Samuel Fromartz's Blog - Posts Tagged "sullivan-street-bakery"

I should clarify that statement: Jim Lahey, owner of Sullivan Street Bakery in NYC, inventor of the no-knead bread recipe made famous by Mark Bittman, and one of the best bakers in the country, said my book was a call to arms in his review in the Wall Street Journal this past weekend.

I'm including an excerpt here. This review is behind the paywall but if you google "book review fromartz wall street journal", you can get to it through Google (which WSJ doesn't block).

I do not believe in perfect bread. (Although I know what I like: airy insides and a crackly, almost burnt outside.) There are obviously general shapes and forms to bread-baking—balls, tubes, discs—but there are no platonic ideals that hold true for everyone. I've delivered what I consider to be completely perfect loaves to some New York City restaurants only to have them sent back for being "too dark," "too full of holes" or, conversely, not "holey" enough. I've argued bitterly and had my heart broken, but at the end of the day, de gustibus non est disputandum.

Samuel Fromartz has been an amateur baker almost as long as I have been a professional, and I think he shares my point of view. That doesn't mean there isn't a lot to be learned. Mr. Fromartz's "In Search of the Perfect Loaf" asks and answers some essential questions: Where does our wheat come from? How is it milled? Does it need to be fresh? He also explores the anatomy of his obsession: How does one make the best loaf of bread possible?

.... Beer and wine have come a long way since the 1970s. It is my hope, and Mr. Fromartz's, that something similar is happening to bread now. May the ragamuffin collection of farmers, millers, bakers, seed savers, home bakers and bread enthusiasts he describes bring about a revolution in how we bake and eat bread. We need to shorten our supply chains and strengthen our regional economies by growing wheat locally. Local wheat might not be white, but it will probably taste better. I hope his book leads other people to go on their own search for the perfect loaf (even if it doesn't exist) and to open small-scale bakeries all over the country. It might put me out of business, but that's OK. Long live the revolution.