Years ago when I called myself “the lazy baker,” I spent a lot of time on Facebook whining about scheduling my bread bakes. Writer and baker Jean Philippe de Tonnac generously reached out and suggested I write a book. He even offered an outline; a series of thoughts he described as “breadisms,” personal baking stories and bits of scientific perspective on baking to punctuate the content.

If that wasn’t kind enough, he offered a title, and even designed a cover for the book. Recently I found a photo of his design. It led me to the source of his title for me, Robert M. Pirsig’s book on life as a journey with motorcycles. Like the two lane roads traveled in that book, it reminded me of Jean’s generous wisdom, looking at baking as a journey with its own on particular challenges and setback, a set of paths that generate much satisfaction but also require their own constant maintenance.