Dan Lepard

Baker and food writer

Sourdough bread is commonplace today, but back in the 1980s not so much. So when the artisan baker Daniel Leader in upstate New York published his book Bread Alone (1993) it honestly changed things. Suddenly any baker who felt alarmed by the increasing softness and tastelessness of commercial bread had a hero, and Daniels book inspired so many bakers – like myself – to almost take a luddite approach in their baking, throw a spanner in the bread mixer and slow everything down. Suddenly the grain mattered, stone milling became essential, long fermentation and a slow cool rise were the buzz phrases for new breed of baker known as the “artisan”. This book, alongside Nancy Silverton’s Breads from the La Brea Bakery (1996), drove the artisan baker revolution.

Rachel Khong

Senior Editor Lucky Peach

Marcy Goldman

Pastry chef and cookbook author