King Arthur Flour

I had such an enjoyable day today with my mom and dear family friends! King Arthur Flour Company had Glendale, Arizona as one of their stops on a National Baking Tour, and we were lucky to have front row seats! The class was interesting, informative, and I definitely learned a few tricks, as well as finally understanding why I had some failures in the past. Our Instructor, Carolyn Hack, had a wealth of information to share. I just wish I had had the extra time to stay afterwords and bombard her with questions... another time I suppose.
For those of you not familiar with King Arthur Flour, it has been around for over 200 years, and I have to say is THE best flour I have ever used, especially when it comes to my breads and rolls. They never add bleach, bromate, or chemicals of any kind, which results in a pure, natural, and consistent product. I have used their Classic 100% whole wheat bread recipe for years (the recipe is on the back of the bag), and it is the only 100% whole wheat recipe I've ever used that has amazing flavor, rises perfectly, and has a wonderful texture. For those that have children that don't care for whole wheat, they have an amazing White Whole Wheat Flour that can be used instead.

They have thousands of fabulous recipes listed right on their site. Everything from baked goods to appetizers, family dinners to Super Bowl Treats. They are easy to follow recipes, and if you find yourself a bit challenged or simply have a question, you can email your questions to the baker and you'll be certain to get a response.

Every time I bake breads or cinnamon rolls as a gift I like to bake them in these Bake-and-Give pans. They always seem to add more of a special touch to something you've already put your heart into making. They aren't terribly expensive, and I usually buy a ton after Christmas when they have their wonderful clearance sales.

Sadly, we were not able to try any of the breads made today... something about the board of health not allowing them to do so. All of the ingredients smelled heavenly though, and I did manage to get a picture of the dough they used.

This is the Almond Filled Braid:

This is the Monkey Bread:
And these were the heavenly smelling Cinnamon Rolls:

They did have a tremendous amount of raffle prizes that sadly, I didn't win.

But they made up for it by giving everyone a small, pamphlet sized cookbook, a package of Red Star Yeast (with whom King Arthur has partnered with and who makes the baking classes free!) a dough scraper, and a $10 King Arthur gift card! It was definitely worth going to see. Check out their site to see if they are going to be in your area.