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Confessions of a French Baker: Breadmaking Secrets, Tips, and Recipes
Attention bread lovers!In the first of his famous books about Provence, Peter Mayle shared with us news of a bakery in the town of Cavaillon where the baking and appreciation of breads “had been elevated to the status of a minor religion.” Its Chez Auzet.Now, several hundred visits later, Mayle has joined forces with Gerard Auzet, the proprietor of this most glorious of Provençal bakeries, to tell us about breadmaking at its finest.Mayle takes us into the baking room to witness the birth of a loaf. We see the master at work–slapping, rolling, squeezing, folding, and twisting dough as he sculpts it into fougasses, bâtards, and boules. Auzet then gives us precise, beautifully illustrated instructions for making sixteen kinds of bread, from the classic baguette to loaves made with such ingredients as bacon, apricots, hazelnuts, garlic, and green and black olives. There are tips galore, the tricks of the trade are revealed, and along the way Mayle relates the delightful history of four generations of Auzet bakers. One of Provence’s oldest and most delicious pleasures is now available at a kitchen near you, thanks to this charming guide. Read, bake, and enjoy.
91 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
48 people are currently reading
758 people want to read
About the author
Peter Mayle
135 books1,278 followersPeter Mayle was a British author famous for his series of books detailing life in Provence, France. He spent fifteen years in advertising before leaving the business in 1975 to write educational books, including a series on sex education for children and young people. In 1989, A Year in Provence was published and became an international bestseller. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages, and he was a contributing writer to magazines and newspapers. Indeed, his seventh book, A Year in Provence, chronicles a year in the life of a British expatriate who settled in the village of Ménerbes. His book A Good Year was the basis for the eponymous 2006 film directed by Ridley Scott and starring actor Russell Crowe. Peter Mayle died in Provence, France.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
March 12, 2010
This is a great little book that Peter made with the bread baker in his previous books. It is purse size, contains recipes, and I just wish it was longer! A nice little book for the bus.
February 1, 2024
Mercifully, this book is short and takes almost no time to read. The full title is Confessions of a French Baker: Breadmaking secrets, tips and recipes. Published in 2005 by the Little, Brown Book Group (littlebrown.co.uk), it "was written in 1988 in one of Peter Mayle's notebooks as he researched A Year in Provence".
This explains a lot....
The book is a bit of a disappointment. It contains very little of the lyrical writing that is featured in A Year in Provence, after this lovely opening:
Alas, Confessions of a French Baker also contains very little of use to any bread bakers who are hoping to re-create great French bread. But, perhaps this is where the "secrets" part of the title comes from. After all, they won't be secrets any more, especially if they are published in a book written by a best selling author.
Mayle does mention levain when writing about fourth-generation baker ("now running the family business, Chez Auzet, in Cavaillon, Provence, where it has been operating since 1951"), Gerard Auzet's great grandfather, who was a "traveling baker, making his way along the backcountry roads from farm to farm and village to village throughout the Luberon with his mule and his cart":
I still cannot fathom that this is really the final mention of the precious levain! It seems exceedingly strange for a cookbook about the secrets of making French bread, especially considering that the levain is the "heart and backbone" of good bread.
Which, of course, is true. Anyone can make good bread. But. Why on earth is Monsieur Auzet so cheeseparing with his secrets? For instance, why does he insist on using an inferior ingredient like instant yeast in his recipes, instead of levain? Especially in the traditional bread dough recipe. This traditional bread dough recipe also calls for using a "standing mixer fitted with the dough hook". Oh yes. Mayle must have left out that Great-grandfather Auzet carried his standing mixer with a dough hook, along with his precious levain as he travelled from town to town to bake the villagers' bread.
I do like Auzet's tip about counting up to 56 though:
Remarkably, Mayle goes on to say that the formula doesn't work in America. His reasons are somewhat lame and he uses those fallacies to justify why the recipes specify Fahrenheit temperatures and cup/spoon or weights by ounces (!!) in all the recipes.
Really?? Could this have been some foolish editors' decisions? Surely North Americans are capable of translating temperatures into centigrade and measuring in grams instead of ounces, or worse, by the really inexact cup and spoon.
The shaping and scoring instructions in the recipes are almost incomprehensible. And this is coming from someone who has an inkling of how to shape and score. I cannot imagine how a novice would manage.
One more complaint: In the e-book version, the photos are ridiculously small and unless one has a very powerful magnifying glass and a good imagination, it's virtually impossible to make out any detail.
(As a bread book, I'm inclined to lower the rating to 1.5 stars....)
This explains a lot....
The book is a bit of a disappointment. It contains very little of the lyrical writing that is featured in A Year in Provence, after this lovely opening:
Cavaillon at four on that August morning was cool and ghostly. There were no cars, no noise, no people, no hint of the heat that would come with the morning sun. I was aware of hearing sounds one seldom hears in a busy town: the ticking of my car's engine as it cooled, the wailing of a lovelorn cat, the click of my own footsteps. I walked past shuttered stores and groups of cafe chairs and tables that had been chained up on the pavement for the night. It felt strange to have the street to myself.
[chapter 1: The Birth of a Loaf]
Alas, Confessions of a French Baker also contains very little of use to any bread bakers who are hoping to re-create great French bread. But, perhaps this is where the "secrets" part of the title comes from. After all, they won't be secrets any more, especially if they are published in a book written by a best selling author.
Mayle does mention levain when writing about fourth-generation baker ("now running the family business, Chez Auzet, in Cavaillon, Provence, where it has been operating since 1951"), Gerard Auzet's great grandfather, who was a "traveling baker, making his way along the backcountry roads from farm to farm and village to village throughout the Luberon with his mule and his cart":
By his side was [...] a generous supply of precious and all-important levain. This is the starter, a mixture of natural yeasts and other microorganisms. It takes time to make, sometimes as much as twenty days. But it is the heart and backbone of good bread, the element of fermentation that, when added to dough, causes it to rise and gives it lightness and flavor. It is one of the oldest examples in the world of gastronomic magic.
[Chapter 2: Flour in the Blood]
I still cannot fathom that this is really the final mention of the precious levain! It seems exceedingly strange for a cookbook about the secrets of making French bread, especially considering that the levain is the "heart and backbone" of good bread.
[Gerard Auzet] tells me that anyone can make good bread.
"Even me?" I ask him.
He looks at me for a moment, and I can sense a certain amount of quite justifiable doubt. And yet, finally, he nods. "Even you," he says.
He goes on to explain that successful baking is largely a question of using only the best ingredients— nobles, sains, et frais are his exact words (noble, healthy, and fresh)
[Chapter 3: the breads, the recipes, the tricks of the trade]
Which, of course, is true. Anyone can make good bread. But. Why on earth is Monsieur Auzet so cheeseparing with his secrets? For instance, why does he insist on using an inferior ingredient like instant yeast in his recipes, instead of levain? Especially in the traditional bread dough recipe. This traditional bread dough recipe also calls for using a "standing mixer fitted with the dough hook". Oh yes. Mayle must have left out that Great-grandfather Auzet carried his standing mixer with a dough hook, along with his precious levain as he travelled from town to town to bake the villagers' bread.
I do like Auzet's tip about counting up to 56 though:
the combined temperature [in Centigrade Degrees] of the air in the kitchen, the flour, and the water. For example: If the temperature in the kitchen is 20°C and the flour is 22°C, then the water needs to be 14°C. A degree or so of difference among these three doesn't matter as long as the total adds up to 56. And if your ingredients are as they should be, the rest, according to Gerard, is simple.
[Chapter 3: the breads, the recipes, the tricks of the trade]
Remarkably, Mayle goes on to say that the formula doesn't work in America. His reasons are somewhat lame and he uses those fallacies to justify why the recipes specify Fahrenheit temperatures and cup/spoon or weights by ounces (!!) in all the recipes.
Really?? Could this have been some foolish editors' decisions? Surely North Americans are capable of translating temperatures into centigrade and measuring in grams instead of ounces, or worse, by the really inexact cup and spoon.
The shaping and scoring instructions in the recipes are almost incomprehensible. And this is coming from someone who has an inkling of how to shape and score. I cannot imagine how a novice would manage.
One more complaint: In the e-book version, the photos are ridiculously small and unless one has a very powerful magnifying glass and a good imagination, it's virtually impossible to make out any detail.
(As a bread book, I'm inclined to lower the rating to 1.5 stars....)
March 8, 2019
This delightful little book transported me back to Provence where the Auzet family has been baking bread for several generations! It’s filled with wonderful descriptions of the French bakery and baking process as well as bread making tips and recipes. Here’s a small ‘taste’:
“And then there’s the bread—a panorama of bread, stretching for perhaps twenty feet behind the counter, bread arranged according to type and size, varying in color from pale gold to a deep chocolate brown, a display as tanned and tightly packed as rows of sunbathers on a Riviera beach.”
“And then there’s the bread—a panorama of bread, stretching for perhaps twenty feet behind the counter, bread arranged according to type and size, varying in color from pale gold to a deep chocolate brown, a display as tanned and tightly packed as rows of sunbathers on a Riviera beach.”
November 27, 2020
Moving-and-starting-over author Peter Mayle joins with Gerard Auzet, the owner of a highly esteemed bakery in the Provence town of Cavaillon to share the secrets, tips, and recipes the Auzet family has acquired in their long stints as master bakers.
It was nice to hear about bread making from someone who has been doing this for such a long time.
Gerard Auzet keeps it simple. The most important thing is using only the best ingredients, of obtaining some basic equipment, and "having the ability to count up to 56." The counting is new to me, a long time baker, but with perhaps a bit less experience than Auzet. What is the counting about? "This is 56 degrees centigrade, the combined temperature of the air in the kitchen, the flour, and the water...A degree or so of difference among these three doesn't matter as long as the total adds up to 56." Interesting.
I was most taken with the idea of baking bread with wine. What would adding wine to the dough do to the flavor of the bread? Here is one of the bread-with-added-wine recipes I hope to try.
Walnut & Red Wine Yeast Bread
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (unbleached, 8 oz.)
1 3/4 cups bread flour (unbleached, 8 oz.)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (1/4 oz.)
5/8 cup water (at 90-100-degrees F. 5 oz.)
5 ounces red wine (5/8 cup)
4 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast (1/2 ounce)
2 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped (12 oz.)
Step 1
Sift the flour and salt together into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook. Sprinkle the yeast over the mixture and mix on medium to low speed, gradually add the water and wine, until the dough comes away from the bowl, between 5 - 10 minutes. Scatter the walnuts evenly over the dough and continue mixing until they are incorporated.
Step 2
Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and set it on the counter to rest for 10 minutes. Return it to the mixing bowl and place on the mixer so the dough hook plunges into the middle of the dough. Mix on medium speed until the dough is soft and pliable, about 15-20 minutes or until the dough passes the "windowpane" test (refer to WINDOW PANE TEST, below).
Step 3
Remove the dough from the mixing bowl onto a counter and gather it up in your hands in a rough ball. Bring the full length of your thumbs into the center of the ball so that they meet, and stretch the dough from the center out, as if opening a book, into an oblong shape. Turn the dough a quarter turn and stretch the dough again the same way, creating a smooth ball. Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel, and set aside in a draft-free place at room temperature until the dough doubles in size, in about 45 minutes.
Step 4
Gently remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a clean surface. Cut the dough into 2 pieces (about 1 pound each) and shape it into 2 small balls again, as you did before the first rise. Find a surface in your kitchen from drafts and lay a kitchen towel dusted with flour on it. Place the balls on the towel and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel to prevent a crust from forming on the surface. Leave the loaves to proof at room temperature until they double in size, in about 20-25 minutes.
Step 5
Shape the loaves by first patting down the balls to allow the carbonic gasses that have developed to disperse. To make boules, gather up the dough in a rough ball and shape it as inn Step 3. To make the batards, pat down the dough and shape it into a rough 4-by-10-inch rectangle. With a long side facing you, fold the bottom third of the dough to the center and press to seal it. Fold the top over it and seal along the edge.
Step 6
Place the loaves, seam side down, on thekitchen towels dusted with flour and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Let the loaves rise at room temperature for the final time until they have doubled in size, about 35-45 minutes.
Step 7
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450-degrees F. Carefully place the loaves on a baking sheet. Brush them with water using a pastry brush. With a sharp razor blade, make a lozenge-shaped cut on the surface of each loaf by scoring it from end to end in 2 swift motions. To do this successfully, use just the tip of the blade.
Step 8
Just before you are ready to slide the baking sheet into the oven, spray the inside of the oven with water using a spray bottle or plant mister and close the door immediately. This will create steam, which promotes a good crust. Put the bread in the oven and bake for 25-25 minutes or until it makes a hollow sound when you knock on the bottom of it with your knuckles. Transfer the bread to a rack and allow it to cool before slicing.
Step 9
Makes 2 loaves.
How to Perform the Windowpane Test: When you knead bread dough, either by hand or in a mixer, you are developing the glutens, which are the proteins in wheat that give bread its structure and flavor. When the glutens are properly developed, the resulting bread will have that yeasty flavor and the irregular pockets that are the marks of a good loaf. To determine whether the glutens have been fully developed, pull off from the dough a piece about the size of a golf ball. Stretch, pull, and turn it, thining the dough until it forms a translucent membrane (so you can see light passing through it, but not so that you create a hole), or windowpane. If the dough falls apart before it can be stretched into a windowpane, continue kneading several minutes more and repeat the test.
#2020ReadNonFic
It was nice to hear about bread making from someone who has been doing this for such a long time.
Gerard Auzet keeps it simple. The most important thing is using only the best ingredients, of obtaining some basic equipment, and "having the ability to count up to 56." The counting is new to me, a long time baker, but with perhaps a bit less experience than Auzet. What is the counting about? "This is 56 degrees centigrade, the combined temperature of the air in the kitchen, the flour, and the water...A degree or so of difference among these three doesn't matter as long as the total adds up to 56." Interesting.
I was most taken with the idea of baking bread with wine. What would adding wine to the dough do to the flavor of the bread? Here is one of the bread-with-added-wine recipes I hope to try.
Walnut & Red Wine Yeast Bread
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (unbleached, 8 oz.)
1 3/4 cups bread flour (unbleached, 8 oz.)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (1/4 oz.)
5/8 cup water (at 90-100-degrees F. 5 oz.)
5 ounces red wine (5/8 cup)
4 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast (1/2 ounce)
2 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped (12 oz.)
Step 1
Sift the flour and salt together into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook. Sprinkle the yeast over the mixture and mix on medium to low speed, gradually add the water and wine, until the dough comes away from the bowl, between 5 - 10 minutes. Scatter the walnuts evenly over the dough and continue mixing until they are incorporated.
Step 2
Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and set it on the counter to rest for 10 minutes. Return it to the mixing bowl and place on the mixer so the dough hook plunges into the middle of the dough. Mix on medium speed until the dough is soft and pliable, about 15-20 minutes or until the dough passes the "windowpane" test (refer to WINDOW PANE TEST, below).
Step 3
Remove the dough from the mixing bowl onto a counter and gather it up in your hands in a rough ball. Bring the full length of your thumbs into the center of the ball so that they meet, and stretch the dough from the center out, as if opening a book, into an oblong shape. Turn the dough a quarter turn and stretch the dough again the same way, creating a smooth ball. Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel, and set aside in a draft-free place at room temperature until the dough doubles in size, in about 45 minutes.
Step 4
Gently remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a clean surface. Cut the dough into 2 pieces (about 1 pound each) and shape it into 2 small balls again, as you did before the first rise. Find a surface in your kitchen from drafts and lay a kitchen towel dusted with flour on it. Place the balls on the towel and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel to prevent a crust from forming on the surface. Leave the loaves to proof at room temperature until they double in size, in about 20-25 minutes.
Step 5
Shape the loaves by first patting down the balls to allow the carbonic gasses that have developed to disperse. To make boules, gather up the dough in a rough ball and shape it as inn Step 3. To make the batards, pat down the dough and shape it into a rough 4-by-10-inch rectangle. With a long side facing you, fold the bottom third of the dough to the center and press to seal it. Fold the top over it and seal along the edge.
Step 6
Place the loaves, seam side down, on thekitchen towels dusted with flour and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Let the loaves rise at room temperature for the final time until they have doubled in size, about 35-45 minutes.
Step 7
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450-degrees F. Carefully place the loaves on a baking sheet. Brush them with water using a pastry brush. With a sharp razor blade, make a lozenge-shaped cut on the surface of each loaf by scoring it from end to end in 2 swift motions. To do this successfully, use just the tip of the blade.
Step 8
Just before you are ready to slide the baking sheet into the oven, spray the inside of the oven with water using a spray bottle or plant mister and close the door immediately. This will create steam, which promotes a good crust. Put the bread in the oven and bake for 25-25 minutes or until it makes a hollow sound when you knock on the bottom of it with your knuckles. Transfer the bread to a rack and allow it to cool before slicing.
Step 9
Makes 2 loaves.
How to Perform the Windowpane Test: When you knead bread dough, either by hand or in a mixer, you are developing the glutens, which are the proteins in wheat that give bread its structure and flavor. When the glutens are properly developed, the resulting bread will have that yeasty flavor and the irregular pockets that are the marks of a good loaf. To determine whether the glutens have been fully developed, pull off from the dough a piece about the size of a golf ball. Stretch, pull, and turn it, thining the dough until it forms a translucent membrane (so you can see light passing through it, but not so that you create a hole), or windowpane. If the dough falls apart before it can be stretched into a windowpane, continue kneading several minutes more and repeat the test.
#2020ReadNonFic
July 12, 2012
For this read I going to my local (not French but as best as I can do in Winnipeg) baker to get some bread I can munch on while reading. I love baking, I just have not baked a lot of bread. More of a cookie, muffin, squares baker am I.
The introduction is a quick read and several of the recipes look delicious but I am in grad school in the heat of Manitoba. To cook or to graduate? Yep, another day, another time in my life I will have a home that smells of a French bakery. For now, I shall return the book and head to the local french bakery to be a patisserie snob (I lived in Belgium as a pre-teen, I know my pastries).
Let me know of you try baking any of these delicious looking morsels and how it turned out.
The introduction is a quick read and several of the recipes look delicious but I am in grad school in the heat of Manitoba. To cook or to graduate? Yep, another day, another time in my life I will have a home that smells of a French bakery. For now, I shall return the book and head to the local french bakery to be a patisserie snob (I lived in Belgium as a pre-teen, I know my pastries).
Let me know of you try baking any of these delicious looking morsels and how it turned out.
May 23, 2022
C'est un livre d'un écrivain anglais à succès qui écrit sur la boulangerie provençale du quartier de sa résidence en France. Il est émerveillé pour le goût du pain, la tradition, le façonnage, le pétrissage, l'odeur... C'est un livre sur la nostalgie des boulangerie d'autrefois quand on pouvait tout faire à la main. Tout est fait par des machines maintenant et malgré cela, les artisans ne peuvent pas tenir contre les chaînes Paul, Mie Caline, Marie Blachère ou Ange... Peut-être que dans des quartiers de riches, on peut sortir 2 ou 3€ par jour un vrai pain mais en province, c'est fini tout ça. C'est la fin d'un monde. C'est bien dommage.
June 14, 2015
Gérard Auzet je pekařem v provensálském Cavaillonu a v této útlé knize vám společně s Maylem ukáže, jak se peče pravý francouzský chléb, bulka či bageta. Zvlášť se věnuje i přísadám a fíglům, které zaručí, že svůj pekařský výtvor nezkazíte. Recepty propojuje s historií své rodiny, příslovími a historkami. Tymiánový, meruňkový, slaninový nebo cibulový chléb – zaručeně dostanete chuť na všechny!
January 31, 2020
Cute little book.
April 9, 2020
Not really “confessions” as such, since that connotes some kind of scandalous memoir, this is more of a brief guide to the history and art of making French bread. I wish I could have read it with wine, a warm baguette and cheese.
June 29, 2022
The introductory material was reasonably interesting. But when it got to the recipes, much less so. I was expecting tips and tricks and explanations--the hows and whys of breadmaking. What I got was mostly just the "what", standard recipes. "Use this type of flour"--why? What difference does it make? No idea, except that this particular baker (and his customers) likes the result with that flour. The recipes are very repetitive, with the standard breadmaking steps written out each time. Good for people who just want to use it as a standard cookbook, I guess, but I was expecting something more in the way of "confessions".
Read
March 16, 2016Not much substance here, but the recipes are handy for reference.
Did I mention that I'm a baker? I reread this recently after returning from an international baker's exposition in Paris where I witnessed a very wide variety of breads, many of which were a delight to the senses.
For someone new to baking bread, there are plenty of handy tips in this book. But for professional or semi-professional bakers with plenty of experience at the art, there's probably nothing new.
Nonetheless, it's a fun read.
Did I mention that I'm a baker? I reread this recently after returning from an international baker's exposition in Paris where I witnessed a very wide variety of breads, many of which were a delight to the senses.
For someone new to baking bread, there are plenty of handy tips in this book. But for professional or semi-professional bakers with plenty of experience at the art, there's probably nothing new.
Nonetheless, it's a fun read.
September 13, 2009
Quick read - one sitting - but I've already forgotten everything (sorry!) I know where to look for it when I need it again (haven't baked any bread in awhile - sorry again!) Having spent some time in Europe wandering around in the pre-dawn hours along empty village streets, I especially enjoyed the descriptions early in the book. If you enjoy baking bread, you'll enjoy this book, and it should inspire you to get back into the kitchen... unless you have more books to read (like I do...)
September 2, 2009
When asked what my "dream job" would be, my stock answer is a baker somewhere in the mountains of France - making bread in the morning and skiing, hiking or biking in the afternoons. Peter Mayle and Gerard Auzet's descriptions of life in a small-town French bakery were a perfect read for me. I only wish it were longer - it's a brief little book, and half of it is giver over to recipes. I would've liked much more than just the single day Mayle spends in the bakery.
September 28, 2016
If you actually want to bake bread, this would be a good book for you. But I mostly just wanted to go behind the scenes of Provencal boulangeries without having to actually work. I got some of that wish satisfied, but not as much as I'd hoped. I imagine it would be fun to try the recipes--I just lack ambition for that right now.
May 4, 2022
Who likes french bread...
This is a veritable treat as a gluten intolerant who will gladly bend the rules and suffer the
consequences happily.
The mental lifestyle - daily shopping for fresh ingredients blah blah blah in Provence,
required to go with this book make it a warm and fuzzy experience.
the recipes are simple, the results tasty, and illustrations amusing :-)
This is a veritable treat as a gluten intolerant who will gladly bend the rules and suffer the
consequences happily.
The mental lifestyle - daily shopping for fresh ingredients blah blah blah in Provence,
required to go with this book make it a warm and fuzzy experience.
the recipes are simple, the results tasty, and illustrations amusing :-)
July 25, 2017
I'm not sure what the confessions actually are, but the good news is there are several recipes that look promising.
February 12, 2022
Another great book by Mayle and his delightful writing style. However this was more of a bread recipe booklet than a book, which was unexpected but still enjoyable. Very easy read
November 9, 2022
This was pretty dull in the end. What confessions? What secrets? Not even a levain recipe!! But I am intrigued by the walnut and red wine loaf, so I will give that a try.
December 30, 2022
Mosty recipes from a fine French bakery
January 18, 2024
Lots of repetition.
May 7, 2024
3,5 for this booklet - I was expecting more, I wanted more on bread and French dough traditions.
September 25, 2024
A classic Peter mayle but be in mind it is a short book with only a few stories and mostly recipes, can’t wait to try them out though!
November 22, 2024
Kinda fun little book
November 5, 2021
I have never baked bread (except for those that are really loaf cakes) and never intend to, but you see I gave this book five stars. That’s because I’m a Francophile, avid cook and foodie, and have succumbed time and time again to the charm of Mayle’s writing. His books set in France take me back to my visits there. Gerard Auzet, as you might guess, was the baker who asked Mayle for help. Tourists coming to Auzet's bakery (he’s the third generation owner) asked him to give demonstrations, then they wanted written recipes or some souvenir they could take away. Mayle knew precisely how to deliver that. Mayle was already a regular and enjoyed the process and perks of working with one of the best boulangeries in Provence.
January 26, 2019
What did I get out of this book?
To bake bread you need to know how to count to 56!
That is the magic number in Celcius for temperature in your kitchen + temperature of the flour + temperature of the water !
Meaning if your kitchen is at 20C and your flour at 22C then you will need your water to be at 14C ! For the perfect bread !
To bake bread you need to know how to count to 56!
That is the magic number in Celcius for temperature in your kitchen + temperature of the flour + temperature of the water !
Meaning if your kitchen is at 20C and your flour at 22C then you will need your water to be at 14C ! For the perfect bread !
August 14, 2019
I found this little Peter Mayle book charming, if too brief. But my association with Provence and the specific towns and villages mentioned in the book made it particularly sweet to read. I have yet to try the recipes, but I suspect they will be exceptional. Only three stars because I doubt this will be everyone's treat the way it was mine.
October 16, 2018
I wasn't expecting this to be a recipe book, but it was still interesting.
November 3, 2018
Could smell the bread, feel the crust and taste its goodness. Mayle writes so well
November 4, 2018
A quick read with some good tips, hints and recipes
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews