Andrew Janjigian

1 week ago | newsletter.wordloaf.org | Andrew Janjigian

I have to say that when I first read Jim Franks' new book Existential Bread, my heart sank a little. At that point, I'd been working on my own manual of bread baking for more than two years, one that was maybe a hundred pages over budget, with no clear end in sight. And here was a slim book—written entirely in verse, by the way—that could be digested in a single afternoon, providing all the information one might need for a lifetime of successful bread baking.

2 weeks ago | newsletter.wordloaf.org | Andrew Janjigian

A few years back, I shared an excerpt and a recipe from Irina Georgescu's book of Romanian desserts, Tava:Irina Georgescu’s ‘Tava’An excerpt and a recipeIrina has just released a new book, Danube, which follows the river through Romania, with an emphasis on the foodways that flow through and from it. The Danube is the second-longest river in Europe, meandering from Germany to the Black Sea, passing through ten countries along the way.

2 weeks ago | newsletter.wordloaf.org | Andrew Janjigian

A scordolea is a bold accompaniment to fish and vegetables, usually made with soaked bread, walnuts or hazelnuts, and a lot of garlic. Skorda means ‘garlic’ in Greek, and their version is made with potatoes. It comes in many variations depending on what is used to thicken the garlic sauce, and is popular not only in Romania but also in the Balkans.

2 weeks ago | newsletter.wordloaf.org | Andrew Janjigian

This recipe hails from Oltenia where the bread is made under an earthenware cloche called a țest (tzest). It has a direct lineage to ancient Rome, where baking was done under a testu or clibanus and placed into a wood-burning hearth. The cloche’s sides and top were covered with hot embers to ensure good heat distribution. In Romania, it was traditional to place the țest on the bare ground, but in more modern times we’ve used flat, stone or brick surfaces.

3 weeks ago | newsletter.wordloaf.org | Andrew Janjigian

Okay, so here it is, as promised, the sourdough shokupain de mie recipe from Breaducation, one of the first finalized recipes I've shared here or anywhere. If you haven't yet, please read last week's post about baking with liquid sweet starters:A Sweet Starter User GuideMay 2025 editionIf you have experience with yeasted enriched breads and lean sourdoughs, a very active starter, and loads of time on your hands, you should be fine.