The artisan bread wave that has swept the country over the past several years has developed a few particularly active hot spots, mostly on the coasts.  One of those is in northern California, especially around San Francisco.  It’s where you’ll find Chad Robertson and the Tartine Bakery, Josey Baker (yes, that is his real name), […]

Over the weekend we got the last of our stuff out of the old apartment and are officially moved in to our new place.  In the chaos of moving and having 90 degree heat for the first time all summer I haven’t gotten around to making any bread yet in the new apartment. Fortunately I […]

From 1973-76 Jim Hackett was a center on the Michigan football team under Bo Schembechler.  His senior year, with Rick Leach at quarterback, the team went 10-2 including a 42-10 bulldozing of MSU and a 22-0 win against OSU.  In February of 2014 Hackett retired after 20 years as CEO of Steelcase, a Grand Rapids based furniture […]

I’m excited to be back and participating in the #BreadBakers group once again this month!  Summer craziness prevented me from putting together a bread for June, so I made sure to bake something for July way in advance.  July’s event was hosted by Rocio of Kids & Chic, who chose oatmeal as our theme ingredient. […]

A few years ago I spent weeks on end trying to make the perfect sandwich loaf.  After that I had a major Tartine phase and since then I have made sourdough boules far more often than your usual sandwich loaf.  As much as I enjoy a crust that shatters and a open crumb, sometimes it is […]

Happy Holidays from Bakers & Best!  Hopefully you have the chance to take a few days off work/stressing about the Michigan football coaching situation to relax.  I wanted to share a few recipes I’ve posted before that I think would be a fun way to spend some of your time the next few days.  Enjoy!

My wife is not one to eat lots of junk food.  And if she does, her definition of it is different than most.  She won’t wolf down an entire Hersey’s bar or pint of Ben & Jerry’s.  She’s more likely to have a nibble of some dark chocolate bar or try and make her own […]

Note: While my wife (!) and I are walking, driving, and eating our way through France on our honeymoon, I wanted to look back at some recipes and techniques I’ve discussed before.  Be back in July! If that post title doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what will!  Working with the Tartine forumla the […]

Note: While my wife (!) and I are walking, driving, and eating our way through France on our honeymoon, I wanted to look back at some recipes and techniques I’ve discussed before.  Be back in July! In bread making an autolyse is the process of mixing water and flour and letting it sit before making […]

I have previously discussed my strange food habits as a child, in particular my decision to not eat a certain food despite never having tasted it.  These reasons ranged from completely arbitrary (I just never got around to eating red grapes) to unreasonable comparisons (cherry medicine does NOT taste like cherries).  I am sad to say […]