This week on our blog, in honor of Father’s Day, we are featuring essays that reflect on all the ways fathers earn our respect and admiration — from their practicality in the kitchen to their patience in the fishing boat. It is their wisdom that shapes our lives. Today William Alexander, author of The $64 TomatoContinue reading
I always wait until the last minute to buy Christmas and Chanukah presents for my family. It’s not because shopping slips my mind, or because I forget about the holidays or my family, but mostly because I never know what to get my family. I generally end up buying them things I would actually likeContinue reading
William Alexander’s culinary memoir, 52 Loaves: One Man’s Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust, is now out in paperback. This book lends new meaning to the term “from scratch.” Alexander sets out to bake the perfect loaf of bread by growing, harvesting, winnowing, threshing, and milling his own wheat. His quest takesContinue reading
Bill Alexander had a fantastic interview on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show yesterday, discussing his new book 52 LOAVES. You can listen to the interview, read the comments, and check out his recipe for peasant bread here. 52 LOAVES was also reviewed on the food blog Chocolate & Zucchini. They called it “An engaging and instructiveContinue reading
My 4th week of following the advice and recipes from William Alexander‘s fabulous book, 52 LOAVES: One Man’s Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning and a Perfect Crust, was the week my levain became bread. Well. . . almost. Sunday marked my first attempt. I combined the ingredients and allowed them to autolyse for 25 minutes. Continue reading
Inspired by William Alexander‘s new book 52 LOAVES, One Man’s Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning and a Perfect Crust, I am in my third week of learning how to bake bread from a natural starter, called levain. This week, I fed and aerated my levain daily. For four days, I added equal amounts of flourContinue reading