{"id":163,"date":"2008-12-06T00:16:26","date_gmt":"2008-12-06T06:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/halalkitchen.wordpress.com\/?p=163"},"modified":"2019-11-03T04:33:22","modified_gmt":"2019-11-03T10:33:22","slug":"king-arthur-flour-comes-to-chicagoland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myhalalkitchen.com\/king-arthur-flour-comes-to-chicagoland\/","title":{"rendered":"King Arthur Flour Comes to Chicagoland"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"911081_making_dough\"<\/a>Scanning through the local\u00a0paper can prove to be a rewarding endeavor for the thrifty cook\u00a0these days. I found myself lucky to see a tiny ad in the Chicago Tribune<\/em> about the King Arthur Flour Company<\/strong> coming to Palatine, IL for a free baking class,\u00a0one\u00a0of\u00a0their many free national classes!)<\/p>\n

There were actually two classes taking place in the Hotel Indigo that day (Thursday, November 13)- one in the early afternoon\u00a0called “Sweet & Savory Yeast Breads”, the one I attended; and another in the evening called “Festive Cookies\u00a0& Pies”. I was fortunate to see the ad Wednesday night,\u00a0sufficient time to plan my day around this opportunity.<\/p>\n

I arrived at the Hotel Indigo early enough to get a good seat near the front where I could clearly see and hear our baking instructor. I didn\u2019t want to miss a thing- sort of a deja vous of my college days attending\u00a0lectures by famed authors or politicians.<\/p>\n

I was kindly greeted by a friendly, slender young woman in a black\u00a0fleece vest who handed me a booklet entitled “Baking with King Arthur Flour”. At my seat, I perused the book for a few minutes, skimming through the various bread recipes. There were tips and hints on baking and on the last page a valuable coupon\u00a0towards the purchase of any variety of King Arthur Flour. I made a mental note to hit my local Shop \u2018N Save on my way home, knowing full well they carried this brand of flour\u2014and it was on sale this week.<\/p>\n

Before the class started, an employee, baker and editor of King Arthur’s bimonthly baking newsletter, The Baking Sheet, <\/em>Susan Reid, warmed up the crowd by testing our knowledge of baking and even telling a personal story about how she joined the 100% employee-owner company of King Arthur Flour, located in Norwich, VT. She also explained the interesting history behind this company, which dates back to Boston in 1790.<\/p>\n

Once the actual program began, all eyes were on the instructor, Carolyn Hack. Her gentle and inviting presence seemed to make everyone comfortable. As planned, she began to introduce the Sweet Bread Dough recipe she was to prepare.\u00a0 Her witty humor about dough, baking and life garnered everyone\u2019s attention, even the latecomers that filled up the back rows quietly. From Carolyn we all shared in the experience of learning valuable instructions about yeast, water temperature, flour and eventually kneading the dough. Here are just a few of the things I was surprised to learn:\u00a0<\/p>\n