Introduction

TO MAMA TAZ (K. CLARK OF THE MILFORD TRACK, LITTLE ROCK, AR). YOU SET THE BENCHMARK FOR A BALANCED TEMPERAMENT IN THE PROFESSIONAL KITCHEN. I’M SO GLAD YOU GAVE A KID A CHANCE. THANK YOU, K.

As you cut into the first Bien Cuit bread you bake, you will know this is a different kind of loaf. The crust is dark as old mahogany. Next comes a rasping sound as the knife slices into the crust, like a woodsman’s handsaw on a piece of oak. The inside—bakers call it the crumb—will be airy, slightly moist, and dense at the same time. Inhale the aroma; it will be yeasty as a mug of dark brown ale and maybe a little nutty, like a pecan pie cooling by an open window. Take a bite. Chances are you will get more of that nuttiness, the tang of fermented grain, the scent of an orchard in late September, and a hard-to-pin-down aroma that might be rye, might be wheat, walnuts, or raisins or, equally likely, all of the above. Zachary Golper’s bread combines ingredients in a way that brings out seductive flavors, some pronounced, some nuanced, and as complex, in their way, as the flavors and aromas of another fermented food: fine wine.