Bread Makes the Meal

Bread Baking Priscilla Martel Bread Makes the Meal

Bread Baking

In our home we eat, sleep and dream bread baking. Bread baking is our way of life.  We have operated bread bakeries on and off for decades here in Connecticut.  But now we bake bread at home, just like many of you.

Anyone can make delicious bread at home. I’m talking about rustic, chewy bread made with locally grown wheat. Bread sliced thin or thick for gooey grilled cheese sandwiches, BLT’s and avocado toast. Scandinavian flatbreads, eggy Challah or the kind of dense bagels found only in New York. Long slow fermented baguettes to rival anything available at your local bakery. And sourdough bread of course. It’s why I love to help people bake bread at home, just like we do.

Charlie van Over, my other half, is the Bread Guru whose system for making baguette dough in the food processor produces unrivaled results. But I’m the teacher, hand holder and Chief Explainer. Because I spend so much time thinking about and eating good bread, you will find many of my favorite tips and recipes on this site.

All About Bread Making Ingredients

Fresh flour milled from quality wheat and grains produces the best bread. We rely on King Arthur Flour for most bread baking. The mills that supply them must meet strict specifications. This means their flour is consistently good; artisan bakers across the country use their flours to make prize winning breads. We use organic Giusto Flour too, a wonderful company based in San Francisco. For local grains, we use organic Maine Grains , terrific flours from Ground Up Grains and we mill our own flour from local wheat when we can.

Equipment and Tools for Bread Making

You don’t need an arsenal of equipment to make good bread. A bowl, your hands and an oven are a good place to start. But many readily available tools will help your bread making go from good to great. If you enjoy baking with Emile Henry as much as I do, you may find my pointers for getting the best results with their bread cloche, their covered loaf baker and other baking products useful. I also love Lodge Cast iron cookware for baking moist sourdough loaves (and for an upper body workout.)

Tips for Making Bread

There are lots of bread-making resources tucked into my site. First click on the Recipes link in the menu above and then click on Bread.

Here are some specific posts about break making that may be of interest too.

Think Like A Baker – Wheat Flour for Bread Making

Working with Wheat Flour – Flour Absorption

Measuring Flour by Volume

Bread Making Kneading by Hand

Think Like a Baker – Steam in the Oven

“Bread Makes the Meal,” we say. Join me as I bake my favorite breads and explore new ingredients and tools to help you put your very own home-baked bread on the table. If you like, please sign up for my email list at the bottom of this page for my recipes and baking tips. Charlie van Over lends his more than capable hands to this project too.

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