In Search of the Perfect Loaf, in the Media

I've been gratified by the media attention the new book is getting and just want to make note of a few articles and interviews here.

Tim Carman of the Washington Post visited me in my home kitchen while I mixed, shaped and baked some breads and wrote about the process here, which was a bit awkward for me.

““Whenever I bake more than my usual couple of loaves, I really have to focus, because it’s not my usual routine,” Fromartz says. “Just having multiple people in the kitchen was a challenge.”

That awkward, specimen-­under-a-microscope feeling is common among journalists who find themselves on the other side of the reporter’s notebook. But the situation is compounded for Fromartz: As he explains in his brilliant new memoir/breadmaking book, “In Search of the Perfect Loaf” (Viking), “baking was the antithesis of writing, my version of chopping wood, crucial to maintaining my sanity amid the daily pressure of work. Cordoned off from writing, baking offered a brief reprieve, and for many years I sought to keep it that way.””

In some ways this book has thrust me down a new path with my baking, but still, at home, I bake quietly just as I've been doing for years.

The book, though, brought a new depth to the process and I explain some of the themes here on KPBS in San Diego.

Journalist Samuel Fromartz said two things motivated him to start baking.

"Bread is resurgent" -- In Search of the Perfect Loaf gets nod from Bittman, Pollan

My book In Search of the Perfect Loaf launched yesterday with a flurry of Twitter traffic. This world is so much different than the last time I published a book, way back in the prehistoric age of 2006 when we all emailed each other.

Well,  in the new world, I received some gratifying tweets from many people I respect as fellow writers. 

Congrats my friend sam @fromartz "In Search of the Perfect Loaf," bread book of the year: http://t.co/pVBlhNtIOn

— Mark Bittman (@bittman) September 4, 2014

Congrats @fromartz "In Search of the Perfect Loaf," beautiful memoir of #bread bakers w/recipes http://t.co/aUgsBwOpPe

— Michael Pollan (@michaelpollan) September 4, 2014

Reviews and press coverage are starting to flow and I'd highlight this interview of me in Kirkus by another obsessed baker, Matt Lewis, who notes "bread is having another moment." Here's a brief excerpt:

“If you’re among the growing number of home bakers, I highly suggest you reserve a weekend day for yourself and read Samuel Fromartz’s In Search of the Perfect Loaf: A Home Baker’s Odyssey. Fromartz’s bread journey—a trip that took him to California and France and Germany—is enviable. He worked alongside bread titans, sharpened his bread game and delved deep into the world of wheat.

Bread is having another moment. Even in the face of a food industry hell-bent on milking gluten-free living even for those who don’t need it, bread is resurgent. In fact, it is quite possible that bread has never been better (at least in the United States). You can taste it in the life-changing Ancient Grains Loaf from Chad Robertson at Tartine Bakery in San Francisco and you can see it in the gorgeous, hand-formed baguettes—pale, chewy interiors chock-full of irregular holes—at Almondine and Sullivan Street bakeries in New York.”

Grilled flat bread (or baking without a net)

In Block Island during the summer, there's plenty of sun and surf and long walks on the beach but aside from a decent bagel bakery not much in the way of fresh bread. So I usually take a small bit of sourdough starter and instant yeast on vacation to satisfy my bread-making itch. Then I make a big bin of dough and slice off pieces I can use during the next couple of days.

Although I usually weigh my ingredients, I leave my scale at home, because it's one more thing to lug along on vacation. I figure I'll just wing it once I arrive. I did this time, measuring out around 4 cups of flour (3 cups white and 1 cup whole wheat), a 1/2 cup or so of refreshed sourdough starter, 1/2 teaspoon yeast and then enough water to make a dough that looked familiar in consistency. I'd love to tell you how much water I used but I didn't measure it, just working by feel. (But you can try this grilled bread technique with any decent dough recipe you have, even bypassing sourdough. If I make the dough again, I'll measure it and update this post).  

The tricky part though was salt, since I didn't even have measuring spoons on hand. So I added what looked around 2 teaspoons. As I periodically folded the dough, I tasted it and adjusted the salt by adding a bit more. When I made the bread later that day, they seemed light on seasoning, but when I baked another batch from the same dough a day later, after 24 hours fermentation in the refrigerator, they were fine. The increasing acidity in the dough balanced the slightly lower level of salt. No one who ate the bread even mentioned the salt level.

I made sure to slice off a piece of the dough from the final batch and added it with more sourdough to another batch of dough a day later. It rose for a day (again in the fridge) and I made breakfast rolls and then flat bread for dinner (pictured above).

Flat bread is especially fun to make because it takes about 15 minutes. I remove the dough, make baseball size balls, flatten them out on a well-floured counter and let them rest for about 5 minutes. Then I begin to stretch them out, letting them rest again as soon as the gluten tightens, adding flour as I go. I find the oblong shape easier to work with because you can continue to stretch out the dough easily.

To grill these loaves, just make sure the pre-heated grill surface is clean, at a medium heat. Stretch the loaves out once more and then place them directly on the grill. Cover the grill if you can. If not, don't worry about it. Wait a few minutes (careful to watch them so they don't burn), then with tongs, flip them over. They should bake in 5-8 minutes total. 

These loaves turned out like pita, with an airy pocket inside.  We just ripped off pieces and ate them with fish, sopping up the sauce on the plate. 

The last pass of my manuscript, "In Search of the Perfect Loaf: A Home Baker's Odyssey," is done!

And I'm sending it back in the mail to Viking/Penguin. (Yeah, at this stage it's hard copy, not electronic). This is the final stage before the whole thing goes to rest. I can't believe it's over. But there have been so many of these last stages, turning in the manuscript, going over the edit, doing the second draft, etc. etc that it almost feels anticlimactic. And any remaining mistakes are now my own damn fault!

For those who are curious, the book will be out right after the summer. 

Heart Loaf

The crust crackled but the heart is fine. A pain de compagne with white, rye and whole wheat. 

Bread as sustenance, culture, memory

This is an interesting video about memories of bread from people in various countries. I know I have mine.

Cantaloupe from the garden, after three attempts

For the past three years, I've tried to grow cantaloupe in my community garden plot in Washington, DC.

The first two years, I planted my seeds in late May or early June and then transplanted the plants to the garden a few weeks later. All would go well. The vines would spread on the ground, the flowers would appear, the bees would show up to help pollinate the plants, and then I'd see tiny fruit. The fruit would get bigger and bigger -- and then, I'd leave for vacation in August.

Once, I picked the fruit while still green hoping that it would ripen fully on the trip. It tasted awful. But when I left the fruit to ripen on the vine, the melons were usually half eaten by the time I returned. After all, these melons were extremely fragrant. If I were a rodent prowling the neighborhood, I'd want a bite too.

This year, I took a different approach. I planted the seeds in early April, and transplanted the seedlings in May, under row cover for warmth. I began to get fruit by June. By July, when DC was basking in 100-plus temperatures, everything was humming. 

Then I went to extreme measures. I bought a solar powered owl, which I propped up on a stake. The owl's head turns periodically (it actually freaked out my wife, who went to the garden and didn't know about the owl. She jumped when its head turned). So far I've had no pest damage. While this owl made for a helluva an expensive melon, I am enjoying my lucious, juicy and delicious fruit. And I bet it will work for my tomatoes too.

- Samuel Fromartz