num_pages: 352
description: William Alexander is determined to bake the perfect loaf of bread. He tasted it long ago in a restaurant and has been trying to reproduce it ever since. Without success. Now on the theory that practice makes perfect he sets out to bake peasant bread every week until he gets it right. He bakes his loaf from scratch. And because Alexander is nothing if not thorough he really means from scratch: growing harvesting winnowing threshing and milling his own wheat. An original take on the six-thousand-year-old staple of life 52 Loaves explores the nature of obsession the meditative quality of ritual the futility of trying to re-create something perfect our deep connection to the earth and the mysterious instinct that makes all of us respond to the aroma of baking bread.
language: English
title: 52 Loaves: One Man's Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust
publisher: Algonquin Books