Italian-inspired breads you’re going to love. Ciao from northern Italy! I'm currently traveling through this incredible region with a wonderful group of The Perfect Loaf readers on a culinary adventure. It’s always a challenge baking in a new location—different equipment, new flour, dramatically different altitude—but the upside is it’s the perfect stage for instructing how to adapt and make wonderful bread wherever you are. (Before I get going, though, if you want to see more about the...

The perfect bread for sandwiches Imagine yourself in the kitchen with a freshly baked loaf of ciabatta, a bowl of ultra-ripe tomatoes from the garden, some provolone cheese, and a few leaves of basil. For me, that's the perfect late-summer setting, and ciabatta is the bread I turn to time and again when I have an abundance of peak tomatoes. The soft-ish crust and light and creamy crumb are the perfect platform for piling large tomato slices (and a few slices of prosciutto, if you have 'em)....

A chill, but totally delicious, holiday weekend What's your plan for this weekend? Are you like me, who usually goes overboard with food prep at any excuse? Yes, I like to rest, but who wants to rest when there's tasty bakes to be had? Here's my plan: an easy one-two. Sourdough pizza for Saturday, and burger buns and/or hot dog buns for holiday Monday. For the pizza, prep the dough on Friday and pull it anytime on Sunday, a few hours before you want to fire up the outdoor oven. For the buns,...