Existential Bread

Jim Franks is a baker and a poet who’ s written a love story about bread, which is to say he’ s written a life story about listening, learning, trying, failing, adapting, and above all, caring. Through humor, history, relentless curiosity, and refreshingly unsentimental poetry, Existential Bread teaches there are many ways to bake a loaf, just as there are many ways to live a life.

Jim Franks is a baker and a poet who’ s written a love story about bread, which is to say he’ s written a life story about listening, learning, trying, failing, adapting, and above all, caring.

What the fuck are we thinking - The thing is - Why you shouldn't listen to me - Everything matters even if it doesn't - Why I do everything so weird - Cause it does matter - Why cookbooks and bread don't mix - We need to talk about expectations But why should I - Why whole grain - Why sourdough - Why local What are you gonna put in your bread - What the fuck are grains - How do I know what's in my flour - How do I source local grains - What the fuck is wheat - What is GMO - What the fuck are ancient grains - Rye isn't really rye - Corn isn’ t really corn - Salt is death and death is a part of life - Sugar isn't really sugar - Fat - Adding weird shit - Water is just water - Yeast is hardly an ingredient If you wanna get started - You're gonna need a starter Mixing doesn't really matter - You don't knead anything - Let’ s talk about structure - Hydration - When to use autolyse - Wait but how much yeast do I use - Temperature Bulk Fermentation - Folding the dough - Setting your schedule Shaping doesn't really matter - Your surface and lube - Size does matter - Dividing your dough - Final shaping - Shaping pan loaves Proofing - How to tell when your bread is ready to bake - Scoring Baking - Time - The thing about ovens - Bread likes it steamy - Temperature - The bread might be out of the oven but it’ s still cooking Keeping it fresh - What fresh means You made it