Slow Rise A Bread-Making Adventure

Description

'Charming, important . . . a journey of discovery' Telegraph 'Compelling, vivid . . . Slow Rise will be welcomed by the new bread geeks' Spectator Over the course of a year, Robert Penn learns how to plant, harvest, thresh and mill his own wheat, in order to bake bread for his family. In returning to this pre-industrial practice, he tells the fascinating story of our relationship with bread: from the domestication of wheat in the Fertile Crescent at the dawn of civilization, to the rise of mass-produced loaves and the resurgence in homebaking today. Gathering knowledge and wisdom from experts around the world - farmers on the banks of the Nile, harvesters in the American Midwest and Parisian boulangers - Penn reconnects the joy of making and eating bread with a deep appreciation for the skill and patience required to cultivate its key ingredient. This book is a celebration of the millennia-old craft of breadmaking, and how it is woven into the story of humanity. Prologue – Flour, Yeast, Water & Salt Chapter 1 – Grain of Truth: Sowing Chapter 2 – As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap: Harvesting Chapter 3 – Every Corn Its Own Chaff: Threshing and Winnowing Chapter 4 – Wi’ Nowt Taken Out: Milling Chapter 5 – Kneading Dreams: Leavening Chapter 6 – Le Pain Se Lève: Baking Epilogue – Breaking Bread Simple wholemeal sourdough recipe Selected Reading Acknowledgements