It’s been sometime since I started baking bread, inspired by a book by Dan Leader. Today, I am the guy who is known (not always happily) for leaving a trail of flour on kitchen counters, or stuffing the refridgerator with my levains. Call it a hobby, passion or just obsession for wild yeast. Lately though I have cut back on my bread baking. But as hard as I try to not buy more bread books and stop purchasing grains and flour… I can’t! Call me a bread head, a  natural yeast evangelist, or just a man who can’t ignore the power of the genuine dough.

While researching to prepare for an interview recently, I saw a video of the Spanish baker, Iban Yarza. In it he talked about his amazement at the “revolucion of homebakers.” Quizás una revolución, pero yo prefiero decir una levantamiento – in English, perhaps a revolution, but I prefer to say an uprising! Funny how bread is so full of symbols, myths and analogies in whatever language.

My inspiration, mentors, companions, panophiles in my revolution – it’s led by pro bakers like Dan Lepard, Wolfgang Süpke, Richard Bertinet, Graham Prichard, Dieter Buschmann.

Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all of my fellow and first time Bethesdabaker’s, which put me in contact with a bevy of bakers and my first bakers conference! They’re coming up on a 5th Anniversary in Bethesda next July… sorry Mick, you know my schedule!

Then there are micro Bakers; Mick Hartley, Rick of Mair’s Bakehouse, David Aplin …Blog bakers, Susan, Marie Claude, Nils, Hans Joakim, Petra..Javier Marca,and there are more. The list is growing. There are some I have met and some yet to be acquainted with. The world of great bread, it seems to perpetually flower, no pun intended.

As for my own dream? Well it’s not yet fully formed. Still in flux, it plays out both in my mind but also in real time – in the kitchen as I bake. Slowly proofing, it’s all in my hands ready to shape but still developing!

If I left you off this post, sorry, just burning the candle from both ends, Teresa!