Acknowledgments

Many people played a part in making this book a reality. I'm grateful to every one of them.

First, a big thank-you to Justin Schwartz, my editor, and the whole Wiley team, for enthusiastically supporting this project and working diligently to ensure that it moved along smoothly and efficiently. I also greatly appreciate the efforts of publicist Gypsy Lovett, book designer Ralph Fowler, and cover designer Jeff Faust. And I'm grateful to photographer Alexandra Grablewski and food stylist Brian Preston-Campbell, who created the enticing images for the book.

Thanks also to Judith Riven, my agent, for her enthusiasm, very professional representation, and wise counsel along the way.

Many thanks to my recipe testers: My kitchen assistants Linda Kirschner and Judy Silver Weisberg helped test so many hundreds of recipes they probably dreamed about bread at night. Connie Hay also spent a number of days in my kitchen deep in dough! Home testers Sally Churgai, Erica Horting, and Dollene Targen provided valuable insights on what techniques and tips work best for the home baker and on how to make the recipes as clear and reliable as possible.

Another thank-you goes to Joe Yonan and Bonnie Benwick of the Washington Post Food Section, and to the staff at Eating Well, whose keen interest in my work on accessible no-knead bread recipes helped spawn the idea for this book.

Finally, thanks to the dozens of fine professionals whose expertise in all aspects of bread baking underpins the Kneadlessly Simple approach. It seems ironic that making things simple involved so much background research, but I needed to understand the chemistry and myriad practical applications of yeast baking to simplify and streamline without negatively affecting bread quality.

I am particularly indebted to gifted baker and teacher Nick Malgieri for offering some valuable suggestions for improving my manuscript. Another thank-you goes to Dr. R. Carl Hoseney for helping me understand some of the complicated chemical processes that occur during yeast baking. Here, in alphabetical order, are the other experts whose observations, theories, methods, tips, treatises, experiments, and bits of wisdom have expanded my knowledge and influenced my thinking, recipes, and method. Some of these folks I know well, others a little, others only from their work: Rose Levy Berenbaum, Emily Buelher, Bernard Clayton, Raymond Cavel, Shirley Corriher, Elizabeth David, Rosada Didier, Carol Field, Maggie Gleser, Philippe Gosselin, George Greenstein, Jeffrey Hamelman, Jim Lahey, Daniel Leader, Joe Ortiz, Beatrice Ojakangas, Craig Ponsford, Peter Reinhart, Nancy Silverton, Monica Spiller, and Daniel Wing. Besides these individuals, I must thank the dedicated people behind two wonderful Web sites, thefreshloaf.com and theartisan.net, who provide a wealth of accurate, completely free information on a whole array of yeast baking topics.