Posted by Anne M on Wednesday, Sep 24, 2014
In a job interview at a travel magazine, Samuel Fromartz was asked to describe his dream assignment. As an amateur bread baker and someone struggling to make a good loaf at home, he stated that he wanted to travel to Paris, work in a boulangerie, and learn how to make the perfect baguette. The result of that answer is this piece in Afar magazine, the title of “Best Baquette of D.C.” (Fromartz won this contest over many professional bakers in the city), and the first chapter of In Search of the Perfect Loaf.
Fromartz learned a great deal in the boulangieries of Paris, but it also prompted several questions. He wanted to know more about the history of bread, how leaven (sourdough culture) was developed, how flour was milled, how whole grain fell out of (and now back into) favor, and how wheat and other grains are grown. He explores all of these questions, traveling to France, Germany, California, Kansas, and small farms in the Northeast to gain information. In In Search of the Perfect Loaf, Fromartz turns these questions into an interesting exploration of the components that comprise bread. But this is only half of the story. Fromartz is on a quest to make great bread and he uses what he learns to adapt his baking techniques. The book is filled with several recipes of breads highlighting different types of wheat and whole grains. It is a fun book and might just help you bake the perfect loaf.
About the Author
Anne Mangano has worked for the Iowa City Public Library since 2008, serving as the Collection Services Coordinator since 2013. In this position, she oversees ICPL's collection, including the selection, cataloging, processing, repair, and removal of materials, including the library's digital collections. Anne holds a Bachelor of...
I feel like I’m reading a lot of fiction that takes on how to find meaning. These books begin with a divorce or a job loss or the death of a family member and the protagonist is trying to make sense of themselves now that their vision of who they are is no longer reality. “Creation Lake” is also about meaning, but “Sadie,” our narrator, is never who she is at any given moment. There is no sense of self—no past sense—no future self-aspirations. She is a spy that works for some multinational corporation or the like and she is who her alias is: someone who doesn’t really exist. This time she is infiltrating a rural French group opposed to corporate industrial agriculture and European Union trade agricultural regulations. It is just a job, one that involves building relationships, playing a part, instigating actions, and hacking emails. It’s this last task that moves Sadie to question herself for among the emails are missives from Bruno Lacombe, a hero of this group cooperative, who lives in caves and writes eloquently about the loss of things that make us human (I cannot detail the entire essence of his philosophy—you’ll have to read it). Sadie is so strong in her facade and skeptical of pretty much everything—does she even want meaning? This is a really compelling book. -Anne M