Bread is a constant lesson on transformation, and this month I’ve learned a lot. I had an opportunity to study the classic French breads (miche, pain au levain, and baguette) with expert bakers and teachers Jeffrey Hamelman and James MacGuire last week. These are breads that require some time and practice, but have very few ingredients. As a result, how you treat the ingredients makes a huge difference. The levain (or sourdough starter) needs to be fed regularly and kept at a comfortable temperature to keep the yeast and the acid in balance. The flour and water need to be mixed gently to preserve the color and flavor the grain. The dough needs to rest long enough to develop flavor and structure. It needs to be shaped with intention and baked under the watchful eye of someone who recognizes how it should smell, sound and feel when it comes out of the oven. Ultimately, when you take care of your dough those simple ingredients become something new. Each of the baguettes in the pictures above contained the same basic ingredients, but how they were mixed, folded, rested and baked made them each different. Flour, water, salt and yeast alone are not foods we can live on, but combine them and care for them and they can become an endless variety of bread. To study the history of bread is to study the history of human community, because bread requires community just as much as a community requires bread. …