Description

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An inspiring celebration of the everyday miracle of homemade bread

Over the course of a year, Robert Penn learns how to plant, harvest, thresh and mill his own wheat, in order to bake bread for his family. In returning to this pre-industrial practice, he tells the fascinating story of our relationship with bread: from the domestication of wheat in the Fertile Crescent at the dawn of civilization, to the rise of mass-produced loaves and the resurgence in homebaking today.

Gathering knowledge and wisdom from experts around the world - farmers on the banks of the Nile, harvesters in the American Midwest and Parisian boulangers - Penn reconnects the joy of making and eating bread with a deep appreciation for the skill and patience required to cultivate its key ingredient. This book is a celebration of the millennia-old craft of breadmaking, and how it is woven into the story of humanity.

About the Author

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Robert Penn is a journalist, woodsman, lifelong cyclist and the author of several books including It's All About the Bike and The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees. He lives in the Black Mountains, South Wales with his wife, three children, two spaniels, twelve bicycles and a collection of axes. He bakes his own bread in a wood-fired oven.

Praise For…

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A modern day Thoreau . . . Rob Penn has been hand scything wheat in the Nile Delta and growing his own heritage grains ― Great British Food Magazine

Compelling, vivid . . .the cyclist and former lawyer explores his enthusiasm for sourdough bread, and forgotten "landrace" wheats, as he supervises their planting, harvesting and the milling of the grain that would go into his loaf . . . Slow Rise will be welcomed by the new bread geeks  ― Spectator

A wide-ranging, gloriously obsessive odyssey ... a wonderful insight into the history, culture and sheer hard work taken to make this most fundamental of human foods -- Jenny Linford ― author of The Seven Culinary Wonders of the World

Fascinating, compelling . . . Robert Penn's engaging account encompasses every aspect of bread, from how it fuelled entire empires to which grains he could grow on his own allotment -- David Ellis ― Evening Standard

Praise for previous titles:

"A beautifully figured and multicolored ode to our love affair with the invaluable ash tree. I swooned. Penn’s paean to the many uses of the ash is so well-wrought that I am compelled to take up hurling." ― Nick Offerman on The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees
“Puts [Penn's] vast and endearingly shaggy bicycle boffinry on a brisk round-the-world tour. Penn's energy never flags, and he knows when to change gears. The book is as a wheel-builder named Gravy described Penn's just completed, perfectly tuned, 28-spoked rear wheel: ‘Well, my friend. It's true.'” ―New York Times Book Review on It's All About the Bike

“Fantastic. . . . [Penn] approaches his subject with equal parts humor, humility, and authoritative intelligence as he sets out to find himself a new bike. Entertaining, illuminating and beautifully illustrated, It's All About the Bike is a rare and precious portal to the heart and soul of bike culture and its surprising footprint--tireprint?--on all of culture.” ―Atlantic on It's All About the Bike

"With humor and insight, Penn examines the historical, social, and cultural significance of the bike.” ―Philadelphia Inquireron It's All About the Bike