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52 Loaves

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Chocolate & Zucchini

An engaging and instructive read with great rhythm...I think you'll find it as engrossing as I did. It is the book I was reading in Japan and well, I blame William Alexander for making me miss Mount Fuji while riding the bullet train.

Subtitled "One Man's Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust," 52 Loaves is a memoir that tells the story of a middle-aged man who decides to bake a loaf a week during one year, to try and recreate the superlative loaf he's once tasted.

I received it as a review copy, and I admit I was dubious at first -- it had the potential of reading like a self-important, overblown tale -- but that's probably because I'd never read anything by William Alexander before: it turns out he's a funny, relatable, and (sometimes painfully) honest writer.

Divided into 52 chapters, the book documents the baking and life lessons he learns over as many weeks, from his inaugural doorstop loaves to his first attempts at sourdough, from building his own wood-fire oven to growing his own wheat and milling his own flour (!), and finally to the apex of his story, an unexpectedly moving episode I'm not about to spoil for you.

It is an engaging and instructive read with great rhythm, and if you've been on your own quest for good home-baked bread, I think you'll find it as engrossing as I did. It is the book I was reading in Japan and well, I blame William Alexander for making me miss Mount Fuji while riding the bullet train. — Clotilde Dusoulier, Chocolate & Zucchini