Article hard to digest

Re: Against the grain: Why the qualities of traditional bread- making are more imagined than real, Laura Brehaut, Nov. 18

I have been baking professionally for 35 years, most recently my own shop. A customer brought in Laura Brehaut’s article for me, and I felt mighty resentful after reading it.

I’m aware of Nathan Myhrvold’s books, including the latest,“Modernist Bread.” I don’t appreciate being scolded by an elite academic dilettante about the so-called ignorance of practitioners of the craft. Being the former chief technology officer of Microsoft does not lend any credibility to his claims.

This is not the first time that a wealthy businessman has come along and made pronouncements on t he state of the baking industry. It happens every few years — in the 80s it was oat bran, in the early 2000s it was the low- carb Atkins diet, and ever since it’s been all about gluten-free … and cupcakes.

Usually it comes from upstarts — people from outside the industry. They think they have a bold, new vision and they’re going to really shake it all up. They make their bucks peddling an expensive new book and the public eats it up.

Well- made bread takes time. Long fermentation under controlled cool temperatures produces loaves that are delicious, digestible and with superior keeping qualities. This is not news. Bakers have known this for hundreds if not thousands of years.

They may not have had the correct technical terminology or the academic training to describe the biological processes that were taking place in their doughs but they knew from direct hands- on experience how to coax the full flavour of the grain into good- tasting bread. Otherwise no one would eat it. Do you think that taste buds were invented in the 20th century?

Baking is a strenuous pastime. It involves commitment and endurance. Leave passion in the bedroom. David Aplin, baker, Scarborough, Ont.