Artisan Baking Across America: The Breads, the Bakers, the Best Recipes

Artisan bread bakingDmeaning the production by hand of quality European-style breadsDhas recently taken off in the U.S., and Glezer (contributor to Fine Cooking and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) has done a marvelous job of chronicling its development in this thorough and inviting study of specialty bakeries around the country (including the Acme Bread Company in Berkeley, Calif., and the Pearl Bakery in Portland, Ore.), their breads and how the reader can replicate them at home (with instructions that are exceedingly complete and well organized). Glezer leaves no detail to chance, cautioning, for instance, that measuring spoons often vary significantly and suggesting a specific brand for serious bakers. Along with Corn Bread, Ciabatta and Kalamata Olive Bread, Glezer also includes such specialty breads as Kugelhopf and Pandoro. It's a joy to find Kossar's Bialystoker Kuchen on New York's Lower East Side and the Tom Cat Bakery in Queens, a large artisan shop, among Glezer's selection of jewel-box bakeries. She concludes with a chapter on baking competitions run by the Bread Bakers Guild of America and its judging criteria (by which readers can gauge their own breads' success). Like the delicate and rugged breads she serves up, Glezer's book is top-notch all the way. (Oct.)