I’m back into baking. I took the past few months off but at a recent get together, a few folks were lamenting over the inability to get good french baguettes and then we had a long discussions about soft pretzels. I took all of this as a challenge to further push my baking skills and especially perfect my pretzel making. That led me to start trying some different pretzel recipes in search of perfection.  I also checked out Esther’s Bakery in Mountain View. They are a german bakery who supposedly have very authentic pretzels.

At the library, I came across Daniel Leader’s book (“Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe’s Best Artisan Bakers” (Daniel Leader)) which included a pretzel from a Munich baker.  I checked the book out and began reading through. I am really impressed with the book so far and have decided to try out many of the recipes in the book. The instructions are clear and he has taken alot of care to come up with alternatives for techniques that can be done by the home baker.   

My next bit of research was to decide on some flour. I had previously been using just the random upscale brands available at my grocery store: King Arthur, Gold Medal, etc. Daniel Leader recommended Giusto’s flour which is a local SF brand. But a bunch of online forums revealed that Giusto’s has fallen out of the top notch with bakers and that there is a new player on the block, Central Milling. Central Milling is apparently the flour that Acme Bakery in Berkeley uses and has quite a cult following.

A few back and forth emails with Nicky Giusto at Central Milling and I found myself making a stop by their warehouse to purchase a 50 lb. bag of their Organic Artisan Bakers Craft. There is nothing like the feeling of getting things at the source. The amount of flour that is in a 50 lb. bag didn’t really sink in until I had to carry that bad boy into the kitchen. Let me just say that I got alot of baking to do. And yes if you must know… the flour is truly amazing!