Good Bread Is Back: A Contemporary History of French Bread, the Way It Is Made, and the People Who Make It - Tapa blanda

"A magnificent combination of polemic and scholarship, it asks how the superlative French bread of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries gave way to the disappointing industrial loaves of the 1960s onwards; and how these in turn, have been happily supplanted by a new generation of artisananal baguettes, batards and boules." -- Bee Wilson * Times Literary Supplement * "[A] book every serious American bread enthusiast ought to read. . . . A good storyteller, Kaplan describes his large cast of characters in sharp detail, with numerous protagonists and antagonists, and does a fine job of capturing the center of good in each of them." -- Peter Reinhart * Gastronomica * "Throughout this work, Kaplan powerfully demonstrates the symbolic charge of bread as it is `'deeply bound up with the basic values of sociability and well-being, with sacred and secular in communion' (304). . . . Kaplan reminds us through bread, that bread sums up the human experience." -- Samuel Snyder * Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics * "Students of French history and food will find [Good Bread is Back] completely absorbing and it should be required reading for any professional." -- Library Journal "Steven Laurence Kaplan raises powerfully important questions about the proper scale for an economy-about how big is too big, and how small is impractical-that go well beyond both France and bread. Indeed, Kaplan's book spurs thought about what a postmodern economy might look like, and whether it might be possible for it to deliver satisfaction instead of simply piles of stuff." -- Bill McKibben * Books & Culture * "Professor Kaplan's new book is a tasty meditation on the many pleasures of good bread, wrapped in an object lesson on the evolution of artisanal production. Many readers who do not share the author's passion for the technical aspects of breadmaking will nonetheless be impressed by it. And anyone who has ever stood in a French bakery savoring the scent and admiring the array of delectable brown loaves will be heartened by his optimistic conclusion that good bread will always drive out bad. It is, as Kaplan might say, a delicious book with a beautifully gilded crust and a pearly, chewy crumb." -- Steve Zdatny H-France * H-Net Reviews * "A good baguette is as integral a part of French cultural heritage as Paris and Lacan, and this beautiful book forms a fitting tribute, researched, written and illustrated with finesse." -- French Book News "[T]his is very much a bread nerd's book. . . . It is a fascinating story, and Kaplan is the person to tell it." -- David Auerbach * The Independent Weekly * "[Kaplan is] not just the leading authority on French bread but the conscience of French baking-a conscience that does not hesitate to tug. . . . Good Bread is Back [is] a punchy, compendious account of how French baking returned to its artisanal roots and sparked a revival in quality crusts." -- Michael Steinberger * Financial Times * "[F]or anyone with a broad interest in bread, the book is an excellent and comprehensive look at the product and how it has shaped, and been shaped by, French society." -- Bakers Journal "Good Bread Is Back will become the canonical book on 20th century French baking, not only in English but in French too." -- The Fresh Loaf

Good Bread Is Back is a beautifully illustrated book for foodies and Francophiles alike. Widely recognized as a leading expert on French bread, the historian Steven Laurence Kaplan takes readers into aromatic Parisian bakeries as he explains how good bread began to reappear in France in the 1990s, following almost a century of decline in quality.Kaplan sets the stage for the comeback of good bread by describing how, while bread comprised the bulk of the French diet during the eighteenth century, by the twentieth, per capita consumption had dropped off precipitously. This was largely due to social and economic modernization and the availability of a wider choice of foods. But part of the problem was that the bread did not taste good. Centuries-old artisanal breadmaking techniques were giving way to conveyor belts that churned out flavorless fluff. In a culture in which bread is sacrosanct, bad bread was more than a gastronomical disappointment; it was a threat to France's sense of itself. With a nudge from the millers (who make the flour) and assistance from the government, bakers rallied, reclaiming their reputations as artisans by marketing their traditionally made loaves as the authentic French bread. By the mid-1990s, bread officially designated as "bread of the French tradition"-bread made without additives or freezing-was in demand throughout Paris. What makes this artisanal bread good? Kaplan explains, meticulously describing the ideal crust and crumb (interior), mouth feel, aroma, and taste. He discusses the breadmaking process in extraordinary detail, from the ingredients to the kneading, shaping, and baking, and even to the sound bread should make when it comes out of the oven. He offers a system for assessing bread's quality and a language for discussing its attributes. A historian and a connoisseur, Kaplan does more than tell the story of the revival of good bread in France. He makes the reader see, smell, taste, feel, and even hear why it is so very wonderful that good bread is back.