Dear Panarians,

I am keen to tell you about the results of the The Survey that was sent out on September 20th.

I wish to send a hearty thanks to several hundred of you who filled it in and shared your thoughts with me. I was heartened by the warmth of so many of the contributions placed into the Comments section, and at such times I know that my enthusiasm for the craft of baking is appreciated by many who have joined PANARY’s baking community.

The three main questions were overwhelmingly endorsed:

Qn 1, would you like to see excerpts of my book, work-in-progress? 90% said YES

Qn. 2, interested in purchasing baker’s equipment through the website? 84% for YES

Qn. 3, fancy a regular (weekly?) email featuring bakers’ tips? 93% for YAY

As a result, these are the things I am going to attend to immediately:

• Regular newsletters, fortnightly, with tips as well as PANARY news, and periodic excerpts from the book.
• Availability of my equipment list for any who request it as an interim measure before I can mount Equipment Sales as a section on the website. If you wish to make a purchase, we arrange payment through bank transfer or cheque.

Your Comments

You have provided many issues and topics for me to consider deeply. Some of them concern the quality of the experience you get when attending a PANARY course, some were to do with the future direction PANARY should take in providing its core service of teaching breadmaking and nurturing students’ emerging skills. For all of it I am grateful, and can truthfully say that I intend to implement many suggestions.

MY RESPONSES to your Comments

There will be new one-day courses created, e.g.,
flatbreads;

• different types of sponges and their recommended use;
• mixed grain breads, capturing styles more Germanic and Nordic
  sweet doughs
• patisserie/viennoiserie/ e.g. Danish

The website section on Course Descriptions will feature a simple indication of courses being sub-divided into

• Beginners
• Intermediate
• Advanced

A new system of follow-up emails after you have attended a course will

• encourage your questions about implementing techniques you learned on the course
• Provide more guidance on how to choose the next most appropriate course and when
• offer discounts on further courses that will follow a sliding scale such as 5% off a second course; 10% off third; 15% off fourth

Continue Reading

Dear Panarians,

Just a quick note to let you know that you can now find PANARY on Twitter!

I have included details for how to find me below:

• Twitter username: @panaryuk
• Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/@panaryuk

I’m intending to be quite active on Twitter and will use it to share lots of interesting news, baking tips, photos from courses, q&a’s and more.Continue Reading