“I resolve to bake more whole-grain bread in 2021.” “How,” you ask,” I indeed to baking through Peter Reinhart’s “Whole Grain Breads.” This is NOT my original idea but a suggestion from Jarkko Laine in Bread Magazine, December 2015.

Laine’s Resolutions Updated for 2021

  1. “In 2021, I resolve to make and use a sourdough starter.” If you have been baking bread for a little while, this should be your first New Year’s resolution. Baking bread with sourdough isn’t hard, and the result is not only a healthier but also more delicious loaf of bread. You’ll never look back.
  2. “In 2021, I will try at least five (or four, or ten — you pick the number) different flours.” This can mean wheat flour from different mills or new grains that you haven’t used before. Experimentation is fun, and might lead to great new finds!
  3. “In 2021, I resolve to learn to shape a decent baguette.” I originally picked the baguette because it was one I was struggling with (In 2015, I did practice quite a bit with the classic French bread and wrote about it in the year’s second issue), but go ahead and pick any bread shape you have trouble working with and get to work. Read instructions, watch some videos, maybe ask a friend who knows how to do it, and then practice until you make it.
  4. “In 2021, I will be patient and let my doughs rest longer.” As Jukka Kotkanen told me when I interviewed him in the Spring 2014 issue, “waiting is the hardest part” in bread making. That’s so true. Almost always, my best results have been the breads that I forgot to bake when I planned to. So, at least for someone as impatient as I am, waiting a little longer is a good idea. Do analyze your baking, though: If your bread is always well proofed, don’t add any more time… Unless you do it by retarding the doughs in a cool temperature — which is always a good idea!
  5. “In 2021, I resolve to stop buying bread from the supermarket.” Make your own bread, occasionally buying a great loaf from a local craft bakery and you’ll never want to go back.
  6. “In 2021, I will find time to bake with my children.” Even if baking bread with children is slower and sometimes frustrating, it is always rewarding. The joy and bonding that comes from mixing the dough and imagining recipes together is many times worth all the trouble.
  7. “In 2021, I will give yeast water a try.” As great as sourdough is, it’s fun to try new things. So, next summer, grab some raisins or fruit and start a yeast water experiment to create a different kind of naturally fermented bread.
  8. “In 2021, I will get myself some brown paper bags and a stamp to use for bread packaging.” At least here in Finland, this isn’t as easy as it sounds, and finding good packaging material for bread requires some work. Good and simple packaging material makes giving (and even selling) bread much easier.
  9. “In 2021, I resolve to bake through one of my bread books.” I did this with my first bread book, Richard Bertinet’s Dough, and I feel the experience taught me a lot. That, and the fact that I like to work through goals with clear numbers (like coming up with these 15 resolutions) made it an enjoyable journey. This year could well be the time to pick another book and start baking through it.
  10. “In 2021, I will organize a popup bakery for one day, baking bread and selling it to people.” This could be a special market like the Christmas Fair Raluca Micu visited last year or some other event, such as Restaurant Day. If you’ve already done this, maybe the next one is for you…
  11. “In 2021, I will take the next step and start my community supported micro-bakery.” Whether you deliver your bread by running (like Anna Häggblom, The Running Baker presented in the Winter 2014 issue) or by bike (following the lead of Christopher MacLeod whom we met in the latest issue), come up with an idea, let your friends know and get started. Bake bread for one recurring customer, then two, and grow from there.
  12. “In 2021, I will encourage at least one friend to start baking bread.” I’m not a big fan of evangelization of any kind, but if the topic is brought up and the other person seems genuinely interested, why not give a few pointers and maybe share some sourdough starter with him or her? Inviting a friend to bake with you could be a fun thing to do together as well.
  13. “In 2021, I resolve to participate in a bread-making event.” If you live at a reasonable distance from some big yearly bread-making event such as the Kneading Conference, take the trip to learn new bread-making tricks and to meet like-minded people. On a smaller scale, finding a local amateur baker group — or starting one (see our Issue Fifteen for a story about bread clubs) if there aren’t any in your area — would be a great start. And who knows, maybe you could even end up organizing your own bread making conference?
  14. “In 2021, I will get to know my miller and farmer.” Last year, I wrote that this is a New Year’s resolution mostly for professional bakers, but now I’m thinking why not the rest of us as well… It’s a good way to further advance the bread revolution. Try to inspire your miller to create flour using local varieties of wheat and other grain. Invite him to experiment with stone grinding and other “new” techniques such as making sprouted flour. Ask the miller and farmer for input on your bread making: maybe the farmer has ideas on how you could be more sustainable and create products that better match with the year’s harvest?
  15. “In 2021, I resolve to give bread to those in need.” Whether it is through a charity or an organization such as Farmer Foodshare, I’m sure you have something great to give. Why should only the “haves” have the right to good bread?

Now while Laine is from Finland and wrote these for 2015, don’t several resonate with you?

I RESOLVE TO USE MORE WHOLE GRAINS IN BAKING

Which one of these speaks to you as your resolution for this coming year? Tell us about it in the comment section below, but for me I will bake through this cookbook.

It was #9 that got my resolve. This is not for the same book (Bertinet’s Dough) as Laine had chosen, but is Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads. This is one that Martha Levie from Abigail’s Oven, suggested during one of her online sourdough training courses.

But I have never baked through a recipe book before. Inspired by the movie “Julie and Julia,” I want to try this one. However, my copy on Kindle is already being replaced by a hard copy. (Bread dough on my iPad screen is very aggravating.)

  • 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
  • Transitional Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
  • Multigrain Struan
  • Transitional Multigrain Sandwich Bread
  • Oat Bran Broom Bread
  • Rye Sandwich Meteil (half rye flour and half whole wheat flour)
  • Rye Sandwich Seigle (any type of rye bread from pumpernickel to Jewish-style rye bread made with stone-ground wheat as a miche)
  • Potatoe Onion Rye Meteil (half rye flour and half whole wheat flour)
  • Potato Rosemary Bread
  • Anadama Bread
  • Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread
  • Whole Wheat Cinnamon Buns
  • Transitional Cinnamon Raisin Bread (and Buns)
  • Whole Wheat Challah
  • Transitional Challah
  • 10 different Hearth Breads
  • 7 Specialty Breads
  • 9 International Breads
  • and, Bagels and Flatbreads

So in the coming weeks and months, you can look for more recipes, tested and ready to bake with. And I will report every week or two, here on this blog about my adventures in making these bread recipes from his book: