In Search of the Perfect Loaf: A Home Baker's Odyssey

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Overview

"If you love great bread, you will love this book! From Paris, to Berlin, to Marienthal, Kansas, we follow Sam on his quest as he shares his love for bread and the ?baking secrets? he learned along the way."
?Daniel Leader, founder of Bread Alone Bakery and author of Bread Alone
 
"This fascinating, beautifully written memoir reveals Sam Fromartz as that rare breed ...

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In Search of the Perfect Loaf: A Home Baker's Odyssey

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More About This Book

Overview

"If you love great bread, you will love this book! From Paris, to Berlin, to Marienthal, Kansas, we follow Sam on his quest as he shares his love for bread and the ‘baking secrets’ he learned along the way."
–Daniel Leader, founder of Bread Alone Bakery and author of Bread Alone
 
"This fascinating, beautifully written memoir reveals Sam Fromartz as that rare breed of cook: craftsman, historian and scientist all in one."
–Alice Waters, chef/owner of Chez Panisse and author of The Art of Simple Food

In 2009, journalist Samuel Fromartz was offered the assignment of a lifetime: to travel to France to work in a boulangerie. So began his quest to hone not just his homemade baguette—which later beat out professional bakeries to win the “Best Baguette of D.C.”—but his knowledge of bread, from seed to table.

For the next four years, Fromartz traveled across the United States and Europe, perfecting his sourdough in California, his whole grain rye in Berlin, and his country wheat in the South of France. Along the way, he met historians, millers, farmers, wheat geneticists, sourdough biochemists, and everyone in between, learning about the history of breadmaking, the science of fermentation, and more. The result is an informative yet personal account of bread and breadbaking, complete with detailed recipes, tips, and beautiful photographs.

Entertaining and inspiring, this book will be a touchstone for a new generation of bakers and a must-read for anyone who wants to take a deeper look at this deceptively ordinary, exceptionally delicious staple: handmade bread.

 

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
05/26/2014
In this fun and informative memoir, Fromartz, a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and avid baker, recounts his journeys to Paris, Northern California, and other regions in pursuit of the craft of well-made bread. As a teenager in New York City, Fromartz picked up bread from neighborhood bakeries whose loaves “defined bread for me when I was growing up.” Living in D.C. as an adult, the city’s lack of freshly baked bread leads Fromartz to Paris, where he does a stint in an old school boulangerie in an attempt to learn how to make a baguette. Along the way, he provides a fascinating miniature course on the techniques involved in making different varieties (how much flour to sprinkle on a counter and how much time is required for leavening); baking methods used by our ancestors (slow fermentation) instead of the mechanized mass production that utilizes baker’s yeast; and even a little history on grains and practices dating back to the Fertile Crescent. (Sept.)
Library Journal
★ 07/01/2014
Fromartz (Organic, Inc.) might push the boundaries of what it means to be an amateur baker. The author was, after all, asked by chef Alice Waters to bake the bread for a charity dinner she gave in Washington, DC, after winning a local contest against professional bakers. He's a bread obsessive, and his exhaustive knowledge of the craft, history, and culture of bread making is on display here. This impressive work falls somewhere between a cookbook, an exploration of bread-baking techniques, and a history of bread. It's thoroughly researched and engagingly written, and his dedication is inspiring. He uses careful description to impart to the reader something of a craft that can truly only be learned through practice. In addition to writing about his own experience, Fromartz has interviewed (and baked with) some of the biggest names in the bread business, including Chad Robertson of Tartine and bread historian Steven Kaplan. Even those who think they know bread will find something to gain here. VERDICT Highly recommended for those interested in food history, the evolution of artisan baking, and learning to make the perfect loaf at home. —Laura Krier, Sonoma State Univ., Rohnert Park, CA
Kirkus Reviews
2014-06-11
Botany, culinary history and recipes from a bread lover.A few years ago, Fromartz (Organic, Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grow,2006) combined his hobby of bread baking and his profession as a journalist when he set out to write about French bread for a travel magazine. Frustrated by the quality of his homemade baguettes, Fromartz eagerly donned a white apron at Boulangerie Arnaud Delmontel, one of the most famous bakeries in Paris. There, Fromartz learned the intricate process of mixing ingredients, letting dough rest, shaping loaves, slashing them swiftly with a razor and baking them to perfection. After his stint in Paris, the author returned home to Washington, D.C., where, he writes, no good bread could be found, and won a prize for his baguettes in a baking competition. His quest for fine bread, though, was not over. Visiting bakers, scientists and farmers, Fromartz learned about the many grains used for nourishment throughout history: spelt, barley, rye, millet, oats and varieties of wheat. He also practiced handling dough with flours that perform differently. Growing his own grains from seed, he learned about the risks to which all farmers are vulnerable: predators (his were mice and birds), disease and weather. White flour, he discovered, “has been prized since antiquity” as a representation of refinement and economic status. But though unenriched white bread lacks fiber and healthful nutrients, in ancient times, it also lacked “insects, rodent droppings, dirt, perhaps small stones and straw.” Besides imparting a history of grains and their places in culture over the past 105,000 years (when grain consumption appears to have begun), Fromartz includes step-by-step recipes for nurturing dough starters and for baking baguettes, flatbread, rye bread (which he learned to make in Berlin) and a loaf made from an artisanal grain, Turkey Red wheat.Richly detailed history and lively anecdotes make this book a consummate celebration of the deceptively simple loaf of bread.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780670025619
  • Publisher: Viking Adult
  • Publication date: 9/4/2014
  • Pages: 320
  • Sales rank: 55875
  • Product dimensions: 5.50 (w) x 8.30 (h) x 1.30 (d)

Meet the Author

Samuel Fromartz’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic, among other publications. He lives in Washington, D.C.

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