and who will talk on firing and oven efficiency, A continental breakfast,
la inch and an evening dinner will be served.
Sunday, leaders will be selected to give more formal presentations to both
conference attendees and the public on the major topics of discussion from
the previous day. Again a continental breakfast and lunch will be
available. The program must end at 4pm Sunday. Concurrently to these
activities will be a continuous program of bread and other baking in the
brick oven starting from basic grains and milling in some cases. To begin
the program will be Keith Giusto baking on Friday evening using his newly
developed stone ground organic flours that he will discuss on the following
days. Other bakers will include Dave Miller using his ultra fresh
Biodynamic whole grain flours, Dan Wing co author of "The Bread Builders"
and others in both the Whole Grain and Artisan tradition.
There will be a fee for the conference to help cover the costs of providing
great food throughout, other necessary expenses and support for those in
need of assistance. This fee will be $100 with a sliding scale for
students/apprentices or the needy. Couples pay as one. Facilities are
limited to 60 participants.
Accommodations are tight at this time of year but there is a youth hostel
in San Francisco at Fort Mason, (and one next door to the Headlands Art
Center but is supposedly booked out for this weekend), and camping
possibilities at most of the parks in the area and to the north. Bed and
Breakfast inns are in profusion in Marin especially in West Marin. For a
map to the Headlands Center for the Arts go to
http://www.headlands.org/Directions/