Albert Kumin is a Great and Venerable Chef with decades of accomplishments in the world of baking and pastry, not the least of which being that he served as White House pastry chef in the 1970s. His skills are as legendary as his unending generosity. I am happily a sapling in the shadow of this grand tree. I learned this unusual bread-making technique from him in the 1980s, and although I evolved it over the years, the germ method is entirely his. Growing up in the mountain
