Los Angeles Bakers & Millers

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Hello, my loves. I’m back at it, firing my ovens after a weekend of excess and inspiration in LA. Besides the fact that I grew up there and kept bumping into loosened strands of the little lost kitten I once was, one who purred into the heart of her own experiences with a fervor that still lives on, I also got to eat (and eat and eat) a lot of tremendous bread. It all started when I stepped off the plane last Thursday and drove straight to the home of my childhood best friend in Culver City. Through a … Read more

Quick Breads and Mama Bread

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I returned from Anchorage and the first thing I did when I walked through the door at home was to go tend my starter. I fed that little levain with fervor, for I’d missed having my hands in dough so badly. Alas, it would still be a few days until I could bake bread since it takes a some time to get the yeasties active again. Hence, I went on a quick-bread and/or snacking loaf kick. It started with this grapefruit snacking cake that I spotted in the April issue of Bon Apetit on the plane ride home. This … Read more

This Week- Anchorage –> Home

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Anchorage, Alaska –> Home at the end of the week I started this week in Alaska with my family for Spring Break, which puts one more notch on my state-by-state belt. As Gregg was approaching a big birthday, people kept asking him about his “bucket list”, a term I’m not all that crazy about, but still. What I am crazy about is making things happen for people, so when he kept answering “The Northern Lights”, I started checking tickets and researching the magic that is magnetic radiation hitting our atmosphere. I had never been to Alaska and here’s what … Read more

This Week’s Adventures in Bread

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Red Wheat Levain

Oh, how I love you, Organic Landrace Red Wheat from Camas Country Mill. I’m working my way through your 50-pound sack and each time I reach in for a new cup, I muse on how clean and plump and healthy you are. You will certainly nourish me to the core this week. What is landrace wheat? Landrace refers to a breed that has been adapted for a regional ecotype. My understanding is that within a species, there are genetic variations and some of these variations are adaptations to the specific environments where they are being bred. What seems important … Read more

Talking with Bakers *Brad Holderfield of Tabor Bread*

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  Brad Holderfield grew up around military bases the world over. His family hopped from Alabama to the west coast, then all the way over to Germany. It was weird moving around all the time, and to cope with the inevitable detachment that comes with not being able to put down roots, he retreated into a world of fantasy and daydreaming. There is a wild, ethereal air about him, even today at thirty-something. While totally grounded in his knowledge about bread and baking, he has a spacious look in his eyes, as if he might be seeing all that … Read more

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