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| Here are the instructions to get to Peter Reinhart's Best Breads Recipe Testers Forum and Gallery |
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Recipe Testers March NewsletterYou may pass this newsletter along with instructions (scroll down) on how to log onto both the forum and the gallery by copying and pasting the link below. Send it to other testers or to friends who are interested in bread making. http://www.breadtechnique.com/recipetesters.html Our first full month of operation has come to a close. The progress is amazing, the participation good, the discussions enlightening and the bread pictures beautiful. In the month since Peter announced the start up of the sites (there are two) we have attracted over 185 members. In the gallery we have added 350 photos in 30 albums and 60 people have left comments. There have been over 9700 times that photographs were viewed. This is real knowledge sharing. The photos tell the tale of our successes, methods, friends and our group. Please continue to contribute! Post a BIO if you choose, there are four there to start. It’s always nice to know what our peers look like and how they came to this love of bread making. In the forum the recipe discussions show just how seriously Peter Reinhart's Recipe Testers are about their bread. Beyond the recipe discussion are boards for events, workshops and ‘chit chat' suggested by a member, Mare. Anthoer member, Xaipete, asked that a recipe board for seeded crackers be added. Both of those features were added for your participation. The forum’s members have posted over 700 messages in 95 topics and the number of posts just keeps growing. Xaipete has agreed to serve as our global moderator and I want to take a moment to acknowledge her work on the forum. Peter talks about the testers’ efforts, the forum and much more in his presentation at the Omnivore Bookstore event. Click here to watch the 75 minute talk about his career as a teacher and its spiritual nature. If you read Peter's blog you know that testing reopened last Sunday. The email requests on that day numbered over 100 and about 50 were enthusiastic new testers who had never participated before! Please feel free to drop me personal message in the forum with your suggestion(s). You can also reach me at markwitt@breadtechnique.com.
The Gallery
www.breadtechnique.com/gallery
The Best Breads Gallery is our place to upload pictures and share
our successful and problematic results. More than that, it's a place to share
techniques and bread made with or without the test recipes. The first
time you visit you may not even register as a user – you don't have to just to
view the albums. There are a few starter photographs to get things
going. As an unregistered visitor you may view any photo album but you
may not upload new pictures.
To add photographs to the gallery you'll need to register.
Just below the title of the gallery are four options:
Home * Register * FAQ* Login
Click on the word register and you will be presented with
the terms of use of the gallery. After you click the 'I agree' button a
form appears. You must enter three pieces of information: your desired
username, your password (twice) and your email address. While it is possible
to use your email address as a username, as in some other websites, this is not
a good idea. Your username will appear below any photographs you place on
the website. Keeping your email address less visible is better. You
can also add some additional information about yourself if you like, but this
is optional.
Once you click "submit registration" your username is
created. Click * Login * on the top line to get access. Enter your username and
password. If you check the box labeled 'remember me' you won't have
to log in from the computer you started your membership with. If you use
another computer (say at the library) the username and password will be needed,
so write it down and keep it in a safe place. If you loose your password
there is a place to click on the login screen to have it sent to your email
address.
Adding pictures to the gallery is not too complicated. There
is a size restriction on the photos you may want to upload, about 1024 K.
This is the size of digital camera picture set to produce a 4x6 print. It will vary from camera to
camera. If your picture is too big to upload it will need to be
resized. This can probably be done with the software that came with your
camera. If you need help with this email markwitt@breadtechnique.com including a phone number and a best time to call.
After a successful login the top menu line changes to:
Home * Memberlist * My Profile * Upload file * FAQ * Logout [your username]
Click on * Upload File * and it is possible to place up to five pictures in a session.
There is a browse button to help you find the photographs on your
PC or Mac. Navigate to a picture you want to share, highlight it and
click open. Repeat the process and once you are finished selecting
pictures click "continue." There is one more step. The
screen will change to say the picture(s) were uploaded successfully and a
continue button appears. Click "continue" to display a small version
of the first picture and a drop down to select the album. Select the
appropriate album from the drop down box, then give
the picture a title and a description. A few keywords may help others
find your picture. Next, click the continue button to send the photo to
the gallery in the album you selected. You can't really hurt anything, so
don't be afraid to experiment. If you think you made a mistake, email
Mark to get a misguided posting placed in the correct album or deleted.
The Forum
An album exists for each of the recipes and next to the album is a
link. Clicking on this link takes you to the Recipe Tester's Forum where
you'll find a message board for each recipe. The album link takes you to
the appropriate message board. The first time you click on a recipe link
and go to the forum you will be required to register. You may use the
same username and password for the forum as you did in the gallery. The
registration process is similar. Registering in the forum also creates a
way to email information to the tester community with a newsletter or general
message. While a newsletter is not immediately planned, messages to all
testers are sometimes needed.
There are more boards too. By clicking on
the 'HOME' button above the recipe message board you'll find 'Events and
Classes' with information about upcoming workshops and festivals.
At launch these categories are mostly empty, so check often for updates. There
is also a calendar on the menu bar where the workshops and events will be
noted.
We are launching today with a caveat! All of this is brand
new and will require some 'tweaking' so your input and guidance will be most
helpful. If you run into problems please email the administrator, markwitt@breadtechnique.com and DON'T send anything intended for the gallery or forum to Peter's
"bestbreads" tester mailbox except
testing results. This is important!
This should be a lot of fun!
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| © 2009 by Bread Technique and Mark Witt |