A valid baffling as this article, and the one it summarizes/utilizes, is basically taking the SundayStyles approach to artisinal bread baking, as it has been done for decades, if not centuries, and slapping a health trend on it. As you well know this isn’t some hip/fad diet but just how good bread is baked.

I’m sure he’s a very charming guy. I may have been being a bit critical after my soul crushing commute this morning.

Ehh it’s worth questioning at least. Real bread ferments, rises and breaks down, wonderbread is a batter that bakes in a loaf pan.

I’m a little baffled here...granted, I’m nearing 50, and over 20 years ago I used to be a baker at one of the earliest Great Harvest Bakeries in Oregon...what this article describes doesn’t seem too terribly different from what Great Harvest has been doing for a long time. Or maybe it’s just because we’ve had…

I recently started making my own sourdough breads at home. I’ve got a PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics/ 12 years of academic and industry laboratory experience, and I’ve found breadmaking hard has shit. It’s also one of the most rewarding things I’ve taken on.

Sorry if I misinterpreted your meaning/tone. The vitriol some people have towards this article is misplaced and annoying.

You people need to come visit us in Finland. Dark rye bread like this is delicious, cheap as dirt and has all the fibre one could ever ask for:

Internet bad-ass to most famous American baker (who turned down, for instance, an request to teach the Empress of Japan how to make his bread): “Hey, loser, take a shower.” If that isn’t sweat dappling his brow, it might be the irony.

Yeah, that was exactly my point. I wasn’t trying to clarify that the article highlights a hook/angle more appropriate to a SundayStyles section, while overlooking the more fundamental reason for using freshly milled grains, while similarly pointing out that it isn’t a magic trick for good bread, that baking, like any…

ok, so I shouldn’t try to make some because my bread will still suck. Good to know.

Exactly. The health angle is a styles section hook. The real reason bakers use fresh milled flour (either of their own milling or in conjunction with a wheat farmer) is flavor. As you describe, that complexity of taste, which can be almost difficult to describe, is the motivation. The health stuff is a hook.

As JimTom’sDoula said, yes, there are those who make bad bread using fresh-milled flour. But, a good baker is trying to extract the most flavor from the wheat, and freshly milled flour will generally allow for a far more complex flavor to be developed. A bad baker will still make bad bread with it. But a good baker…

This is putting the fad/the hook before the full story. Yes, there is a health benefit to be had in using the whole grain (and whole grain flour can be bought), but the chief function of using fresh-milled flour (which can itself be bolted or sifted to less than 100% extraction) is flavor.

Ugh, so you don’t eat lactose free bread? You might as well poison yourself with cyanide right now.

Made from wheat cropped in Neverland. Never forget that part.

When I close my eyes and picture the type of person who works in an artisanal bakery, he is exactly what I see.

You may not recognize it but the man pictured is engaging in something that may be foreign to millenials. It’s called “manual labor” or alternatively “actual work.” You should try it sometime. It can be very rewarding.

Pick the fanciest, hoighty-toughtiest restauraunt you can find.

“It’s tricky to track down prices per loaf at a lot of these places—neither Tartine in San Francisco nor Brooklyn Bread Lab lists costs”

How long until they start making Uncrustables with this bread?