Back in 1990 the King Arthur “test kitchen” consisted of nothing more than a stand mixer, a 4-foot countertop, and an electric oven in the office breakroom. In that modest space, PJ Hamel and Brinna Sands worked part-time creating and grooming recipes for the newly launched Baker’s Catalogue and King Arthur Flour’s newsletter, The Baking Sheet.
More than three decades later, that small kitchen and staff has grown to King Arthur Baking’s large, fully equipped Test Kitchen. Today, Test Kitchen Manager Sarah Jampel, Senior Recipe Developer Molly Marzalek-Kelly, Recipe Tester Lydia Fournier, and Test Kitchen Coordinator Lee Clark make up the small but mighty team who, among them, produce hundreds of recipes a year, developing, baking, tweaking, baking … and baking again; some recipes are tested upward of 100 times.
The process includes weekly tastings, a highly anticipated gathering involving an assortment of recipes and multiple employee-owners from different parts of the company. At the end, each and every recipe shared with our customers is the very best it can possibly be, whether it’s a simple pan of brownies or a batch of delicate, flaky croissants.
Backed by the company’s Research and Development Team (the “baking scientists”), the Test Kitchen Team not only creates new recipes but is constantly grooming older ones: re-checking ingredients, adding new techniques, and working with our Creative Team to help update photos to make sure every cookie, bagel, and artisan sourdough loaf looks and tastes just as good in your own home kitchen as it does in ours. “We make all the mistakes so you don’t have to” — that’s our Test Kitchen motto, and we take it seriously. Your time and ingredients are valuable; we respect that, and it’s up to the King Arthur Test Kitchen to ensure you have the very best baking experience possible, week in and week out, year after year.
Happy baking!
