Peter Reinhart Interview

Photo credits: Ron Manville

 

I was very fortunate to talk to Peter Reinhart at the Asheville Artisan Bread Festival and he was very kind to give me an interview. What impressed me the most about him was his simplicity. Also he was talking about bread and giving his class as if it was the most exciting thing in the whole world.  It was impossible not to get contaminated by his excitement and be impressed by his knowledge.



Interview:

Peter Reinhart co-founded Brother Juniper's Bakery in Sonoma, California. Currently he is a full-time baking instructor at Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has written ten books, including award winners The Bread Baker's Apprentice (James Beard Foundation Book of the Year 2002 and The IACP Cookbook of the Year), Crust and Crumb (James Beard Foundation Book Awards Winner, 1999) and Whole Grain Breads (James Beard Foundation Book of The Year 2008). His newest book: Bread Revolution was released in the fall of 2014 and is full of new ingredients, developments, recipes and formulas. Most of all there is a lot of research, photos, information and new ideas in the book that makes it a pleasure to read, like all of Peter's books.

 Peter is stretching and folding a Sprouted Wheat Focaccia dough from Bread Revolution pg82.

 

Q.Your new book is a guilt-free cookbook that has a lot of exciting and healthy ingredients and, mostly, it brings the full flavor and potential of sprouted wheat flour. There are lots of new developments and interesting ideas. Was it hard to write a book that is such a breakthrough? 
 

A.It took a few years of research and a number of interviews and travel, but it was all quite a bit of fun precisely because it is exciting, next frontier stuff. I got to meet many fascinating individuals who all are engaged in their own cutting edge research and projects. The only hard part was finding the best way to tell the story and then to develop the recipes for home bakers that might also be of interest to the professional baking community -- but even that was fun!

 

Q.There are more and more choices of flour at my healthy grocery store nowadays than ever before, do you think that, in the future, the varieties of flour will be such that one could buy it and grind it at a store just like we do with coffee?

A.I think that would be a fabulous idea and wouldn't be at all surprised to see it happen. Small tabletop flour mills, with the grain milled to order, would be terrific marketing and also provide the freshest possible flour. However, the challenge will be to mill the grain properly, so some training may be required. Also, with the growth of small regional milling companies and locally grown, regionally specific flour, freshly milled flour may already be available in many communities and we should support those mills if possible. But I think you are right, milling is a hot topic these days and I would love to see the consumer be able to mill their own. It probably is on the near horizon.

Q.Have you experimented with white sprouted flour also? If so, what where your thoughts?

A.If by white flour you mean sifted flour like all purpose or bread flour, no I don't think this is possible with sprouted flour because once you germinate the seeds everything changes in both the germ and the bran. So I don't think you can separate them out after that. But, the good news is that sprouting the seed also sweetens the flavor and overcomes the bitterness we associate with whole grain flour, and also protects against rancidity as the germ, which is mostly oil, becomes more integrated into the seed and changes and becomes more stable. But there is also a type of wheat called white wheat, which is lighter in color than the more common red wheat and sometimes gets confused with white flour. There is now a small supply of sprouted white whole wheat flour available from To Your Health Sprouted Flour (www.healthyflour.com ) that looks more like white flour. 

 

Q.Which one of your books is closest to your heart, the one that you are most proud of?  

A.I suppose the first one is always the most special, and I still do love "The Brother Juniper's Bread Book: Slow Rise as Method and Metaphor," because it tells a lot of stories and also because it introduced my favorite bread, Struan, to the world. I always try to include at least one new version of Struan in all my other books because of how special I think it is (the best toasting bread ever, in my opinion) and it exemplifies the message and symbolism of bread on so many levels.  I also wrote a book that is now out of print and which I hope to bring out someday as an e-book, "Bread Upon the Waters," which tells more of my spiritual journey and how it interweaves with bread. Another book that is out of print that I really loved writing is "Sacramental Magic in a Small Town Cafe: Recipes and Stories From Brother Juniper's Cafe." It contains many of my wife Susan's recipes and tells more of our journey in trying to feed both bodies and souls. 

 

Q.One thing that I really enjoy about your books are your personal stories and adventures, to me they are fun to read and inspiring. In your own journey what was the best lesson bread has taught you?  

A.Resiliency.  The act of punching down a dough and then watching it rise again, developing more flavor and character with each rise, has been a personal life lesson that helped keep me going during the difficult days of building a business and finding my way through life. Bread is all about transformation, and resiliency a big part of transformation. 

 

Q.What keeps your fire burning? Is it like your own personal "Oven spring" never ceases, what are you eying for the future?

A.We never lose the potential for growth, and I've been blessed to have been surrounded by talented young, hungry-for-knowledge baking and culinary students for the past 20 years who help keep me feeling young and hungry too. Every time I think that all that can be said about bread has already been said, something new pops up, like sprouted flour or flour made from grape skins and grape seeds, or from spent grain. And, also, people never lose their love for a well-told story, so I've been fortunate to have found a subject area that I love, bread, that also allows me to indulge my passion for story telling. And one thing I've learned from writing is that there's always room for improvement. So that will be my next focus, to keep improving my craft as a story teller. 

 

A special thank you for this great opportunity and for teaching us all about bread and bread revolution:   

Thank you, Sissy. I'll leave you and your readers with what I call the "Baker's Blessing:"  May your crust be crisp and your bread always rise!

 

Click HERE for a teaser recipe from his book

Bread Revolution.

Note:
Recipe on page 63 for the Sprouted Wheat Master Loaf correction by Peter Reinhart:  the water weights are correct but the volume amount is a typo -- should be 1 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon.

What is your favorite recipe from Peter Reinhart?

Thank you and come EAT BREAD WITH ME !!!!