Confessions of a French Baker: Breadmaking Secrets, Tips, and Recipes
Author: Peter Mayl
Attention bread lovers!
In the first of his famous books about Provence, Peter Mayle shared with us news of a bakery in the town of Cavaillon where the baking and appreciation of breads "had been elevated to the status of a minor religion." Its name: Chez Auzet.
Now, several hundred visits later, Mayle has joined forces with Gerard Auzet, the proprietor of this most glorious of Provenзal bakeries, to tell us about breadmaking at its finest.
Mayle takes us into the baking room to witness the birth of a loaf. We see the master at work-- slapping, rolling, squeezing, folding, and twisting dough as he sculpts it into fougasses, bвtards, and boules.
Auzet then gives us precise, beautifully illustrated instructions for making sixteen kinds of bread, from the classic baguette to loaves made with such ingredients as bacon, apricots, hazelnuts, garlic, and green and black olives. There are tips galore, the tricks of the trade are revealed, and along the way Mayle relates the delightful history of four generations of Auzet bakers.
One of Provence's oldest and most delicious pleasures is now available at a kitchen near you, thanks to this charming guide. Read, bake, and enjoy.
Publishers Weekly
This petit but useful compendium contains centuries-old Proven al lessons in bread making as relayed to Francophile foodie and memoirist Mayle (A Year in Provence, etc.) by Auzet, an award-winning baker from Cavaillon, Provence. The collaboration between author and baker yields a mix of regional history, first-person essay and a portrait of a family boulangerie through the generations. The modest Auzet boils down his expertise to a few secrets: among them are that the exact combined temperature of the water, flour and kitchen air should be 56 C, and that a good kitchen scale is imperative. Traditional recipes for baguettes, batards and boules are simple, though, as with any bread made by hand, quite time consuming. To keep second-guessing to a minimum, Auzet offers helpful tips for testing both the dough's gluten and the bread's doneness. He also explains how these basic formulas can be amped up with a number of French flavors: olives, thyme, saffron, apricots, nuts and garlic. Additional chapters concern making breads with wine, olive oil and sweet yeast. For true authenticity, a suggested list of wine pairing is included at the end. Throughout, Auzet's suggestions are spot-on, making his "confessions" an invaluable contribution to aspiring boulangers and bread-lovers. (Nov. 2) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Mayle revisits Chez Auzet, the bakery in Cavaillon he praised to the skies in A Year in Provence, to uncover the secret of fabulous bread-making. With a seven-city tour. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Go to: 101 Things to Do with Chicken or The Foods of the Greek Islands
Scandinavian Feasts: Celebrating Traditions Throughout the Year
Author: Beatrice A Ojakangas
Drawing upon her rich knowledge of Scandinavian cuisine and culture, expert chef and veteran writer Beatrice Ojakangas presents a multitude of delicious yet remarkably simple recipes in this cookbook classic, available in paperback for the first time. Scandinavian Feasts features the cuisine of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, and it includes menus made up of a bounty of appetizers, drinks, smorgasbord, meats, fish, soups, vegetables, desserts, and baked goods. Easily as engaging as the dishes themselves, each recipe comes with an introduction that explains the cultural importance of the feast and details its seasonal significance.
During the long, dark Scandinavian winter, the meals tend to be hearty and substantial. In Sweden and western Finland, a traditional Thursday lunch consists of a meal of pea soup and pancakes. A typical winter dinner might include Danish crackling roast pork with sugar-browned potatoes topped off with an irresistible ice cream cake. Christmastime gatherings, in particular, are often a chance to celebrate with a cup of hot glogg or Swedish punch. When the winter is finally over, the seemingly endless summer days are savored along with the fresh fruits and vegetables that are hard to find after the short growing season. During the white nights of Sweden and Norway, it is customary to serve a midnight supper after a concert or the theater, while a special occasion such as a baptism or anniversary might call for a feast of dill-stuffed whole salmon followed by kransekake, a beautiful towering ring cake of ground almonds.
No matter what your level of expertise as a cook or where you live, the recipes are easy to use. The ingredients commonly found in most grocery stores and a conversion chart for metric measurements is included. Scandinavian Feasts is sure to delight enthusiasts of Scandinavian culture and lovers of fine food everywhere.
About the Author:
Beatrice Ojakangas is the author of two dozen cookbooks, including The Great Scandinavian Baking Book (1999), also published by the University of Minnesota Press. Her articles have appeared in Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Cooking Light, Cuisine, and Redbook, and she has appeared on television's Baking with Julia Child and Martha Stewart's Living. She lives in Duluth, Minnesota.
