Summer Loafing

(and a drawing for a copy of 'Modernist Bread at Home')

This will be the last Wordloaf post before I head off for a much-needed break from schedules and deadlines for all of August. I won’t be lounging the whole time; in fact, after I get back from the beach, I am going to use the rest of the month to finish a re-write of the front matter of my book and get some more recipes out to my dedicated testers. The book is due at the end of the year, and I have a long way to go in a very short time. But once the writing part is mostly done, I will be able to focus more fully on the newsletter, for which I have much in store. (I’ll even be bringing back the Friday Bread Basket, though I’ll never be able to get through the backlog of links that have accumulated in the interim.)

I’ll also be holding a “Sourdough Office Hours” workshop on 8/24 from 11-4pm EST, a loose, informal class on sourdough baking my way, with ample opportunity for people to bring their own questions and concerns to the conversation. I sent out an invite to paid subscribers the other day, and most of the 60 slots for the workshop have already been filled, but if you act fast, you might be able to snag one of the remaining few:

I may try to schedule another session in September, but no promises. Given the response, I will definitely hold it again, and may make it a regular thing, since the format is open-ended. I will also be scheduling a workshop for a new ultra-high hydration (but not ultra-difficult) focaccia recipe that I am working on for the book, which looks like this:

Paid subscribers always get first dibs on my classes, so if you don’t want to miss out next time, you know what to do:

While I am away, here are a few seasonally-appropriate Wordloaf posts and recipes for you to consider:

• Vacation Baking: On baking bread while on vacation.

• Hot, Hot, Hot: On baking bread during heat waves.

• NYC Thin-Crust Pizza Dough 🍕

• Sourdough Thin Crust Pizza Dough 🍕

• Vegetarian (Chickpea) Pan Bagnat

• Corn, Corn, Corn Sourdough

• Simple Peach (or Nectarine) Preserves (for future brioche buns or kolaches)

• Kate Lebo’s Whole Wheat Pie Pastry 🍞

• Camilla Wynne’s Crabapple Jelly

• End-of-Summer Tomato Soup 🔒

• Chopped Badger Flame Beet Salad with Herbs, Castelvetrano Olives, and Pistachios

• Cornzanella, Summer (and bread) in a bowl 🔒

• Nonnato (Vegetarian Tonnato) Sauce

• Peach-Blueberry Cakefoutis

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Before I go, I one last thing:

Did you know that the folks at Modernist Cuisine recently published Modernist Bread at Home, a single-volume (plus a recipe book) distillation of their 5-volume Modernist Bread? They did!

Here’s how the team at Modernist describes it:

Modernist Bread at Home is an indispensable cookbook for anyone who is passionate about making homemade bread. Created by the same team behind the award-winning Modernist Bread, this new cookbook is thoughtfully tailored to the specific needs of home bakers so that you can get great results in your kitchen, regardless of how much time or experience you have.

After years of rigorous independent research and hundreds of experiments, the Modernist Cuisine team has now distilled all that wisdom down into a comprehensive, 420-page single volume that proves bread-making can be attainable and convenient, even during the workweek. You’ll discover innovative yet practical techniques, time-saving tips, helpful scientific insights, and adaptable recipes that make delicious homemade bread possible.

I’ve owned Modernist Bread for years, and it’s been a treasure-trove of techniques, ideas, and recipes, and has gotten a lot of use while working on my own book. I don’t always align with some of the approaches they take, but many of them I do, and the years of research and testing that went into the massive tome is self-evident.

As with all of the Modernist books, the photography in Modernist Bread at Home is gorgeous and detailed:

If Modernist Bread is something you’ve always coveted, but for the $625 sticker price, then Modernist Bread at Home is the book for you. It’s not inexpensive, but at $140, it is a lot easier on the wallet. And, unlike Modernist Bread, MBAH is focussed entirely on techniques and recipes tailored for the home baker. Consider it a “greatest hits” album, culled from the larger book.

The folks at Modernist have let me share a couple of recipes from MBAH as a sneak preview, which you can find right here:

Recipe: Direct Farmer’s Bread

Recipe: Cinnamon Raisin Bread

And I’ve also got a copy of Modernist Bread at Home to give away to one lucky Wordloaf paid subscriber in the US. Leave a comment below if you want in on the drawing, which will happen at the end of August (8/31), so there is plenty of time for everyone to get in on it.

See you all in a month, may all of your Augusts be peachy and beachy.

—Andrew