by Samuel Fromartz ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 8, 2014
Richly detailed history and lively anecdotes make this book a consummate celebration of the deceptively simple loaf of bread.
Botany, culinary history and recipes from a bread lover.
A few years ago, Fromartz (Organic, Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grow, 2006) combined his hobby of bread baking and his profession as a journalist when he set out to write about French bread for a travel magazine. Frustrated by the quality of his homemade baguettes, Fromartz eagerly donned a white apron at Boulangerie Arnaud Delmontel, one of the most famous bakeries in Paris. There, Fromartz learned the intricate process of mixing ingredients, letting dough rest, shaping loaves, slashing them swiftly with a razor and baking them to perfection. After his stint in Paris, the author returned home to Washington, D.C., where, he writes, no good bread could be found, and won a prize for his baguettes in a baking competition. His quest for fine bread, though, was not over. Visiting bakers, scientists and farmers, Fromartz learned about the many grains used for nourishment throughout history: spelt, barley, rye, millet, oats and varieties of wheat. He also practiced handling dough with flours that perform differently. Growing his own grains from seed, he learned about the risks to which all farmers are vulnerable: predators (his were mice and birds), disease and weather. White flour, he discovered, “has been prized since antiquity” as a representation of refinement and economic status. But though unenriched white bread lacks fiber and healthful nutrients, in ancient times, it also lacked “insects, rodent droppings, dirt, perhaps small stones and straw.” Besides imparting a history of grains and their places in culture over the past 105,000 years (when grain consumption appears to have begun), Fromartz includes step-by-step recipes for nurturing dough starters and for baking baguettes, flatbread, rye bread (which he learned to make in Berlin) and a loaf made from an artisanal grain, Turkey Red wheat.
Richly detailed history and lively anecdotes make this book a consummate celebration of the deceptively simple loaf of bread.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-670-02561-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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PROFILES
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis
by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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developed by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
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