King Arthur Flour Ends Publication of Sift Magazine

This topic has 9 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 5 years ago by Mike Nolan.

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October 30, 2019 at 12:18 pm #18886
BakerAunt
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King Artur Flour announced that the Holiday issue of Sift Magazine would be the last. As I own all previous issues, I have gone ahead and ordered this one. I actually had plans not to order it after this year, since the last few issues have not had recipes that I should be baking. Sift had an initially strong start, and I still go back to issues from the first two years for recipes, but I have felt that the content has been more glitzy than useful this past season.

I subscribe to a competing magazine, Bake from Scratch, which started at about the same time, and which has likely captured the cake and cookie baking population. It has recently announced a joint venture with Bob's Red Mill for a year-long baking-teaching program. I plan to let my two-year subscription for Bake from Scratch run out this next year, since almost every one of its recipes is heavy on butter.

Spread the word
- This topic was modified 5 years ago by BakerAunt.
October 30, 2019 at 2:51 pm #18890
chocomouse
Participant
I, too, bought the first few issues, and then realized they are "more glitzy than useful". And -- many of the recipes, and a couple of the articles, are available on the KAF website. I'm curious to find out what they have planned for their next venture.
October 30, 2019 at 3:10 pm #18891
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
I saw a few issues in the grocery store, but none of them tempted me to buy them.

Magazine publishing is a tough business these days. Younger people don't read printed material much, they just look online, where recipes are usually free anyway.

I've not found a subscription recipe site that I thought was worth the money. I follow the recipes and reviews on the Washington Post site, which is behind their paywall, but that's not the reason I subscribe. They usually have two dozen or so Christmas cookie recipes that they post around Thanksgiving, I've probably printed out two dozen of them, made 10-15 of them, 3 or 4 were keepers as far as I was concerned.
October 31, 2019 at 11:27 am #18926
BakerAunt
Participant
I thought that Sift was becoming increasingly glitzy in trying to appeal to the demographic that Zen (now Pyewacket) dubbed "boutique bakers." I find that ironic in that this group is the most unlikely to pick up the magazine. The former publication, The Baking Sheet, in its last two iterations before ceasing publication, were more focused on the practical baker. With those publications I felt that I belonged to a group of bakers that wanted to learn and grow. I never felt that with Sift, which had a bit for beginning bakers but seemed to focus more on less everyday items.

I don't think King Arthur will have another regular publication.
- This reply was modified 5 years ago by BakerAunt.
October 31, 2019 at 4:42 pm #18928
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
I wonder if KAF has cut back or lost staff in the test kitchen. I haven't looked at their blog in several months.

I know PJ Hamel is still doing some work for KAF, but has moved to Cape Cod. I haven't heard from Susan Reid in several years, I don't know if she's still there. I know Jeffrey Hamelman retired a year or so ago, but he was in production, not editorial.
October 31, 2019 at 6:02 pm #18935
BakerAunt
Participant
Susan Reid was editing Sift. P.J. has now handed over the weekly blog to a new person. I don't know if she still does occasional articles.

I wonder if tall Frank is still among the bakers. He would pop into the Baking Circle with excellent advice.
November 1, 2019 at 2:03 pm #18952
aaronatthedoublef
Participant
Charlotte Rutledge is the test kitchen manager and sends out Sunday Recipes and I think she took over for PJ. Where I am flour is a bit out of fashion now. Most people are going gluten free or Keto and they use mixes to support this. Plus the people at the grocery stores don't know enough about the flours they do sell to help people pick the right product they need for baking.

Most magazines are going for glitz. Saveur used to be great and now it's a glorified travel magazine that uses food as an excuse to travel. They keep sending it to me even though I haven't subscribed in years. And it used to be fantastic. It was something every chef and pastry chef I knew recommended which is why I subscribed in the first place.
November 1, 2019 at 2:14 pm #18953
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
There are a couple of trade magazines for pastry chefs, they're quite expensive but the photography is incredible.

I ran across this article on books recommended by professional bakers and pastry chefs
8 cookbooks

I have 5 of the 8. (I have volumes 1 and 3 of the Tartine series but not volume 2.) One of the books listed is by Michel Suas, the founder of SFBI and a James Beard award winner for one of his bakery ventures. I bought his book when I was taking the pastry course at SFBI. I also have the CIA bakery textbook (by Gisslen), Cass sent it to me when he was downsizing apartments and I think of him every time I open it.
November 1, 2019 at 7:59 pm #18957
BakerAunt
Participant
I own two of them, but my attempt to bake a recipe from The Cake Bible did not go well, no doubt due to my ignorance about cakes at that time.

According to the latest issue of Sift, which listed five new cookbooks, it seems that Bernard Clayton's Small Breads (1998) may be being reissued, as it was listed with four other cookbooks from 2018 and 2019.
November 1, 2019 at 8:54 pm #18959
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
It isn't on that list, but I just ordered Apollonia Poilâne's The Secrets of the World-Famous Bread Bakery. She is the third generation of the Poilâne family to run the bakery, having had to take over rather abruptly after her father's untimely death.

We ordered a miche (their signature bread) from the Poilâne bakery a few years ago, it arrived via Fedex from Paris in less than 48 hours and was excellent!
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