Peter Mayle and Gerard Auzet, "Confessions of a French Baker"

I'll be honest up front, I'm not a big fan of Peter Mayle's writing.  It's just a little too treacly, as if everything he experiences is instantly captured in the golden late afternoon light of nostalgia.  I understand why people dig it, and I don't think he's bad or wrong for doing it, but it just isn't for me.

But I've been on a bread-baking kick lately, and this slim little volume called to me from the shelves at the library.  Despite my feelings for Peter Mayle's writing style, I have to give the man his props.  If anyone knows really good French bread, I figured it had to be him.  

Confessions of a French Baker is co-written with Gerard Auzet.  Auzet owns and operates Mayle's favorite boulangerie in Provence.  One day Auzet told Mayle that he got so many requests for his tips and tricks of breadmaking that he wanted to put together a little pamphlet.  Basically it was the old "I'll give you the info, and you can write it, and we can split the money" deal.  Except that unlike every other time this has been proposed IN THE HISTORY OF THE WRITTEN WORD, the published author actually accepted the offer.

Auzet's family has been baking bread in Provence for hundreds of years.  Back in the day, Auzet's great-grandfather traveled the countryside by horse-drawn cart.  He would show up at a farmhouse, and charge a fee for baking bread in their kitchen for them.

I can't tell you how badly I yearn for a world when master bread-makers show up on your doorstep, offering to bake fresh bread in your kitchen for a small fee.  

Confessions of a French Baker is about 80% Mayle talking about the history of bread-making, the history of the Auzet family, his experience sitting in on a bread-making session at Auzet's bakery, and other non-recipe stuff.  I skimmed this, but it seemed to be well within acceptable parameters, and I'm sure that fans of Mayle will enjoy it immensely.

The remaining 15% is master baker Auzet's tips and tricks for breadmaking.  Most of this is the standard stuff you would find in even a regular cookbook's chapter dedicated to breads.  I don't know what I was expecting, but it made me face the fact that bread really IS pretty simple in theory.  It's the practice where things get tricky.

Mayle himself admits as much, sheepishly pointing out that he doubts he himself could learn how to bake bread from Auzet's instructions.  Breadmaking is one of those things, Mayle says, that is simple in theory, but crazy difficult to perfect.  Big help there, man!

Interestingly, Mayle did a lot of experimentation at home in America.  He found that the flour mixture which achieved the best results (i.e. closest to Auzet's own flour's specs) was King Arthur bread flour mixed 50/50 with King Arthur all-purpose flour.  This was news to me, and my preliminary results are looking very promising.

In the end, Mayle and Auzet probably won't tell you anything you won't have heard before.  But if you enjoy Mayle's writing, or you want to pick up a few expert tips, then this dainty little book is just the thing.