Ultimate Bread

In France and in Italy, where we come from, a meal is not a meal without bread. There, bread is taken very seriously. The daily visit to the bakery is a ritual that punctuates the rhythm of life. People choose their bread with special care and patronize the baker of their choice with an almost religious allegiance. It is said that the table is not set until bread is put on it. Bread is used to eat with as much as it is eaten: a piece of bread is used as a kind of secondary fork, and then is used to wipe the plate clean of every last morsel. Indeed, for many, culinary life begins with bread as mothers give their babies a hard crust on which to cut their teeth.