Baking Artisan Bread with Natural Starters

Book excerpt: The expert baker behind Kansas City’s Farm to Market Bread Co. shares his natural starter secrets in this complete guide to baking artisanal bread. There’s nothing quite like the pure, simple pleasure of freshly baked bread. And few bakers know bread like Mark Friend, founder of Kansas City’s Farm to Market Bread Company. For more than twenty-five years, Kansas Citians have enjoyed Mark’s fresh-baked creations. Now he teaches you how to bake their own artisanal sourdough, levain, rye, and biga at home. The key to achieving the full-bodied flavor of great bread is using a healthy, naturally fermented starter. Using four core recipes, Mark guides you from pre-fermented starter to warm, aromatic finish. He then offers variations to each recipe, allowing you to expand your baking repertoire.