Breaking Bread: A Baker's Journey Home in 75 Recipes

by Martin Philip

Grand Prize Winner of the 2017 New England Book Festival

"I bake because it connects my soul to my hands, and my heart to my mouth."—Martin Philip

A brilliant, moving meditation on craft and love, and an intimate portrait of baking and our communion with food—complete with seventy-five original recipes and illustrated with dozens of photographs and original hand-drawn illustrations—from the head bread baker of King Arthur Flour.

Yearning for creative connection, Martin Philip traded his finance career in New York City for an entry-level baker position at King Arthur Flour in rural Vermont. A true Renaissance man, the opera singer, banjo player, and passionate amateur baker worked his way up, eventually becoming head bread baker. But Philip is not just a talented craftsman; he is a bread shaman. Being a baker isn’t just mastering the chemistry of flour, salt, water, and yeast; it is being an alchemist—perfecting the transformation of simple ingredients into an elegant expression of the soul.

Breaking Bread is an intimate tour of Philip’s kitchen, mind, and heart. Through seventy-five original recipes and life stories told with incandescent prose, he shares not only the secrets to creating loaves of unparalleled beauty and flavor but the secrets to a good life. From the butter biscuits, pecan pie, and whiskey bread pudding of his childhood in the Ozarks to French baguettes and focaccias, bagels and muffins, cinnamon buns and ginger scones, Breaking Bread is a guide to wholeheartedly embracing the staff of life.

Philip gently guides novice bakers and offers recipes and techniques for the most advanced levels. He also includes a substantial technical section covering the bread-making process, tools, and ingredients. As he illuminates an artisan’s odyssey and a life lived passionately, he reveals how the act of baking offers spiritual connection to our pasts, our families, our culture and communities, and, ultimately, ourselves. Exquisite, sensuous, and delectable, Breaking Bread inspires us to take risks, make bolder choices, live more fully, and bake bread and break it with those we love.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Memoir

391 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 31, 2017

Reviews

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin Philip tells the story of his journey into baking through seventy-five recipes.

[Tina Panik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rare is the cookbook that can be read cover to cover! This memoir, meditation on life, and bread bible is filled with prose that is a delight to read. Enjoy Martin’s personal journey, and then make his recipes!

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked this out from the library and read it cover to cover. I loved Martin’s story and I love his approach to baking—and life. I love the recipes, all the ones I’ve tried have been delicious. I learned so much!

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is lovely memoire as well as being most informative.

At King Arthur Flour the bakery building is divided into separate clusters for bread and pastry work. [...] For bread the main tools include a steam-injected masonry oven [...] There are also mixers designed for artisan dough and wooden benches where hand shaping is done. And hands, experienced hands, the most flexible, versatile, and valuable tools in the world. [Vermont]

One of the reasons I read this book was to learn more about wild yeast. It was heartening to see the following:

[M]any roads will lead to the land of "naturally leavened," also known as "sourdough" or "levain" bread making. Even among professional bakers, these terms, which essentially refer to bread made with a leavening culture, can be a source of confusion. [...] The terms naturally leavened (meaning no commercial yeast) and levain are also used to refer to sourdough culture. Naturally leavened is misleading as bread made with commercially produced yeast isn't necessarily unnatural. Levain is the French word for "leaven." The point of all this is that bread made with a leavening culture is more flavorful. [...] You do not need to wave the open container about, hoping to "catch" anything; you do not need to add exotic juice or grapes or sugar or yeast or get any fancier than the product of these two ingredients plus time. [Method | Sourdough Culture]

But then Philip outlined his method of creating his levain. This is clearly a recipe devised by someone who has easy access to flour (and lots of it), as well as someone who is making zillions of loaves every day, rather than one or two a week. On his first day, he starts with 100 grams of flour and 100 grams of water. Twenty four hours later, he advocates discarding all but 100 grams of the mixture and adding 50grams each of flour water - twice a day for 3 to 5 days!!

Then, after all that effort, in one of the bread recipes with "sourdough" in its title, Philip calls for adding commercial yeast! Several of the bread recipes call for adding sourdough culture and commercial yeast. Now, I do understand why bakeries may do this. Their business is to sell bread and they can't afford to be waiting if the sourdough culture causes the proofing to be so exceedingly slow that there is no bread to sell. But, for the home baker, the length of time for proofing isn't quite as crucial. While I haven't tried them yet, I suspect that every single one of his bread recipes that call for both sourdough culture and commercial yeast will work turn out just fine if the commercial yeast is omitted.

But these are small(ish) points - there are still so many great ideas and tips about bread-making to garner.

And while there are many things we are in agreement about, Martin Philip and I clearly have a different idea of what a muffin is, as well as what may be the appropriate accompaniment for "organic baby food".

It's OK to laugh at young parents; we are asking for it. As I think of the things we did for our first and juxtapose it with the treatment our third has received . . . it's appropriate to chuckle. With the first we set records for attentiveness, catering to every micro-need. Is that organic, is it natural, is it BPA-free? And what soap did you use to wash those bananas (before peeling them)? And on and on. But then, things slip with the second child. An exception here, an allowance for junk food there . . . and, if a third child arrives well, we're over the cliff now. "I'm hungry"can be fixed at a gas station. But before things relaxed we made quite a few delicious muffins for our baby girl—something to feed her amid spoon-fed meals of organic baby food. [Introduction to chocolate orange muffins and banana pecan muffins]

Philip's chocolate orange "muffins" call for not quite 2 cups flour and - wait for it - a cup of sugar, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and "coarse sugar, for sprinkling on the muffins"! His banana pecan "muffins" call for 5 ripe bananas, 2/3 cup of sugar, 2+1/4 cups whole wheat flour, and a sweet brown sugar streusel topping.

Those aren't muffins; they're cupcakes!

The bread recipes, however, look quite wonderful, even though they are a bit confusing, with total ingredients listed first, followed by levain/final. Reading the recipes on the library website is impossible in two page form - the ingredients lists are in charts that overlap onto the following text. But for the brioche recipe, switching to single page format on the library website, the right side of the chart is cut off.

Mercifully, the e-book is completely easy to read and decipher using Adobe Digital Editions. But it's not so easy to sit down in a nice comfy chair when hampered by an unwieldy computer (particularly a desktop computer). But, at least the ingredients charts are not cut off entirely on the right hand side on ADE, as they are when reading the recipes on the library website. The complete charts can be seen on my kobo glo e-reader, but only if the font is reduced to its smallest, can I just get the whole table in view. But without a really good magnifying glass, it's impossible to make anything out.

It's not just the charts that present difficulties. Reading the recipes on my e-reader was insane. Philip's drawings - showing different patterns for scoring, or tips for shaping or proofing various breads - cannot be enlarged on my Kobo Glo - they are indecipherable.

Still, the whole section in part 2 clearly outlining Martin Philip's method and process (including details about ingredients, measuring, fermentation, optimal temperatures, shaping techniques, scoring, and troubleshooting), together with the often lyrical reminiscences and reflections make this more than just another bread cookbook. Reading these sections more than makes up for the inadequacies of the e-version of the book.

The details of this story are mine but they are not unique. We all have tales, lives with beginnings, heartache, happiness, movement, and endings. I hope that you find yourself inspired to bake your own narrative, to connect the lines of your experience to your own environment, your family, and those around you, for baking and giving are truly acts of love. [author's note]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
At our house, bread making was a ritual, reliable and grounding in its weekend occurrence, something to be repeated, revisited, and awaited. [...] What does bread baking smell like in heaven? It smells like bread baking.
[...]
[W]hile this bread sustained us at home, it was shameful in the school lunch box. Sitting at the lunchroom table, surrounded by classmates and their blue or red milk choices, I would have given a kidney for that 1970s staple: crustless Wonder bread with Skippy and Smucker's grape jelly glue. I would have gladly sported an orange mouth ring of Cheetos crumbs and devoured a frosted Hostess cake in order that their chemicals could swirl kaleidoscopic in my gut. [...] [W]hile I may have decried that bread, even hidden it, years later I have turned things around. I've headed back to this form, which is entirely more delicious and healthy than plump factory loaves pumped with chemicals ranging from azodicarbonamide (also used in floor mats) to potassium bromate (known carcinogen). Supermarket aisles are proof that if you add enough high-fructose corn syrup, preservatives, and stabilizers, people will still eat the packaged stuff months after it is produced. [Part 1 | Recipes and Stories: Mama's Bread]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Before Food Network, before "EVOO" and "Bam!" entered the stockpot of our lexicon, and well before the cult of celebrity replaced the cult of capability, there was a series on PBS called Great Chefs. [...] [T]he shows were the best thing before food TV and have remained the greatest thing since. Episodes were built around cities and their great foods, focusing tightly on technique, flavor, and craftspeople. They were a gateway drug that led me to Baking with Julia, Jacques Pépin, and beyond. It is no exaggeration to say that I received my informal culinary education in thirty-minute chunks. [Part 1 | Leaving: Basic French dough]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The hill towns of Italy, rising from verdant plains, are built on rocks holding stacked fortress walls constructed of stones from underfoot a millennium earlier. These layers of earth, stone, and home are honest and resonate as fully and naturally as tones of a chord align and ring. The imagined world of Italy, which we'd lived between the flat covers of Puccini opera scores, was vibrant and breathing before our eyes in a way we could eat. The simplicity, and the sense of it all, changed me; there was no going back; there was only going closer. [Part 1 | Leaving: Pane Genzano]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Defining "home" is best done in retrospect—standing within four walls of our current existence doesn't allow the space or frame of time and place to provide the long view. As I watch my children grow I wonder what, of all this, will they long for or remember? What will be their "home" of memory? Will it be smells, a baking tradition, the music of voices and instruments, an overserious father? Memories are laid like bedrock, deep, under our very feet, invisible in the forming but ever active. There are things that I hope will remain as family memories—small weekly rituals, meals, seasonal recurrences, and holiday events. I may be wrong, but some of these might be keepers, and if strung together may fill their scrapbooks of home. [Home]

This is definitely a book that belongs on any serious bread baker's shelves - but do spring for the hard cover rather than the kindle or e-book.

[Bryce Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is 90% a recipe and techniques book with a some story telling mixed in by the author. The recipes are intertwined well with the author Martins story of his life and career in making bread. The story itself is well written and nice to follow along.

As for the recipes, I only got around to about 5 of them before returning but enjoyed each one and am considering purchasing for myself.

The only two things that I did not like were that at times the descriptions on some complex parts such as the folding could have been explained better for a novice. Second was that the hardcover version was very difficult to keep open to a page most household items wouldn’t work so bad to get creative.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cookbook is primarily about baking bread with some other simple recipes thrown in to go with the bread. I read his story interspersed with the recipes which is essentially about how working really hard at something you have a passion for will lead you to greatness. I've made a few of the simpler breads, which came out delish, and plan to work my way to some of the more difficult, but there are recipes in here I know I will never make due to the time and complexity. But it's fun to look at the pictures and imagine that you'll do it one day!

[MaryE · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will have you making REAL French bread in the first attempt! The techniques section give detailed instructions for the important processes of bread making, and I think that makes a difference in my final product.
I have made two of the non-yeast recipes (scones and muffins), and I like the results.
As I try more recipes, I am reading more of the personal stories the author includes. He has found his vocation and writes about his journey gracefully.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The recipes were more involved than I was looking for but the life story was wonderful. I enjoyed the book for the story more than for the recipes. Because of this book, we are taking a trip to King Arthur Flour in Vermont this summer to take a breadmaking class. Great story of getting back to one's roots.

[Rachael Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part memoir. Beautiful photographs.

[West Hartford Public Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martin Philip is a man of many talents, and this book showcases his journey into one of those, the art of breadmaking. I remember when he visited the library in January of 2018; he was funny, humble, and informative. Considering the current state of affairs across the county with everyone doing their best to adapt to quarantine, courtesy of COVID-19, I felt it was the perfect time to revisit this book. 'Breaking Bread' is a heart-warming mix of memoir, family roots, education, and, of course, bread recipes galore.

With my bread baking experience originating in a local brewery, I have spent many of these days reflecting upon the feel of the dough--its chewiness, its elasticity--and the tantalizing aroma of freshly baked buns, loaves of sour rye, boules of pumpernickel, and honey whole wheat bread bowls, all mingled with the fragrant scent of the brewmaster's latest concoction boiling in the brew kettle. My intoxicating memories have inspired me to bake bread during these times of isolation. I have the main ingredients: flour, salt, yeast, and water, so it feels like a comforting thing to do.

I had yet to make genuine sourdough bread, and the results of home baking often differ from those produced in a professional kitchen, so I had been hesitant to try a sourdough from home. Upon sharing my reluctance with Philip at the book signing in 2018, he offered wisdom and words of encouragement. I remained reluctant until now.

So I have spent much of this morning flipping through the pages of this book, enjoying the pictures, enjoying Philip's reflections, and doing my best to absorb the complexities of formulating a sourdough starter and comprehend the basics of baker's math. There is so much more to learn about the art of bread baking with the guidance of Martin Philip! If all goes well, I will tackle my first batch of sourdough bread before the end of April 2020!

Baker, Book Lover, & Library Assistant

[Kelsey Brennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I would leave intact, for I had brought home with me."

It's hard to strike the right balance in a cookbook between recipes a reader actually wants to/can make and stories that link those recipes together. I think Philip has done a wonderful job with that. This review marks my initial read - reading the narrative and educational pieces, and flagging recipes to try. And I flagged a fair number of recipes - I have 26 sticky notes to work through, after which I will hopefully remember to update this review. And, that number might actually be bigger - on my first pass I mostly ignored the recipes that called for sourdough culture, but the last flag is his instructions on how to make and maintain your own, so if I ultimately decide to try that, I'll have to do another pass.

I also found this one of the most useful explainers on the process of folding and shaping. Philip presented those steps - which seem very intimidating to a home baker - in a clear and concise way. From a storytelling perspective, I also enjoyed the progression from home baker to professional baker, and the way Philip talks about connecting with baking in a more personal way.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suffice to say I skipped the memoir parts (the only time that's really worked for me was Michael Twitty's The Cooking Gene, which was more memoir/history than cookbook). And the stuff that got me interested in this book — the technique chapters — was ill served by getting a library ebook (read recipe. Shift to technique details. Shift back. Rinse. Repeat).
Philip is way more demanding about sticking to the recipe than most bread books (I have several). And he advocates for water much cooler than the others I've read; I had doubts it would suit the yeast, but it came out great. The bread recipe I made today turned out great. Not necessarily better than my usual homemade bread, but a lot of my recipes don't rise as much as this. So perhaps I learned something.
I'm not sure what I learned or if I can apply it elsewhere — his water temperature system depends on knowing the right dough temperature for a given recipe and most bread books don't offer that. But I bake a lot of bread so I'll see if I can apply at least some of Philip's ideas.

[Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book. It will for sure make you want to bake. I liked how it was a combination story with recipes. The author connected his childhood to certain flavors and went with that.
About halfway through the book the stories kind of stopped, and it moved to be more recipe and technique driven.
The author hasn’t always been a baker, and I think what attracted me to this book was the idea of being inspired by his story. Although I did find a bit of that in this book, it almost seemed like it was cut short. I wanted to hear more about what life in Vermont is like, what working for King Arthur Flour is like, that kind of stuff. It felt that way until about halfway through, and that’s where I kind of lost interest. I read about 90% of the book. I skipped the sections on ingredients, technique, tools, etc... although I enjoy baking, I am neither good at it, nor have the time to devote to really become all that good. Maybe someday.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding combo of technique, process, recipes, and autobiographical info. Good balance. Some knowledge of pre-ferments would make things easier for the reader, but I eventually figured it all out. I truly love this book and this man's story. From opera singer, to ultra marathon runner, to finance guy in the city, and then to baker. He hits it on the nail with my family story when he discusses how, all of us, if you go back just a few generations, used to work with our hands. And that is why doing things with our hands is so healing and also propels us forward, to what comes next. Both sides of my family, just two and three generations back, were ranchers, farmers, and miners. And my great grandmother was a quilter, but I didn't know that until very recently. I can't help but think my heritage is one of the reasons I love what I love so much.

[Thalarctos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is well written by a person who obviously is passionate about baking. If you're a beginner, flip to the methods at the back first and the book will be less intimidating. He also admits that you don't have to do all the things he does to get perfect bread, but his instructions will give you the absolute best bread possible. All ingredients are weighed and approximated in cups/tsp so you have the choice.

I can see myself going back to this book when I'm retired and want to take up baking bread as a hobby. Most of the recipes require two days of prep, which is about 1.8 days more than I usually have time for right now.

[Theresa McGregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not just a cookbook, but a great and well told story.

I bought this book after seeing videos of the author baking with his son. Martin Phillip obviously was a great baker but he was also a great and patient teacher for his son Arlo. This book is the story of his journey from being a classical musician to becoming head baker at King Arthur Flour. It is an interesting story with a few recipes along the way. It finishes up with techniques and bread baking tips. It has a good index with most of the recipes under the heading 'breads'. Well worth the purchase and the time spent reading it.

[Matthew Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not one for cookbooks, but this book is so much more than a collection of recipes. It's a perfect mix of memoir, meditation, and reflection through food. Beautifully written, with a poet's voice and an artist's flair for the craft of baking, and mouth-wateringly photographed, this is the rare book on how to cook that I genuinely wanted to read for the baker's story. There's wisdom in this book that goes beyond food. And I'll have some lovely recipes to try as well.

[Joana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartwarming and precise

It's the personal touch that knits the recipes together.
The recipes work, steps are clear. As a hobbyist baker, I recognized the passion behind each chapter.
What I was not expecting, however, was to find threads of literature in this book. Martin Philip writes beautiful prose in between his recipes. While all my bookmarks have gravitated around food, this is an autobiography built around the core of where life happens at home: good food.

[James Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Illuminating

I’m a longtime home baker and a fledgling professional baker. This book expanded my awareness of both worlds. As a cookbook, it’s a bit unwieldy, but its recipes are fascinating, an invitation to creativity. As a reference book, it’s excellent. His explanations are both poetic and simple - written with the reader in mind. Best, probably, is the thorough Resources section at the back of the book - it’ll help a baker level up his/her home setup with ease.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this more-than-a-cookbook. His stories were so interesting. He has a lot of bread making tips and I can’t wait to try his recipes, bread and non-bread alike. I found out about his book by reading the reviews on the King Arthur website of his recipe “Martin’s Bagels”, which I had just made. Best bagel recipe I’ve tried and I wanted to get some tips for making them better from other bakers who had made them.

[jean e margolis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough

This is a book for anyone interested in producing an impressive and successful tasty loaf of bread. Even with not quite the professional and precise ability to accomplish perfectly and dumping my loaf on its side from the banneton it came out beautifully and scrumptious. I had some experience with making bread but found the instructions so well described to help hone technique for a superior result. Highly recommend.

[Daniel P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written and informative

Martin Philip is multi-talented in many areas, baking being one of them. If he wasn’t heading the King Arthur bakery, he would make an excellent author. But of all his masterful qualities, his love for his family and his obviously excellent character stands above all else.

His recipes are well written and varied.

[Donald Shinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for more experienced bakers.


I think overall the book is very good. I fear that newer bakers could be a bit overwhelmed by the amount of information provided in bakers' percentages and the like. The vast majority of home bakers just want to know what ingredients are needed and in what quantity then what to do with them.

[Manuela C. Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the Mama bread. It’s a stable.

Martin Philip put his heart into this book. The recipes are excellent and you learn so much. Weekly, I make the Mama’s Bread. After cooling, I splice it and but it in the freezer. When bread is needed, we nuke it or toast it. It always tastes like the first day.
We sticked with the biscuit recipe also.

[Felicity Fields · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It focuses on the author's journey through bread-baking instead of being a how-to book, and I found myseld glancing over the recipes before eagerly reading the next installment of his life's story. I am looking forward to trying the recipes, but the storytelling is what I loved best.

[Nellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book written by a baker at the King Arthur Flour Company.
Lots of stories that add a personal touch to the book.
The recipes are outstanding. Clear directions.
I made the strawberry shortcake.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cookbook that read a bit like a memoir. Most of the recipes are not ones I would be interested in except for the wheat bread. That one I will come back to and try.

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book!!!

Very enjoyable read. Would highly recommend to bakers and non- bakers. It’s so nice to have it conveniently on my kindle when at the grocery store.

[Irene Wangui · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

Come for the bread, stay for the story telling.

I enjoyed his stories just as much if not more than the bread and pastries recipes.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun memoir from King Arthur Flour head baker. If you got caught in the Covid sourdough craze, this is for you! Try the focaccia...