The Bread Basket Crust to crumb

An honest, unfussy notebook about bread — buying it, keeping it, and making the most of every slice.

Featured loaf

Whole grain or white, and what the label really means

"Wheat bread" on the bag doesn't tell you much. Here's how to read past the marketing, spot a genuine whole grain loaf, and decide when white bread is exactly the right choice anyway.

Read · 7 min Filed · The Basics
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Rustic round sourdough loaves with a deep golden crust resting on a wooden board

About this blog

Bread is old, forgiving, and worth paying a little attention to.

The Bread Basket is a plain-spoken notebook about the loaf on your counter. No baking bootcamp, no gatekeeping about hydration percentages — just what actually helps: how to read a label, keep a crust from going soft, rescue a loaf that's gone hard, and put something good on top. I buy most of my bread and bake a bit of it, and I write from that middle ground.

Everything here comes from an ordinary kitchen with a bread knife, a wooden board, and a freezer that does a lot of quiet work. Where a trick disappoints or a rule has an exception, I say so.

5Entries to start
1Good bread knife
2Ingredients in the plainest loaf
0Slices worth wasting

The basket

Five slices of bread know-how

Start anywhere. Each entry stands on its own, from the label on the bag to the last stale heel.

A stack of toasted golden bread slices on a plate
No Waste

Stale bread is not the end

A splash of water and a hot oven can bring a hard loaf most of the way back. And when it can't, that's what croutons, crumbs, and a good soup are for.

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A glass jar of bubbling sourdough starter beside a scattering of flour
Curiosity

Sourdough, explained for the merely curious

What that jar of bubbling flour and water actually is, why the bread tastes tangy, and whether you need to keep a pet starter to enjoy it. Spoiler: you don't.

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A slice of toast topped with mashed avocado and a scattering of seeds
On Top

Toppings beyond butter

Butter is wonderful and it is not the only answer. Olive oil, mashed beans, ricotta, a soft-boiled egg — how to turn a slice into a small meal.

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