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About the Author...
William Alexander, when not burning bread, under-watering his garden, or writing, is the director of technology at a psychiatric research institute, where he has spent the past 28 years, (he believes, perhaps naively, as a researcher, not a researchee). He attended Duke University until, after spending two years in the basement of the engineering building trying to get a picture on the oscilloscope, he wisely changed his major to English Literature, transferring to the University at Albany, where he graduated in 1974. Unable to find work related to his field (deconstructing Kafka) he did a short stint as a math teacher, finally re-entering the technology field as the computer age dawned (and, more importantly, oscilloscopes faded from the scene), in 1981.
Bill is a regular contributor to the New York Times op-ed page, where he has opined on such varied issues as Martha Stewart's release from prison, his offbeat view (published on Christmas Eve, no less) on Christmas trees, what the honeybee crisis means to the home gardener, the relevance of Arbor Day, and the difficulties of being organic, which became the 3rd-most e-mailed article of the issue.
Bill became interested in baking bread when at nearly the age of 50, he had his first taste of "real" bread — his first artisan loaf. As he describes it in 52 Loaves:
This bread didn't ball up in your mouth like white bread and, like the crust, it was yeasty, just slightly sweet, and exhaled (yes, the bread exhaled) an incredible perfume that, cartoon-like, wafted up from the table, did a curl, and, it seemed, levitated me from the table. I was seduced, body and soul, my senses overloaded.
The next thing you knew (well, 5 years later) Bill had embarked on a mission to re-create this perfect loaf of bread, the subject of his second book, 52 Loaves.
In addition to baking and gardening, his other hobbies include cooking, woodworking, kayaking, and swimming. His former hobbies include home renovation (never again) and child-rearing (never, ever again). Bill and his family live in New York's Hudson Valley. The kids seem anxious to move out, for some reason.
He can be contacted at
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