The Return of Flavor and Texture

Europeans and North Americans began to eat significantly more bread in the 1980s than they had the decade before. One reason was the revival of traditional bread making. Small bakeries began to produce bread using less refined grains and grain mixtures, building flavor with long, slow fermentation, and baking small batches in brick ovens that produce a dark, crusty loaf. Another reason was the home cook’s rediscovery of the pleasures of baking and eating fresh warm bread. The Japanese invention of the bread machine made it possible for busy home cooks to put all the ingredients into a single chamber, close the lid, and fill the house with the forgotten aroma of fresh-baked bread.