Fornax,

A Roman goddess, who is said to have been worshipped that she might ripen the corn, and prevent its being burnt baking in the oven (fornax.) Her festival, the Fornacalia, was announced by the curio maximus. (Ov. Fast. ii. 525, &c.; Festus, s. v. Fornacalia.) Hartung (die Relig. d. Röm. vol. ii. p. 107) considers her to be identical with Vesta. (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Fornacalia.)

Fornax, is the Roman goddess of breadmaking. She held power over the ovens, and it was She who made sure that a fire would not spread and destroy the home. The Fornacalia or Feast of the Ovens is held in Her honor. In earliest times, each family brought an unbaked loaf to the common oven that served the baking needs of the small community. As communities grew larger, She was honored with an offering of bread and a communal feast.

She was invoked by the farmers so She might ripen the grain and prevent it from being burnt while baking in the oven.  She has sometimes been regarded as identical with Vesta, but at all events She was the goddess of the furnace.  She was the patroness of bakers.

To celebrate  this goddess, bake some bread on this day to share with your friends and family.  Also scatter some crumbs to the birds with your wishes for health, prosperity, and a happy home.

Tomorrow we Chicago Amateur Bread Bakers celebrate our first anniversary. As part of the festivities, we're experimenting with some new activities for the new year. 

#BreadChat is a discussion hour for bakers of yeasted, artisanal breads. We will meet on Twitter and tag our tweets with #BreadChat. (Many thanks to our friends at #SeedChat for inspiring us to take on this new project!)

Join us for our first #BreadChat on Saturday, February 11, from 1:00-2:00 pm Chicago time (UTC/GMT -6 hours). That's 19:00-20:00 London time, 20:00-2100 in Berlin, 21:00-22:00 in Helsinki, 6:00-7:00 am Sunday in Sydney, 

Find us by searching for and clicking on the #BreadChat hashtag on Twitter.

@AmateurBakers will lead the discussion through a handful of questions related to yeasted bread baking. To suggest a question to include in the discussion, please email it to breadchat [at] amateurbakers [dot] org by midnight (Chicago time), Friday, February 10.

Meet us at Chicago Amateur Bread Bakers.

Follow us @AmateurBakers.

Recaps, recipes, and news: www.amateurbakers.org

Several weeks ago I had bread in a restaurant that had the crumb of angel food cake, and noticeable very white just like the cake.   btw it was very tastey.  Does anyone have info on this type of bread and how I might get that texture.  Thanks

I just (hooray!) made almond paste for the first time.  I made half the recipe in ITJB.  I used my food processor and added a couple TBSP of water after the almonds were processed the first time, and that enabled the mixture to be finer and smoother.  I didn't have kirsch or simple syrup, so I used 1 1/2 tsp. of almond extract.  I think next time I'll try using my super-duper blender, which I think will grind the almonds finer, but I'm not complaining (see below).

I want to bake almond horns from ITJB, and I am stumped.  The recipe calls for two additions of egg whites, "beaten."  But HOW beaten?  Does that mean with a whisk or fork for a minute or two or does that mean incorporating air?  I suppose it would specify if the latter, but I want to be sure.  Here's that beautiful almond paste:

I would like to make pasta, noodles, spinach fettuccine, etc.  If I am at it I would like to make a large quantity.  My question: How do I store it?    I would hang it and dry it, then bag it.   I fresh pasta in the stores in a refrigerator case.. but if you dry it why does it need refrigeration?    I would also like to sell it at farmers markets, but if it needs refrigeration I can't.   I have been looking at recipes for a combo of AP Flour and Semolina.  However, I have durum semolina I use in bread and would substitute that for the courser flour, and maybe some whole wheat pasta as well.  

since i hate jumping on here with every question under the sun, and, in the end, all i really want to do is make a loaf of tasty french bread (and the occasional sour dough loaf) - i was wondering if someone could recommend a book that would handle the basic questions, i.e. someone mentioned 'fermentation' and i had no idea what they were talking about! i would like to learn the basics and obviously i could use this forum and others, but if i dont know what to ask about, then they arent much use.

i just really want to learn the basics of bread making and am hoping there is a book out there on the market that would help me?

many thanks!

I've been using Semolina flour to dust my peels for bread but I can only find it online or at an Amish shop about an hour from my home (and Ive only been there once; how I have my Semolina flour now). I've found it to be rather expensive online and so when I bought white rice flour at less than three dollars I was wondering if perhaps it could to be used (for dusting, not bread itself) instead of semolina as it seems to have the same consistancy. Consistancy may not mean much but if I can cut costs and still have a slick peel with a burn-resistant flour, I'm game.

Hi there, first time poster here - I'm a relative new comer to home baking but am knocking out some pretty good hybrid Sour-dough loaves (100% hydration, 2-3 gms yeast to 500g flour)  I've recently decided to give baguettes a go and am reasonably happy with the result of the crumb, crust etc, BUT I can't find any information about getting the risen baguette off the linen cloth onto the tray with any resemblence of the gorgeousness it had on the cloth.  I have been lifting them off, which results in a deflated fatter middle and  elongated ends.  It puffs up nicely in the oven but looks more like a long oval loaf than a classic long skinny baguette :(   Rolling them off onto the tray seems logical but how do you do that when there's more that one baguette?  I am using a floured linen tea-towel not a proper cloche, so its not as sturdy as I imagine one of those would be, but nevertheless the successful transfer from one to t'other still remains a mystery to me - any ideas??  THANKS!!

ps any ideas on how to make the most of this incredibly lush site?  I'm full already but am sure there are so many hidden delights and maybe even an answer to this question....

http://www.foodferret.com/#ttl=%2BWhole%20%2Bwheat%20%2Bbread&m=normal&n2131-sourdough%20starter=on&n94-yeast=on&x322-baking%20soda=on&x349-soft%20drink=on&d=0&g=&p=1

The site above allows you to search recipes for any word combination, also to include and exclude ingredients.

The page I linked to is a search for whole wheat + bread, included sourdough starter and yeast, a couple of items excluded. You can easily exclude by clicking on (exc) next to the listed ingredients.

Although I live in Edinburgh, I went to Alnwick in Northumberland having seen here that Andy was having a stall at the Farmers' Market today.  I met a friend but stupidly chatted too long over coffee, so that by the time we got to the Market at about midday, Andy had almost completely sold out of his bread and pastries !  I bought the very last Foccacio, and my friend bought some palmiers.  It was really nice to meet Andy and put a face to a name, to hear about his plans for the future, and to see pictures of his wood fired oven.  He had also been featured by the local newspaper - all brilliant.   A great start, I must just get there earlier next time !