Obsessives: Bread

Published on Wednesday, October 31, 2007, by Meredith Arthur and Eric Slatkin / Edit Post

Obsessives: Bread

By Meredith Arthur and Eric Slatkin

Craig Ponsford, founder of Artisan Bakers and chairman of the Bread Bakers Guild of America, discusses the intricacies of kneading, starters, and fresh bread. Plus: the quest for holey bread. And the money question: What, really, does artisan mean?

This is a regular series called Obsessives, in which CHOW explores the worlds of singularly focused food-industry figures. These are the people with the dirty hands, answering detailed questions about the work they do.

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POST A COMMENT |7 Comments

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  • I'd love to figure out starters...imagine having a fresh loaf baked at home every week! Mind you, I can't keep FISH alive, so this might be out of my league.

    Can anybody recommend a good bread book?

  • Wow. Really insightful. Bread isn't as simple as it seems. I want to know how to bake bread now :)

  • Wow nice presentation. Integrity, commitment, scientific approach he's one in a million. Even in a food town like Philly bread like that has to be sought out. Often it's sold out.


    http://phillymarketcafe.blogspot.com

  • excellent clips--wish I could find a tutorial video by someone like him about home baking. Yeast intimidates me, but I love good bread.

  • Nice set of clips! Artisan has been around a while, and this guy Craig Ponsford was the coach for team America when it won the French Bread competition that's like the olympics for baking, the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie. Before that year, the French wouldn't even let an American team compete, and then of course we won!

    http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/bread02.asp

  • Really interesting - to be honest I never buy their bread but will give it a try now.

  • Stale bread? How about Panzanella - http://www.chow.com/recipes/10638 or other things to do with your stale bread - http://www.chow.com/stories/10107 ...