Chapter 4: American Favorites

When people think of American breads, they usually think "comfort food," and with good reason. There could hardly be more comforting fare than well-made loaves of puffy, fragrant, home-style white bread, or cinnamon-raisin pinwheel bread, or ooey-gooey sticky buns. But some of America's best-loved breads have a different character: San Francisco sourdough is as crusty as any of Europe's rustic loaves and gets a kick from a pungent starter. Another popular savory loaf is cheese bread; the one in this chapter is zippy with sharp cheese and green chiles.

Of course, due to the artisan bread movement in this country, interesting new breads more in the style of those in Europe are coming on the scene here all the time: The Sonoma-Style Multigrain Crunch Bread is an adaptation of a terrific crackly-crusted boule from northern California's Artisan Bakers. My Crunchy Yeasted Cornbread with Coarse Salt and my updated Easy Buttermilk Pot Bread with Coarse Salt are also simple crispy-topped peasant-style boules.