2020 James Beard Award Finalist Zach Golper has written one of the
best cookbooks of all time according to The New York Times,
Epicurious, Bon Appétit, Vogue, and Eater.
In Bien Cuit, he shares his insider's secrets to making his
delicious, artisanal bread that will have home bakers creating
professional-quality products in no time--and inexpensively.
Bien Cuit: The Art of Bread is a work of art with images from famed
food photographer Thomas Schauer and a beautifully designed,
sophisticated interior. Zach Golper's superstar status in the world of
bread baking, starters, and simple baking methods has made Bien Cuit a
world classic.
Bien Cuit introduces a new approach to a proudly old-fashioned way of
baking bread. In the oven of his Brooklyn bakery, Chef Zachary Golper
creates loaves that are served in New York's top restaurants and sought
by bread enthusiasts around the country. His secret: long,
low-temperature fermentation, which allows the dough to develop deep,
complex flavors. A thick mahogany-colored crust is his trademark--what
the French call bien cuit, or "well baked." This signature style is
the product of Golper's years as a journeyman baker, from his
introduction to baking on an Oregon farm--where they made bread by
candlelight at 1 a.m.--through top kitchens in America and Europe and,
finally, into his own bakery in the heart of our country's modern
artisanal food scene.
Bien Cuit tells the story of Golper's ongoing quest to coax maximum
flavor out of one of the world's oldest and simplest recipes. Readers
and amateur bakers will reap the rewards of his curiosity and
perfectionism in the form of fifty bread recipes that span the baking
spectrum from rolls and quick breads to his famous 24-day sourdough
starter. This book is an homage to tradition, but also to invention.
Golper developed many new recipes for this book, including several
"bread quests," in which he brilliantly revives some of New York City's
most iconic breads (including Jewish rye, Sicilian lard bread, Kaiser
rolls, and, of course, bagels). You will also find palate-pleasing and
innovative "gastronomic breads" that showcase his chef's intuition and
mastery of ingredients.
Golper's defining technique comes at a time when American home cooks are
returning to tradition-tested cooking methods and championing the DIY
movement. Golper's methods are relatively simple and easy to master,
with recipes that require no modern equipment to make at home: just a
bowl, an oven, and time--the dough does most of the work.
