Mark Bittman, the former New York Times food writer and cookbook author, has just published a fantastic new bread book in the tradition of Jim Lahey’s No-Knead method. It’s a pared-down introduction to baking bread that is practical, accessible, easy … and fun!
I haven’t baked from it yet, but I can tell you it will rope lots of people into the bread baking realm.… Continue reading
Even during the recent days of fire-smoke, I relished my late afternoon swims. The tide is high. The water is clear and flat, often with barely a ripple on the surface. I stand knee-deep on the foreshore, looking out at the pink sky or into the smoky murk. I’m surrounded by the familiar landscapes, the rocky cliffs behind, the Living Rock Island in our little bay, the rocks 30 feet offshore I like to swim out to.… Continue reading
The New Bread Basket by Amy Halloran starts off a little like Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. The taste of a simple cookie, a madeleine, inspires a flood of memories for Proust. In Halloran’s case, an oatmeal ganache cookie, a treat from her husband, awakens a taste for flour and all that was entailed in bringing it to the oatmeal ganache cookie.… Continue reading