Smell That Bread: In Search of the Ultimate Loaf

Joan McGrath is a Toronto Board of Education library consultant.

This exhaustive study of “the staff of life” deals only with plain, straightforward bread, not with sweet breads, soda breads, or other variations. Those, it is suggested, may come later. The author has made bread since 1950 and has logged his results to fascinating effect. His search for the Ultimate Loaf (which one suspects he may never quite attain) has provided him with the material for this very readable collection of tips, warnings, and (of course) recipes. The presence of the author is much in evidence throughout, and his jokiness does wear a little thin, but his expertise is patent. The book is handsomely ring-bound and printed in temptingly bready colours — brown ink on off-white paper. He includes lots of helpful diagrams, and he emphasizes considerations of health and nutrition vs. those of speed and/or convenience (though fast breads are included). Imperial measurements only. The book is completely indexed and, as an added pleasant touch, there is a request for feedback and suggestions from readers, with blank pages provided for on-the-job notemaking.