The Breadman’s Quest for the Stanley Cup

I usually stop following hockey once the Vancouver Canucks miss or exit the Stanley Cup playoffs. Not this year, though. I’m over the 10-year hockey malaise that overcame me after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins in 2011. I’ve had low moments in my life, but that loss and the grim riots that followed were a hard pill to swallow.… Continue reading

The Honest Baker

Jeffrey Hamelman, veteran baker and author of Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes

Jeffrey Hamelman has a problem with artisan bakers.

The legendary American baker and author, writing in the Bread Bakers Guild newsletter, thinks there’s nothing wrong with just being a baker.

The increasing use of the term “artisan,” he says, is a ploy that “elevates bakers’ importance while at the same time separating them from other woefully “non-artisan” bakers.… Continue reading

An Approachable Bread Manifesto

The Bread Lab sets out the parameters for the “Approachable Loaf,” a true whole-grain bread made by artisan bakers meant for mass consumption. A new bread manifesto!

Picture an artisan loaf. It might be a round boule or oval-shaped bâtard, dark brown or slightly charred, score marks decorating the crust, and an open crevice where a hot oven spring has burst open the loaf.… Continue reading