In Search of the Perfect Loaf

May 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.

July 1, 2014
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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Starred review from July 1, 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

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2014
Freelance journalist Fromartz somewhat impulsively took on an assignment to work in a Paris bakery, and the experience left him not just obsessed with baking but also practically embarked him on a new career. Learning quickly, he discovered that much of the secret to good bread is simply time: the longer the bread is left to rise, the better flavor it's likely to have. Returning to his Washington, D.C., home, he began experimenting in his own kitchen, making his own levain, a fermentation starter that produces great doughs without commercial yeasts. He also learned that specialist farmers had begun raising strains of wheat and other grains to give bread unique characteristics lacking in industrially produced, standardized flours. Fromartz offers the fruits of his researches so that other home bakers may profit. His recipes are detailed and accessible for any earnest and patient home baker committed to an honest loaf.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)