An Artisan Bread Manifesto

Behold, this loaf, the staff of life!

It is beautiful to look at, chestnut-coloured, with a patina of flour on its expanse of crust, dark brown with a bit of char along its scoring lines.

Breathe it in deeply! Close your eyes. It transports you! The aroma is intoxicating, earthy, buttery, and exotic.

Glorious to taste, the crunch of crust, creaminess of crumb, a dense chew with darker notes, the subtle hint of wheat, grass, malt.… Continue reading

The New Bread Basket

New Bread Basket Book Cover

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