Among my few but favorite possessions are a series of baking books. They go back to my Culinary school days and include both pastry and bread baking books. The two bread books alone are packed with years worth of baking methods and techniques. When first purchased, they seemed an expensive but worthwhile investment in my career, though at the time I focused on becoming a chef. Just starting out, I also had minimal excess money at the end of each month.

Fast forward 30-years and I have gained a bit of knowledge from experience, but also grown passion for specific areas, especially around baking bread. Looking recently at the second volume of my bread books I noticed the name of co-author Eric Kayser, a wonderful baker whose bakery in Paris I visited years ago. Later he came to New York where I followed him, as well.  Sadly there's this recent news on his bakery chain (and others), that remind me of the impact of this terrible pandemic. And yet still we bake. Here are some examples of classics of this fully French-filled repertoire from the books, the formulas that have recently inspired another immersion. Below are some photographs of the results.