One Grain More

Occasionally, I get asked about gluten-free breads, a subject about which I'm nearly totally ignorant. But any of you have grappled with the difficulty of turning of delectable edible  gluten-free baked goods or lactose-free dairy  -- or anyone who's seen Les Miz -- or anyone with a sense of humor--  will devour this hilarious Les Miz parody.

Bravo, Michael and Lily! 

Now THAT's dedication

I really thought I was a model of determination and persistence when I baked the same loaf of bread every week for a year,  a whopping 52 loaves of peasant bread, trying to get it right (at first, trying to get it just edible), until I received the following e-mail from a fan of 52 Loaves, the book the details my half-baked adventure:

My neighbor loaned to me your $64 Tomato last summer.  I loved it since we have grown tomatoes in our garden for 40 years. I just finished your book, 52 Loaves.  I couldn't put it down since I could relate.  I have made this same bread for 42 years for our family (4 loaves every 2 weeks). 

 

Forty-two years?!  That's 4,368 loaves (compared, remember, to my 52). Surely that's qualifies for an entry in the Guinness Book of records, no?  (By the way, this looks like darn good sandwich and toasting bread.) But, wait, it gets better. She and her husband (who also bakes) grind their own wheat, in this wonderful plywood contraption here, something called a Miracle Mill, that they purchased in 1973. No little countertop Williams-Sonoma mill for these hardy Oregon (no surprise, there) homesteaders-- they feed this beast with 50-pound bags of flour!

 

 I feel like such a wimp! But it's a great (and encouraging) story, and thanks, and bravo!, my anonymous friends, for sharing and allowing me to share with you. Occasionally, something comes into your inbox which makes you feel good -- and hopeful -- about America. And for me, at least, surprisingly often, it has something to do with bread.