In Search of the Perfect Loaf: A Home Baker's Odyssey

"An invaluable guide for beginning bakers." -Sam Sifton, The New York Times

In 2009, journalist Samuel Fromartz was offered the assignment of a lifetime: to travel to France to work in a boulangerie. So began his quest to hone not just his homemade baguette-which later beat out professional bakeries to win the "Best Baguette of D.C."-but his knowledge of bread, from seed to table.

For the next four years, Fromartz traveled across the United States and Europe, perfecting his sourdough in Cal...