Upper Crust : Homemade Bread the French Way

An introduction to the French art of baking bread—including ingredient
selection, levain cultivation, and bread-making techniques—with more than one
hundred illustrated recipes. The humble baguette is the quintessential staple
of French cuisine, but the country has a vast and diverse bread-baking
tradition. With an introduction to the history of French bread, guidelines to
help the home baker select the right ingredients — grain and flour varieties,
water, salt, and levain—this book details the step-by-step techniques and
fundamentals of bread making : from feeding the levain, kneading and preparing
the dough, and baking, to more than 100 recipes. Eighteen expert bakers and
pastry chefs share the sweet and savory recipes that have forged the French
bakery’s enviable reputation—from rounds of rustic pain de campagne or loaves
of olive and oregano bread to regional favorites like fougasse or the Basque
taloas tortillas. A new generation of bakers has expanded the classic French
repertoire to include original creations—such as charcoal-sesame baguettes;
matcha swirl bread ; buckwheat and seaweed rolls; and fig, hazelnut, and honey
rye bread. In their French style, they also reinterpret heritage breads from
across the world—including pita, focaccia, bagels, cheesy Georgian khachapuri,
Swedish crispbread, and Indian chapati. Additional bread-based recipes include
“surprise bread” finger sandwiches, croque monsieur, onion soup with cheese
croutons, and desserts such as French toast and kouign-amann. For each recipe,
pictograms indicate the level of difficulty, time and material required, and
whether a recipe is gluten-free. This is the ultimate reference book for
baking homemade bread the French way.