Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from Andrews McMeel Publishing via #Netgalley, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it, all opinions are my own
This cookbook spotlights the recipes, traditions, and tales of a popular New Jersey bakery that started as a tiny, hole in the wall but became a pillar of resilience for the community during the global pandemic. Montclair Bread Company not only offers bountiful baked treats to throngs of fans, and is a mecca for runners who line up each year to race for doughnuts, it is the epitomy of adapting to survive a crisis.
Nine months after Rachel Wyman opened Montclair Bread Company in 2012, business was stale. She had spent years rising before dawn to perfect the combination of flour, water, yeast and salt, and she had the bread to prove it. But on a good day, only thirty people trickled through her door until one Sunday morning when one of her bakers asked her to make doughnuts. This was risky because her customers often begged for healthy foods. The doughnuts sold out in minutes, the number of customers continued to grow along with the line for doughnuts that stretched to the end of the block. Her business flourished until the global pandemic in 2020. Rachel had no choice but to adapt to keep her business going and even started a virtual bake-a-long to help support and communicate with the community during the lock downs.
This book shares the tried-and-true recipes Rachel spent three decades perfecting that are now the backbone of her bakery. The recipes are organized by Childhood Favorites, Breads, Doughnuts, Community Favorites, Recipes from Quarantine. Some of these include: Mombo's Carrot Cake and Cowboy Cookies Sour Dough Bread and Stollen Classic Brioche Doughnuts with Variations, Toppings, and Glazes Pizza and Energy Bars Cheese Crackers and Bagels Rachel brings joy to baking, makes yeast less scary, and helps home bakers make the perfect dough under any conditions. This is a story of how the love of baking brought a community together and held it together during a global pandemic.
Review:
Most cookbooks include info about the chef, but this one is truly a mini biography. As she walks you through all the changes in her life, you see how her baking changed- both by demand of her customers, and the freedom she felt to explore more items, and her creativity. These recipes may seem like basics, but Rachel's approach to example, her brioche recipe, which is a quicker rise than normal, is amazing! Once you have a great base, then you are only limited by the ingredients you can source. These recipes are relatively simple, but some do require some time to make! If you're looking to change up your morning breakfast and brunch routines, then this is the book for you!
Recipe:
Here's an amazing carrot cake recipe, from the book, perfect for Fall weather!
About the Author:
Rachel Wyman grew up in Maryland and as a child watched her grandmother make wedding cakes. After graduating from the University of Florida with a French degree, she studied baking and pastry at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, where she discovered a passion for baking bread. She felt, “There was a soulfulness about it that wasn’t found in fancy cakes.” She has worked for Bread Alone Bakery, Amy’s Bread, and the Ritz-Carlton and has developed bread recipes for Wegmans, Whole Foods, Target, and Starbucks. In 2014 she won The Cooking Channel’s “Donut Showdown” competition. In 2015, Bake Magazine named her “One of the 25 Most Influential Bakers in the US.” In 2016, she was featured in the New York Times story "Montclair Bread Company has Sunday Treats All Week Long." Recently, Rachel wrote about the struggles of operating a business during the pandemic for CNN Business Perspectives. She is the owner of Montclair Bread Company in Montclair, NJ where she resides with her three children.
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