[Sca-cooks] First loaves of bread

[Johnna Holloway]

  Ian of Oertha has been posting about baking bread. I thought I would  
mention
a new book that is just out out --- as of May 4, 2010 in fact.

It's called:

  "52 Loaves: One Man's Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a  
Perfect Crust" by William Alexander.

I had it with me yesterday and someone asked me flat out, "That's not  
a cookbook, is it?" I gather
people don't normally read cookbooks in waiting rooms at this UM  
clinic. I explained it was more the equivalent of "Julie/Julia",  
except this was a guy who was setting out to make his perfect loaf of  
bread.

He's the author of "The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His  
Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the  
Quest for the Perfect Garden" and he's approaching bread baking in the  
same fashion. In other words all out compulsive pursuit! It's funny.  
Sometimes, one needs a food history that is funny.

Amazon has a good summary of it on their website.

The author also has a website on the book at:
http://williamalexander.com/bread/index.cfm

His general website is: http://williamalexander.com/index.htm

Oh and Ian, if you really hail or live in Alaska (Oertha being Alaska)  
you might find
the volumes Electric Bread, Electric Bread 2, etc helpful. Innovative  
Cooking (the folks behind the books) are based in Alaska and all the  
recipes were tested there. Jessica's Biscuit has it on sale.

Johnnae